Vampire flick 'Twilight' stakes a claim at ticket window

By Christy Lemire

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

Audiences found the vampire romance "Twilight" infectious in its opening weekend, pushing the movie to a take of $70.6 million.

Drawing from its huge fan base of teenage girls, who fell for Stephenie Meyer's novel of forbidden love between brooding vampire Edward Cullen and bookish high-schooler Bella Swan, "Twilight" made a whopping $20,636 per theater, according to Sunday-morning estimates.

And the fangirls will get another taste soon enough: Summit Entertainment, which released "Twilight," is going ahead with production of "New Moon," based on the second book in Meyer's internationally best-selling series. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will return as its star-crossed lovers.

The big opening for "Twilight" also helps put Summit on the map. The company has been around only since April 2007 and "Twilight," its sixth release, cost just $37 million to make. The tremendous take far exceeded expectations, which had been about $50 million.

"Teen girls rule the Earth," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "If you look back at the 'Hannah Montana' movie, how well that did, and now this movie, the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated. It was always teen boys who were the coveted ones, but someone finally caught on to the idea that girls love movies, too, and if you create something that they're into... they will come out in big numbers and drive the box office."

The other major debut of the weekend, Walt Disney's 3-D animated "Bolt," made $27 million to take third place. Featuring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, "Bolt" follows the cross-country journey of a dog who plays a superhero on television, but sadly realizes he has no magical powers once he gets separated from his "person."

Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution, said "Twilight" took a bite out of everyone's box office. If the vampire saga hadn't been around, Viane said, Disney would have expected an opening of at least $30 million.

"Obviously we believe in the Thanksgiving holiday in a big, big way. We've always viewed this as one of those 10-day marathons between opening day and the end of the Thanksgiving weekend."

Last weekend's No. 1 movie, "Quantum of Solace," came in second with $27.4 million. The latest James Bond extravaganza has now grossed $109.5 million, crossing the $100 million mark faster than any other film in the franchise, said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. It's also made $309 million internationally.

"We're in great shape. We're way ahead of where we were with 'Casino Royale,' " said Bruer, referring to the last Bond picture, which also starred Daniel Craig as a more visceral 007.