By Sarah Sluis
Like a teenage daydream ignited by the examination of each possible meaning of that look your lab
partner gave you in biology, Twilight imbues meaningful glances with more smoldering romance than one would think possible in this millennium. Caught in a romance that transcends time, Edward and Bella just have to search each other's pale, slender-chinned, slow-motion, extreme close-up faces, and make eye contact. The audience shrieks, sighs, and they know, we know, that it doesn't matter that Edward is a vampire and Bella is a human. They will be together, forever. Repeat this moment every couple scenes (in a tree, in a house, in a parking lot, in biology class!) like a fugue, and you have the thrill and electricity of Twilight.
Overwrought emotion is frequently dismissed as melodrama, but with Twilight the sustained palpablity of emotion is a compliment. Some moments of dialogue may inspire a too-good-to-be-true laughter among more jaded audience members, but that doesn't mean they're not enjoying it. What kind of person would throw away a love note just because it's too earnest in some points? For fangirls in the throes of a relationship with Edward and Bella (Stephenie Meyer's series now numbers four) there are private jokes. A scene in which Edward calls himself a lion and Bella a lamb inspired gasping shrieks among the fangirls seated below me, melting over the enunciation of the pet name they had only ever read.
Like arty vampire picture Let the Right One In, Twilight
takes time to show us the "rules" and the
day-to-day life of vampires. We get to visit Edward's house, the residence of several vampires. The modern space has a large, framed, modern color block painting. Upon closer examination, we see dozens of graduation caps acquired by the perpetually high school-age Cullen family. "Yeah, it's kind of a family joke," notes Edward wryly. Bella remarks on the lack of a bed in Edward's room (he doesn't sleep), in an exchange remarkably devoid of innuendo. We learn the powerful vampires love to play baseball, but only in a
thunderstorm, when the cracks of their bats blend in with the thunder. The rendering of the game is no Quidditch, and I bet producer Summit Entertainment wished they had spent a little more on special effects, which could have been more robust and drawn out. But because we are so emotionally invested in Edward and Bella, the thrilling escape scene in a Jeep that follows surpasses, for a brief moment, the emotional impact of Quantum of Solace. Ouch.
Twilight will undoubtedly do well at the box office, so the question everyone is asking now is HOW well. Over 2,000 screenings are sold out, more than many of the previous Harry Potter movies. The word-of mouth among the series' devotees is effusive: as soon as the girls at the advance screening could rip their embargoed cell phones out of the manila envelopes (I screened the film on Tuesday, and Summit required we relinquish all cell phones during the film, even wanding audience members to check), their fingers started sending gushing texts. Forget word-of-mouth, Twlight will succeed based on Facebook statuses and Twitters.
As far as numbers, I'll enter my "superstar" prediction here: $100 million in four weeks. This summer's Sex and the City, with its older, but still devoted, fan base, passed the $100 million mark in its third week (it made $99 million through its second week). Most of this year's animated pictures have passed $100 million in two weeks. The cautionary comparison is live-action HSM3: Senior Year, an aging franchise, but still one with a devoted legion of Zac Efron fans. That film has earned $84 million through its fourth week--I see that as Twilight's worst-case scenario, which would still vastly exceed the film's sub-$40 million production budget. Summit Entertainment still claims they only expect $40 million in returns, but the numbers $50 and $60 million have also been floated around. If Twilight can earn $50 million in its first week, and drop less than 50% each subsequent week (exponential decay, the subject of Twilight girls' math homework!), it will make $100 million in four weeks. However, as much as I would like to see this film succeed, vaulting the stars, the series, and Summit into a big deal, I don't see girls successfully dragging their relatives to Twilight over next week's Thanksgiving weekend. Time will tell.
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