BRADENTON - It is a film that is selling out movie theaters around the Suncoast: the first showing of New Moon from the Twilight saga opened Thursday night.
Based on the film's buzz, it's projected to be one of the biggest grossing late-night openings...possibly even beating out Harry Potter and Transformers.
Many Suncoast fans aren't waiting until this weekend to see New Moon, they are crowding theaters around midnight to be some of the first to see the movie.
"We bought seven tickets tonight. This is a big surprise for our Twilight fan who is turning 14 at midnight," says Lisa Myers.
"I saw the first movie, Twilight, and my daughter convinced me to read all the books, which I did, and I'm really excited to see it," says Sandy Schafer.
At Royal Palm 20 in Bradenton, New Moon will be filling the screen, and fans will be filling the seats. "By midnight we will have sold out every auditorium that we have available for this film," says theater employee Thomas Bauer. Hours before the midnight showing, four large auditoriums were already sold out; each theater able to hold more than 230 people.
So why are vampires and werewolves taking a bite out of the box office? Surprisingly, fans didn't say it is the good-looking shirtless leading men...but rather the storyline.
"I know its gotta sound weird, saying I read books about vampires and werewolf, but it's really not about that," says Michelle Myers.
"It's kind of like a forbidden love type thing, too. So it's kind of like what is going to happen next...is she going to fall for the wolf or the vampire?" says Samantha and Sareana Boney.
And don't think its just a chick flick...some guys are into the film as well. "It's like cool, because it's kind of like a romance kind of deal and it's also like and action and suspensey...it really attracts a lot of teens," says Alec Underwood.
Many of the fans we spoke with Thursday night are making it a family event; moms, dads and kids are hooked.
The same crowds are also expected to fill theaters Friday night as well.
