'Eclipse' Fans Swarm Midnight Screenings Across Globe
Theaters from Finland to the Philippines held early screenings of 'Twilight' movie.
The wait ended at midnight, and as MTV News can attest, the lines fans eager to see "Eclipse" snaked around theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
Those two metropolises weren't the only places beset by "Twilight" fervor. Deadline Hollywood reports that theaters in Boston, Washington D.C., Detroit, Cleveland, Denver and Salt Lake City were mobbed at midnight. So too were the theaters holding early screenings in countries like Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and Finland.
At this point, "Eclipse" ranks as the widest domestic release in history as it opens in 4,416 theaters in North America — besting the record set by "Iron Man 2" earlier this year. Four thousand of those theaters held midnight screenings, Deadline reported, and several theater chains also had 3 a.m. screenings to meet public demand. IMAX was expected to hold 3 a.m. screenings in 120 of its theaters.
In the run-up to release, fans were also taking precautions against widespread sellouts, as "Eclipse" pre-sales spiked. Fandango reported that the vampire flick accounted for 91 percent of ticket sales on Tuesday, after staying in the site's top five since the pre-sale started in mid-May.
By the end of the weekend, "Eclipse" should have a staggering box-office haul. Early tracking suggests a three-day-weekend gross of as much as $140 million, with a six-day purse of up to $180 million.
Those are monster numbers, no doubt, but when you listen to how excited fans are, it's really not that surprising at all.
"I'm really excited," Oladayo Idowu, told MTV News outside a theater in New York. "I'm here for [the midnight showing], so I'm surprised my mom even let me out! I've been waiting for this movie since I saw 'Twilight.' I'm going to see it again and again and again."
Article by Eric Ditzian
'Eclipse's' early release sets sales record
Threequel's midnight Tuesday screenings took in $30 million
It may not eclipse the opening-weekend performance of franchise predecessors, but Summit Entertainment's vampire-romance threequel "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" is off to a bloody good -- and record -- start.
"Eclipse" fetched more than $30 million in estimated boxoffice from more than 4,000 domestic theaters programming midnight Tuesday performances, an unprecedented tally. The witching-hour coin will be lumped in with Wednesday grosses.
A first sequel -- "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" -- opened with $142.8 million in November, en route to registering $296.6 million in total U.S. and Canadian coin. Opening with midnight Thursday performances, "New Moon" rose to a then-record $26.3 million in witching-hour loot and a record $72.7 million in first-day Friday boxoffice.
The original "Twilight" unspooled in November 2008 with a first-weekend haul of $69.6 million and a total domestic cume of $192.8 million.
Prior to "New Moon," the record for midnight boxoffice was held by Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which rung up $22.2 million from its earliest performances.
Special exhibitor Imax, which is showing "Eclipse" in 192 domestic locations, said the threequel sunk its teeth into a record $1 million-plus from Imax venues offering midnight performances. The tally eclipsed a then-record Imax midnight haul of $959,000 by Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" from June 2009.
"Eclipse" is expected to ring up more than $150 million through Monday, playing in a record 4,410 total locations. The coming weekend is considered a four-day theatrical frame, with Independence Day falling on Sunday and most U.S. workers marking a holiday on Monday.
In comparing the "Eclipse" debut with its franchise predecessors, industryites will be watching the threequel's Wednesday-through-Friday grosses. But domestic rankings for the Independence Day holiday weekend will be based on Friday-through-Monday boxoffice.
Many believe "Eclipse" will have scooped so much boxoffice cream off the top of its opening by Friday, that its first-weekend tally will fall well short of $100 million. That still would top weekend rankings, with Paramount's 3D family adventure "The Last Airbender" expected to open at No. 2 with about $50 million forecast in a Thursday-through-Monday debut.
Directed by David Slade ("30 Days of Night"), "Eclipse" features Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart reprising roles of vampire, werewolf and anguished love interest, respectively.
Article by Carl DiOrio
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[Ina Noorazan]
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