'New Moon' sets box-office records

New Moon Review

The latest vampire installment rakes in $26.3 million in midnight ticket sales and is set to make more than $70 million in single-day sales. But sales are expected to drop off over the weekend.

"The Twilight Saga: New Moon" was on course to break two box-office records in one day.

The second installment of the vampire saga broke the record for midnight ticket sales Thursday night and was expected to record the biggest single-day sales ever at the box office Friday evening.

Gross receipts from midnight shows in the U.S. and Canada totaled $26.3 million, distributor Summit Entertainment reported Friday morning.

On Friday evening, four people at competing studios who were following box-office returns said the movie was all but certain to gross more than $70 million by the end of the day. The previous record for single-day domestic ticket sales was $67.2 million, set by "The Dark Knight" in 2008.

Though the debut day for "New Moon" was unprecedented, the full opening weekend will probably be merely massive. Ticket sales for the first "Twilight" film, which opened on the same weekend last year, plunged 41% on the Saturday after it opened. "New Moon" will probably see an even bigger drop, given the massive amount of interest that helped it set a record as the biggest pre-seller on online ticketing services Fandango and MovieTickets.com.

Nonetheless, a total weekend gross of more than $110 million is all but certain and more than $120 million is very possible. That would give "New Moon" the biggest domestic weekend gross for any film this year, the biggest for an opening outside the summer movie season, and one of the top five of all time, not accounting for inflation.

Ticket sales from the 25 other countries where "New Moon" is opening this weekend will almost certainly push the worldwide weekend gross to more than $150 million.

Summit spent only $50 million to make "New Moon," including tax incentives from Canada, where it was produced. Even including marketing costs, the picture is certain to be profitable based on ticket sales alone, even before Summit starts making money from DVD and other post-theatrical markets.

Studios usually keep about half the revenue a movie collects from theatrical ticket sales.

Summit is expected to report an official total for Friday ticket sales this morning and an estimate for the three-day weekend Sunday.

Ticket sales for other movies opening this weekend were looking strong late Friday as well.

"The Blind Side," starring Sandra Bullock, will compete with "2012," which debuted last week, to be the No. 2 movie this weekend. Based on early ticket sales, it will probably gross more than $20 million through Sunday.

New Moon Review

'New Moon's' Ashley Greene: From vamping on Maxim cover to being a Bond girl, she's got big plans

New Moon Review

She may not get the same amount of attention as "Twilight's" other, better-known brunette, but playing a vampire vixen is starting to pay off for Ashley Greene.

The former model recently scored something even co-star Kristen Stewart never has. And, no, it's not a hookup with Robert Pattinson.

Greene's delicate features and smokin' bod - sprawled on a beach and sporting a wet tanktop and cutoffs - is currently gracing the cover of Maxim magazine.

Meaning the male half of the population - or the demographic that has yet to see any of the "Twilight" films and probably never will - is about to become better-acquainted with the 22-year-old actress who was just another struggling Hollywood wannabe until she was cast as bloodsucker Alice Cullen.

Greene, in fact, was so green that her pre-"Twilight" resume consisted only of single-episode appearances on such TV shows as "Punk'd, "MadTV" and "Crossing Jordan," plus a small recurring role on the short-lived primetime soap, "Desire."

The daughter of a construction business owner, Greene grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., where she was a high school cheerleader who took acting and singing lessons, modeled a little and dreamed a lot about making it big in movies.

According to Jacksonville.com., Greene was an athletic girl who won awards in tae kwon do, took honors classes, held a job as a restaurant hostess - and didn't have much time for boys.

"I was a pretty good kid," Greene told the Web site. "I didn't really have a boyfriend, until I was probably 16, which my parents were thrilled about. I was, like, 'I have no time for boys,' and my dad was, 'Yes, I think you're right.' "

When she realized she was too short to be a professional model (the Internet puts her at 5-foot-4), Greene graduated from high school early and, with her parents' blessing, took off for Hollywood on her own at 17.

