Superman07

I did some searches and didn't come up with anything for this. It's relative new news for me, but it sounds like the books these are based on have a rather large following and it's billed as the next Harry Potter. From what I can tell that's giving it too much credit, but it looks interesting and the leads seem well fitted.

http://www.traileraddict.com/poster/twilight/8

Hopefully the film will be better, but as it stands the trailer has a little bit of a hollow feeling. Like the background world isn't fully developed.

BJacks

I've never seen anything like the Twilight phenomenon. Can't really attest to how the film is quality-wise, but nobody should underestimate how many teenage girls (and their moms) it'll pack into theaters. The fanbase is huge and unbelievably dedicated.

Sean O'Hara

... by the author's publicist.

From all I can tell, it's just the Anita Blake books with the sex removed.

BJacks

Uhh, not just the publicist. Look at any Top 10 bestsellers list. From NY Times to Wall Street Journal to USA Today and Amazon, the Twilight books nearly always hold 4 of the top 10 spots, including the top spot. Twilight books have knocked Potter out of NY Times #1, staying there for over 47 weeks. The last book sold 1.3 million copies on the first day; for like 2 months afterwards, all 4 books were on USA Today's Top 5 bestsellers list. There were midnight release parties at bookstores around the world with lines down the block. Twilight has spurred conventions, tribute bands, legions of fansites, author events that pack the freakin' Mall of America, etc. Everywhere I go I see girls and women reading Twilight.

It might not be as big as Potter, but there's nothing else comparable.

Boba Fett

I watched the trailer after hearing the hype from a few people and to me it looked like a lower budget version of The Covenant.

Sean O'Hara

On the children's list -- which the Times created to keep Rowling from cluttering up the regular bestseller list. The fact that the Twilight series is the top selling children's series now that Harry Potter has retired doesn't prove anything unless we know how it'd place on the regular fiction list.

Draven

I read the first one - it's not that great. The movie seems to condense the story a WHOLE lot, and bumps up the action. In the book there is very little.

It's great for teenage girls. Pretty meh otherwise.

Nickee

I’ll admit that I’m excited for this one – but I’m also a 34 year old mom so I guess I’m allowed.

I wouldn’t really compare the books to Harry Potter because the Twilight books really suffer in that comparison because they are no where near as complex or creative as the Harry Potter series. They are sweet, romantic teenage fiction with a fantasy edge to them and are a very easy read. I finished the first one in a day or two.

The movie does look like if focuses mainly on the action oriented plot point at the end of the novel but that is probably a good idea since that is, probably, the most cinematic part of the book.

I wouldn't underestimate how well this film will do though. If it captures even a portion of the feel of the books, the teenage girls will flock to it repeatedly.

FantasticVSDoom

I think the way they shot the trailers lead you to believe there is more action then there actually is... I could be wrong, but this is definitely a love story first everything else second. I may check it out just to see how it actually plays out.

dx23

Info about the novel and the film to make you understand the hype:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(novel)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_(2008_film)

It is like a bad mix between Harry Potter and Vampires. I didn't understand the hype either but it seems that it's mainly because it has Cedric Digori as the lead. This also made me understand why a lot of girls where screaming in the theater when Cedric appear on the 4th Potter film.

Draven

I'll spoiler something from the book to respond to this:



Stuff like that is what leads me to believe they are really bumping the action up for this.

Zen Peckinpah

I didn't even know about these books, and when I found out it was a Mormon vampire romance, extremely emo, and written by a woman who refuses to watch R-rated movies, I went into an outrage. But more because I realized these books were so popular.

A friend of mine who's read the books didn't know the author was a strict Mormon, and when I told her she responded "Oh, that's why they never have sex till marriage!"

neiname

When the 3rd book came out the WSJ ran a story that this was the next great series after Harry Potter because it was the first that the fanbase were making events out of the release (ala dressing up and waiting til midnight to pick up their books). I believe it took til the 4th book for HP to have these sort of release events. Meyer really finished up the story in the 4th book and was going to publish a 5th which was a retelling of the 1st from a different perspective but a rough draft got leaked. She was really bent out of shape about it (rightfully so) and said she would never finish it. I've read the four novels and while she does a great job in retelling a vampire story from a different angle I felt her writing was a bit weak and even though the story was strong I don't think it warrants additional novels.

