No surprise here: Twilight fans are salivating in preparation to sink their teeth into the franchise’s much-anticipated sequel, New Moon. The film, which will be in theaters Friday, is already attracting record audiences for ticket sellers and venues across the country.
According to Fandango, who notes that their numbers are increasing every second, several thousand New Moon showtimes have sold out, making it the most the company has ever sold prior to a film’s release date. (And, yes, that means the film has even topped The Dark Knight, and movies from both the Harry Potter and Star Wars franchises.) AMC and MovieTickets.com report the same information. Both the movie chain and the online ticket buying service have said the film has broken records set by Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. (New Moon even nabbed the No. 1 spot on MovieTickets.com’s list of top 10 advance ticket sellers of all time, breaking a nearly five-year-old record set by Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith. The service is also reporting over 2,150 sellouts for the film, with over 200 in Los Angeles and New York.)
“You could say that Edward and Jacob slayed The Dark Knight and put a spell on Harry Potter to take the advance ticketing crown at Fandango,” says Fandango rep Harry Medved, who also says that 42 percent of 2,000 ticket buyers surveyed are younger than 24 years old. “Theater owners are continually adding new showtimes and posting them to keep up with fan demand.”
So why have the numbers grown so much since the first film? Obviously, the tabloid fodder surrounding its three stars — Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner—surely hasn’t hurt matters. But the first film also drove 55 percent of Fandango’s surveyed ticket buyers to read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Add to that the fact that most of the film’s audience is young and female — MovieTickets.com reports that 87 percent of their ticket buyers are female — and it’s no surprise that the sequel is beating its predecessor.
Hoping to profit even further over the fervor, AMC is planning on offering New Moon collector’s cups, as well as T-shirts, tote bags, and posters at their cinemas. The fans, however, might not need any additional garb. According to Fandango, ten percent of fans plan on dressing up as characters from the film. And if you’re one of the lucky few who have scored Thursday night tickets — the majority of tickets sold on Fandango — be sure to cover your ears: The company says their stats show 51 percent of fans say they’re prepared to scream as soon as lights go down in the theater. Does that mean we’ll be deaf by the time we get to Eclipse?
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Which potter movie?
This movie will get $70-$80 it’s debut weekend and will fall %60 the next.
This record breaking news is for advanced ticket sales! Pay attention to what you are reading! It doesn’t meant that it will have a bigger opening weekend than HalfBlood Prince or Transformers 2. It is not saying that its going to be the highest grossing film of the year either. The sales of this tickes are for advanced ticket sales, sales before the movie is released. This movie will probably make 225 million for its total U.S. run.
Those girls must have saved up all their allowance money.
do you smoke crack!! it will prob make $225 its first weekend, 1 avid twilight fan will prob see this film 3 times opening weekend. people are already lining up to see eclipse which dosnt come out for 6 months lol. i am an avid potter watcher and id have to say the half blooded prince was the crappiest movie out of the potter saga, and transformers was just long boring and stupid
i work in the film industry and i know for a FACT that sales will NOT drop that far until the movie is ready to become dead film! especially if it’s already outdoing the first installment of the film series (which it IS!) and you might wanna make an educated guess next time rather than spouting off just to annoy the fans. bit of research never hurt anyone.
Half Blood Prince.
l’m an older fan..loved reading the series..believe me it’s not just young girls going..I have friends going. Get tired of the criticism..OK its not gonna be the greatest movie of all time but its gonna be a fun movie
LOL harry who?
how undeserving.
lets hope deathly hallows shatters these records come next year.
Agreed, im confident deathly hallows will gross over a billion dollars like return of the king. If not the last two then the deathly hallows part 2.
look at the facts. harry potter and the half blood prince only made 22.2 million in its midnight showing compared to new moons 26.3 million. new moon has also made over 72 million dollars friday alone, while harry potter 6 only made 58.4. i think people are getting bored of harry potter, but really how are they any different from twilight? they are both a successful book series that are getting adapted to movies. its really dumb how people are choosing sides like its such a big deal. get over yourselves, theyre movies. get a life. I am a teenage girl, and i LOVE the twilight saga, and im not ashamed of it. And in case you havent noticed, its kicking some major butt right now. so i hope you guys arent disappointed when harry potter falls a little short next year, which it will
I Hate you!!!! Why would you remind me about Deathly Hallows?!!! I had gone a good 3 months without having to think about that. Now it will haunt me until I can finally see it. I hate you. Really.
What the hell are you talking about?
Me too. Can’t wait for the trailer!!!
I know me too. I bet we get a trailer for it with the Percy Jackson film in February 2010. It’s going to be EPIC!
YEAH! *salivates*
Sadly, I don’t think Harry can compete since Deathly Hallows is going to be 2 films. I love both series of books and am glad they are successful movies. However, lets leave the record breaking to the real movies, not teens of the world.
Oh shut up. What the hell are you even talking about. I’m 22 and I can’t wait to see Potter. I don’t give a crap about that twilight garbage. Real Movies…have you seen some of the Potter movies? The special F/x are groundbreaking…not to mention all the talented actors.
