"New Moon," based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling book, hits theaters on November 20, and the film has already leaped over previous record-holders to become the top-selling pre-release title in Fandango's 10-year history.
The Top 5 Advance Ticket-Sellers on Fandango are now as follows:
1. New Moon (2009)
2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
5. Twilight (2008)
The latest chapter of "The Twilight Saga" is accounting for 86 percent of weekly ticket sales on Fandango, the nation's leading movie ticketing destination. Thousands of Thursday night midnight showtimes for "New Moon" are already sold out across the country.
Yet "New Moon" tickets continue to be available. To meet the fan demand, the nation's top theater owners are regularly posting brand new showtimes on additional screens.
According to a recent Fandango survey of 2,000+ "New Moon" ticket-buyers:
-- 98 percent say the action in "New Moon" looks better than the action in "Twilight"
-- 72 percent plan to see the movie with a group of three friends/ or more.
-- 52 percent of survey respondents say they dream about vampires.
-- 22 percent are mothers and daughters planning to see "New Moon" together
-- 10 percent plan to show up at the theater dressed as the saga characters.
That middle one astonishes me. Over half of the people who bought tickets for the Thursday night showing of "New Moon" dream about vampires.
I am a comic book fan and will openly say I have never dreamt about superheroes. And I’m sure lots of guys dream about teenage girls, but they don't want to be one or dress like one.
Now the question is whether "New Moon" can break through to the top 100 grossing movies of all time. "Twilight" wasn't able to grab a spot on the list, making only $383 million, while the lowest spot is "Die Another Day" with $432 million.
And it doesn’t end after “New Moon.” The next film in the series, “Eclipse,” is already set to hit theaters June 30, 2010.
What do you think will happen when the werewolves and vampires descend upon the theaters this weekend? We know the females will flock, but can it attract the attention of the male audience as well?