TomOpus

I can personally attest to this being bigger than I would've imagined. I've mentioned it before but, during Comic-Con last July, I got there early in morning on Thursday to get in the Hall H line. At this early hour there would normally be 20 or so people already in line. The line was already around the corner. WTH??

Turned out it was groups of teenage girls (and a few moms) who were there for the "Twilight" panel. Those girls, in turn, were holding places for more girls. They pretty much took over Hall H that day. Some groups were wearing identical t-shirts. Others had homemade t-shirts showing their love for the books and upcoming movie. They were very organized too. I left Hall H before their panel but I was told, when the stars came out, the screams were like a Beatles concert. Scary.

Superman07

I find this all intriguing as I had no idea any of this was out there. I'll be very interested to see boxoffice numbers for this one.

Kal-El

I've read the book and it's told from the female lead's POV so it's extremely, extremely chick-y. To the point that at several times while reading I went, "yes, I get it. she's sooo in love with Edward". And it does seem from the trailer that unlike the Potter movies where they excise a whole lot, this one seems to be adding stuff on just to make it more suited to theater viewing. Because the book is really just Danielle Steele lite...with a Vampire twist.

BJacks

Look at the USA Today Best-Selling books database (which covers ALL genres and categories). As of now, Twilight holds 4 of the top 6 spots including #1 and #2.

http://content.usatoday.com/life/boo...e/default.aspx

mdc3000

My sisters and their friends are big fans (although my sisters hated the final book and nearly lost some friends over large 'Breaking Dawn' inspired fights)...but from everything I've heard, this series sounds like shit... they took every other vampire movie/book etc. and threw it into a Mormon blender and young girls are eating it up.

I think Catherine Hardwicke has yet to make a movie that really impressed me (thirteen was beyond annoying and dogtown was underwhelming) and although the screenwriter has done great work on Dexter, she also wrote STEP UP, which is a steamer... I'm sure this will rake in the dough, but I expect it to suck.

starseed1981

I'm a fan of the books. But I'm a little miffed about the movie. In all honestly there really isn't much of a plot until the last 100 pages (the entire book up to that is "this boy is pretty" and "it rains alot in Washington).

clckworang

And don't forget what starseed1981 said, too. That's what I got more annoyed about than anything else. I get it, I get it, he's soooo pretty! You just can't get over how beautiful he is!

I had a friend loan me the first book. He bought the first two because he wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And then he wanted me to read the first one because he felt lonely be the only who he knew who read it. In fairness, it was better than I thought it would be, but I didn't have too high expectations. Definitely the kind of thing that teenage girls would eat up. Don't read it unless you want to be constantly reminded of how pretty she thinks the one guy is. Oh, and she seems to have slight affection for him, too.

Chrisedge

Anyone who doesn't know about these books and their impact on girls/women...I would think doesn't hang out with ANY women that read books, doesn't look around at a book store very often or hasn't a clue on pop-culture.

They are huge. Harry Potter>Twilight huge...

riley_dude

I listened to the the audio book and it seemed geared towards love lorn girls under the age of 20. We'll see.
I didn't even think it was interesting (or compelling) as Buffy and Angel's story.

Couldn't said it better myself. I got bored with the book for this very reason.

PalmerJoss

I'm halfway through the first book, so it's good to know that "something" is going to happen at some point. I can definitely see why the filmmakers would add action to the movie - people would be falling asleep if they did a direct translation from book to screen.

Groucho

These books are HUGE with Mormon housewives, which means I'll be giving this a pass.

Not because I don't like Mormon housewives, but because their tastes are generally much different than my own.

BJacks

Yeah, the author Stephenie Meyer is a Morman housewife herself so the story's in line with her values.