Fans flock to The Edge for new vampire flick

Published 1:22 pm Friday, November 20, 2009

Unless you’ve been living in a deep, dark cave, you’ve likely heard of the movie phenomenon that is the Twilight saga.

More than 300 fans turned out at The Edge last night for the midnight premiere of New Moon, the second film based on Stephanie Meyer’s bestselling quartet of supernatural romance books. The story revolves around a teenager, Bella Swann, and her star-crossed relationship with a handsome vampire, Edward Cullen.

“I had a wonderful time,” said fan Christy Bozeman. Bozeman not only stayed up to see the film. She also threw a pre-party for fellow fans at her home in Greenville.

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“All the decorations were based around the movies and books and it looked really pretty,” Bozeman said. “We watched Twilight together before going to see the new movie, enjoyed Vampire Kiss “Martweenis” and played a Twilight word scramble game. Everyone seemed to have a really good time.”

Bozeman, who describes herself as a less than avid reader, said all her friends were reading the Twilight books and she decided to give the first book a try.

“I read it about a week before going to see the movie. After that, I had to read the other three,” she said.

As for New Moon, Bozeman said the second movie in the franchise was even better than the first.

“The second book, New Moon, was actually my least favorite of the four. And I really liked the new movie. They had a bigger budget this time,” Bozeman said.

This makes me think the next two movies, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn will be really good.”

According to The Edge manager Michael Nimmer, the Twilight Saga’s popularity now spans generations.

“When Twilight premiered last year, it was mostly teens we were seeing. Now it’s 30-somethings and 40-somethings and older. And we’re seeing men who’ve become fans as well through their wives, daughters and girlfriends. It really is a huge thing,” Nimmer said.

Nimmer said he anticipates a “massive” weekend for The Edge now that New Moon has arrived.

“We’ve had people constantly buying advance tickets for the premiere,” he said. “Friday night we had around 345 people in two theatres.”

Nimmer said he expects New Moon to be the Edge’s second biggest opening this year.

The first?

Hollywood blockbusters Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen?

Neither.

“Madea Goes to Jail,” Nimmer said. “It was unreal.”