"New Moon" Rises at Midnight--and Breaks Box Office Records

By our guest blogger, Colin George

So, Friday afternoon rolls around and you’re already reading about the records the second installment in the Twilight saga, "New Moon," has broken. According to variety.com, the film grossed $26.3 million domestically during last night’s midnight screenings, ousting previous record-holder "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," which earned $22.2 million in its midnight run.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised to see Twilight surpassing Harry Potter already, given that as far as I know, Potter is an adolescent franchise boys and girls can geek out over, where the Twilight series is geared more exclusively to the fairer sex (and the subset of men interested in hairless wolfman man-chests). It could be argued that there’s a ‘boyfriend’ element to the equation, but then again, most of the die-hards out at midnight are saving themselves for Edward, no?

If memory serves, I recall hearing mixed reactions from fans and snide cynicism from detractors regarding the original film, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers. Twilight brought in nearly $400 million worldwide, and has had continued success in the DVD market. Call it the "Star Wars" effect. We all pay to see them, if only to hop on the Internet to complain about them.

Twilight saga, you're next!