Harry Potter and Star Wars Suck! Twilight and New Moon are the best!!!
to emmett– neither star wars nor harry potter suck! you make twilight enthusiasts look even more idiotic than the annoying rob-sessed tweens for even saying such a thing! you can love mulitple franchises! you don’t have to stick to just one! wish people would figure that out! and quit with the hp/twi-battle! enough already!
Oh it’s getting my money. I can’t wait. Only a year to go.
The Twilight Saga is one of the best series’ in the history. The people who judge it obviously haven’t read the books. When I went last night to see New Moon our theatre was more full than it had been in the history of our theatre including half blood prince and EVERY theatre was showing New moon. This movie is not only a love story, but it has a great plot behind it. I am a huge harry potter fan and adore the movies, but the way that the twilight series is getting their movies made so quickly will make greater success. It will be the best selling movie of all time. Mark my words.
Not surprising. But HP will probably take back the record with the final two films.
Dont underestimate an angry fandom. That record will be shattered by Harry Potter next year.
why angry?
Angry that twilight is stealing Harry Potter’s thunder perhaps?
Harry Potter is now legendary. It’s thunder can’t be stolen. Twilight is in the same boat as all that high school musical and hannah montanna crap. The little girls will scream for it and spend their money on it until they get tired of it. It has no staying power. Harry Potter doesn’t need to endlessly promote itself to gain fans and to make money. Half Blood Prince is evidence of that. They pissed off the HP fans by delaying the movie for a whole year and it still earned almost a billion dollars.
ONce again Harry Potter sucks!!! Twilight rules!!!
New moon will be the highest grossing movie of the year.
Higher grossing that Transformers 2? I don’t think so…
Just wait until we take over…
Lol, tranformers 2 has already been beaten by Harry Potter and Ice Age 3 worldwide, so lets rule that out. New Moon will be the 2nd highest grossing movie of the year, followed by Harry Potter
Its not possible to say since the movie hasnt come out yet.
Really? It’s going to make $200 million MORE than Twilight did? REALLY?
Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Delusional.
I think it will too, Annie. It will be bigger than Twilight as the fan base has grown exponentially since that movie was out. Also, gotta realize that these kids will go see it over and over again before it leaves the theatres – NOT something people really did with Transformers (I mean, why in the world would they??? It sucked.)
Lmao. The first twilight film barely made 400 million WORLDWIDE. And you think the second one is going to make more than Harry Potter which is currently the highest grossing film of the year worldwide or Transformers 2 which is the highest grossing film of the year in US?! Um no…in order for new moon to do that it needs to have a wider fan base. Only 12 year old girls like twilight…there may be a lot of them, but not enough for new moon to be that successful. That’s just laughable.
This 44 year old woman and all of my friends are not only seeing New Moon this weekend but have read all four of the books several times. My favorites have been Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice and some other quirky films, but the Twilight Saga is mesmerizing…Kristen did an amazing job as Bella and if you think that only 12 year old or love struck teens see this movie you are crazy..I am a writer and love this series!
If u think that only 12 year old girls are into the twilight saga u are sadly mistaken. I am a 28 year old man who read all 4 books in six days and was completely blown away by them. I watched the first movie and it let me down i just watched the second one and it was better not amazing but at least good so give it a try before u bash
Janeybell, you’re laughable. “Only 12 year old girls like Twilight”??? I think it’s safe to say (and common knowledge to everyone but you) that easily half of the fanbase is made up of “moms”/women over the age of 20.
Not a chance in hell this will be the biggest grossing movie of the year.
Yep it will be bceaue I want to see it again and I will buy the movie- lets see those numbers in a week, a lot of movies got bumped down for New Moon Rocks!
haha, that was funny
oh and ditto about Harry Potter =)
“You could say that Edward and Jacob slayed The Dark Knight and put a spell on Harry Potter”…wow, a little part of me just died inside.
The point of this article is to pimp out Fandango as much as promote New Moon. So of course they pull out lame one-liners.
NEW MOON RULES HARRY POTTER DROOL’S NEW MOON ECLIPSE WILL FOREVER HOLD THE RECORD AND THE TWILIGHT FRANCHISE WILL BE THE HIGHEST GROWSING MOVIE FRANCHISE OF ALL TIME! HARRY POTTER WHO?
Really Olivi? Youre the reason Twilight fans have such a bad name. Not only are there no commas or periods in your run on sentence but you sound like a moron. No wonder you like Twilight-it too is written poorly and clearly thats the only level you can read at.
And biggest movie franchise of all time? You havent even seen it and youve already decided to love it. Grow up and go read Tiger Beat.
from the comment alone, you can tell that she needs some growing up. But that kind of expression is not limited to Twilight fans alone. I know it gives the fandom a bad name, but i have seen this same attitude with Harry Potter fans, Star Wars fan dudes, Transformers fans and many more. And believe me I have been in those three fandoms.
Thank you Stephanie!
Well I have seen the movie. I saw it last night at an advance screening. It is a great movie! I have read all the books and I am sure that I can read at a higher level than you Stephanie, but its not the writing that interested me but rather the storyline.