Life in L.A. was rough at first - Greene would often get lost driving to auditions, and had to call her mother in Florida to get directions from the Web - and she considered packing it in and going home more than once before she started landing the small TV roles.

Everything changed in late 2007, when "Twilight" producers cast Greene as Alice, the "sister" of brooding, undead hero Edward. According to the L.A. Times, none other than "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer gave Greene a ringing endorsement when she saw a photo of the pretty young actress: "You found Alice! Oh, my gosh!" Meyer is said to have proclaimed.

Though co-stars Stewart and Pattinson have gotten the bulk of the frenzied adoration and attention from both the media and so-called Twihards alike - thanks in no small part to the ongoing rumors of an off-screen relationship - Greene has been enjoying her share of the "Twilight" spotlight so far.

In August, she was honored as a "fresh face" at the Teen Choice Awards - just days before nude photos of her, reportedly taken when she was 19, briefly appeared on the Internet and were removed after her lawyer threatened to sue.

In September, she served as the red carpet fashion commentator at the MTV Video Awards in New York. This month, Maxim jumped on the "Twilight" phenomenon by making her the lad mag's cover girl for its December issue, on newsstands now.

Not including a starring turn in a low-budget horror movie, "Summer's Moon," that was released straight to DVD in November, Greene now has several film projects lined up. Among them is the paranormal thriller "Apparition," which begins shooting in February, and the upcoming drama "Warrior," in which she plays opposite good friend and "Twilight" co-star Kellan Lutz.

Despite being (falsely) linked to "Entourage" star Adrian Grenier this summer, Greene told Maxim she still doesn't have time for boys. And with her role in the "Twilight" sequel, "New Moon," expanding a bit from the original, she's likely to be busy for a long while - as long as Meyer keeps writing.

"I don't die, which is good," said Greene about continuing to play Alice. "I'm in all the books."

Yet there is one particular part Greene has been longing to play since before she became famous: She'd love to be a Bond girl.

"I don't know if I'm old enough yet," she said. "But give me time . . . "

Read more: http://newmoonreviewcheck.blogspot.com/

New Moon

New Moon Photos

New Moon Photos

New Moon Review

New Moon Review
Tracking New Moon's Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner

With the New Moon premiere out of the way, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner are making the promotional rounds before the movie's opening weekend. Given the record number of ticket sales at this point, their appearances are, in all practicality, more of a gift to the fans than a necessary marketing push.

Tonight, Pattinson will be on Late Show with David Letterman, and as you can imagine, hoards of fans and photographers flooded the streets outside the studio to see him arrive. You can see a gallery of shots at Gossip Center. After Letterman, fans can switch the channel to catch Stewart on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

And for anyone who missed Lautner's appearance on The Jay Leno Show earlier in the week, you can see it below. The clips include footage of his appearance on the Mickey Mouse Show years ago, tales of one passionate Twilight Mom at a recent signing, and a new, exclusive New Moon scene.





New Moon Review

New Moon Review

New Moon Review

Well after much fanfare and insane pre-sales of tickets New Moon is here. So its now time for you to weight in on what you thought. The film sold out 2100 theaters in pre-sales and it also accounted for over 90% of ticket sales. So the question is... does it live up? Submit your New Moon Reviews and let us know what you thought.

Synopsis: All is not well between demon-magnet Bella and Edward Cullen, her vampire Romeo. An innocent papercut at Edward's house puts Bella in grave danger when various members of the Cullen family can barely resist their hunger at the smell of blood. The Cullens promptly leave town, afraid of endangering Edward's beloved, and Bella sinks into an overwhelming depression.

Months later, she finally emerges from her funk to rebuild her life, focusing on her friendship with besotted teen Jacob from the reservation. Bella's unhealthy enthrallment to Edward leads her into dangerous and self-destructive behavior despite her new friends, and supernatural complications are bound to reappear.

Bella's being hunted by an evil vampire, and Jacob's adolescent male rage turns out to be incipient lycanthropy: It seems many Quileute Indians become werewolves in the presence of vampires, their natural enemies

New Moon Review

New Moon Review

New Moon

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