Way to tell ‘em, stephenie! I hate fan of Twilight who say that Harry Potter sucks. Harry Potter was before Twilight and is way better written. Even though I am a fan of Twilight, fans like this make me feel guilty.
Stephanie – you sound bitter. Who cares if someone loves or hates these movies – its all about opinion and yours is not final. Maybe you should go read Bitch Of the Month magazine….
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am getting very tired of the whole “Harry Potter is better, no Twilight is better.” I personally love both books. I don’t compare them because they are completely different. One book is about a wizard, while one is about vampires. That is just one of their differences. It also seems very childish to attack somebody’s writing just because you have run out of things to argue about. Ad hominen anybody? Because that is exactly what you are doing. BTW, I am only 14. So please, can’t everyone just sit back and enjoy the movies? Just because it wins in the box office doesn’t mean it is a wonderful movie.
Could we all try to keep in mind that Olivi probably IS 12 or 13 years old??? Don’t pick on the kids; we can tell which ones they are, just pass by their comments.
Don’t end your sentence with a preposition Miss Grammar Queen wanna be (aka Stephenie)!
Can’t we all agree that freedom to choose what you like and what you don’t like and the opportunity to speak that opinion is a great part of being an American?! All the posts on here are immature and juvenile. They are fictional movies – not real life.
We should all be getting off the computers and start doing something productive and worthwhile for this country instead of bickering about this crap.
Stop giving us a bad name, Olivi. Stephanie is right about that one.
Agreed.
GROWSE!
I do not think that word means what you think it means. Aaah…Twilight fans.
Really, clearly you haven’t heard of a little franchise called james bond.
“Clearly you haven’t heard about a little dance called The Charleston” – Bob Jones
“Clearly you haven’t heard about a new little invention called the television. Jeepers, it’s the bees knees.” – Bob Jones
“Clearly you haven’t heard of a little group called The Everly Sisters.” – Bob Jones
dude…records see-saw every year. Next year it will be potter, then transformers, then POTC 4…its basically the same.
If you think Potter will hold the record forever, think again. I think its just pathetic that people whine because Twilight just pawned them. That record doesnt even matter because it will be broke again and again.
They are not whining that New Moon broke Potter’s record. They are just saying that the new moon record will be beaten by harry potter. Thats all.
sounds like whining to me. if you like closely at 2-3 particular posts there, it is.
Maybe, but thats because they dislike twilight.
I am fans of both series but I think the Harry Potter series will be bigger overall. There is 8 movies compared to 4 or 5 at best. Seven books. Four books unless she decides to finish Midnight Sun.
Pawned them?! Harry Potter is the highest grossing film franchise of all time! There’s no pawning. Everyone knew that dumb little girly movie was going to make money. There’s no shock…there’s a lot of disappointment, but there’s no shock. It was very much expected. And trust…Harry Potter WILL break that record. Just like The Dark Knight broke Spiderman 3’s record and then Potter broke both of those. Records are made to be broken.
Your face is so deeply buried in Harry Potter’s “magic wand” that you can’t even see straight. Seriously.
yeah, you could definitely see that. But they dont have to whine about it. Can we just act like grown ups?
I’m not putting too much stock into this. Half-Blood Prince is ahead of The Dark Knight on that Fandango list, but made far less money. Similarly, Twilight is #5 on that list all-time and only made $191 million overall.
It measures a rabid, enthusiastic fanbase that used a single Web site and may or may not translate to broad box-office success.
right on! At least someone here with common sense is talking. It doesnt mean that with a movie grabbing the top spot in advance ticket sales, it would mean they would earn more.
It just means that fans are just eager to see a movie but it doesnt mean that they are going to see it again and again, or that it would earn that much or more.
Though Twilighters WILL undoubtedly go see the movie multiple times (as was very much the case with the first movie).
Are you just looking at North American gross? You should be thinking Worldwide gross.
I’m not surprised given how insane the fan base is nowadays and how many of them are women (who, after all, like to plan ahead).
I do think that Harry Potter will probably wind up on top with the last two films, especially Deathly Hallows II.
katie is smart and lmao @stephanie’s comment
I think the reason Twilight angers people like me is that its poorly written crap and the studio capitalizes on that crap by making more crap. Tamy-youre right; records see saw and it will undoubtedly get beat out in the future. I just hate seeing records held by undeserving films. Id rather see deserving art like The Dark Knight or the Harry Potter films beat out shlock like Twilight. I understand that thats just not going to happen (case in point: Transformers 2) but its still annoying. Also twilight fans seem to be the group that decides to like the movies before they even come out. As geeky as Harry Potter and Star Wars fans are, Ive never seen that response in anyone else.
hey steph, we cant do anything about crap materials. There are a lot of crap materials getting made out there that are being capitalized again and again (case point:saw movies). There are a lot of deserving movies out there that deserves accolades and attention.
As for the Twilight fans, who decides the movie before it comes out, again case point, i have been in both Harry Potter and Star wars fandom, there are also fans who are like that. I can even remember the same thing happened with the last Potter movie. Personally, it was fine and ok, but when you go into the forums and see some fan reactions, some of them are not pretty