Twilight's 'New Moon' makes LI's girls (and guys) swoon
Photo credit: Mahala Gaylord | Fans flocked to the Regal Deer Park Stadium movie theater at midnight to see the first screening of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." (Nov. 19, 2009)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
New Moon: Meet Jacob Black
Trailer: The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Photos: Long Islanders flock to Twilight premiere
The 'Twilight' divide: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
'Twilight: New Moon' premiere
As the full moon slid across the letters on the movie screen at the Regal Stadium 10 Theatre in Farmingdale, exposing the words “New Moon,” the sound effects began. But they weren’t coming from the film – they were emanating from the audience.
“Shh,” “Shh,” demanded the enormous crowd of primarily teenage girls as the movie’s first words were uttered. “Oh My God!” as vampire Edward Cullen made his appearance. “Eww” when werewolf Jacob Black debuted; moviegoers had apparently forgotten that heartthrob actor Taylor Lautner has long black hair in the film and not the cropped ’do they’re used to in teen magazines.
>> PHOTOS: Click here to view photos from the New Moon premiere
>> VIDEO: Watch the "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" trailer
>> PHOTOS: The 'Twilight' divide: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
The second installment of the four-part “Twilight” series satisfied viewers who flocked to midnight openings across Long Island.
“It was exciting, romantic and thrilling,” gushed eighth-grader Lisa Maybie, 13, who had literally run to nab her seat along with older sister, Stephanie, 16, and friend Michelle Morey, also 16, all from North Massapequa.
“It was so much better than the first one,” Morey said. Better acting, she decided.
Justin Floyd, a 17-year-old senior at Copiague High School, came to see what all the fuss was about.
“All the girls in my school talk about this movie. I want to see what the big hype is,” he said. While the girls were drawn by the romance, Floyd was eager to see the werewolves and vampires square off. “There’s supposed to be some really crazy fights in this movie. I want to see how they did it.” His assessment afterward? “It was hot,” he said.
The biggest audience sound effect –- a collective gasp -- came at the cliffhanger end of the movie. Moaned Stephanie Maybie as the screen went dark, “No, that did not just happen!” Stayed tuned for part three, “Eclipse,” which opens in June.
Theresa Wilson, 13, and her aunt, Lisa Gimber, showed up at the Farmingdale theatre four hours early.
Gimber, 41, knew that the theater would be overrun by fans who couldn't wait to see the film and she wanted a good parking spot and a prime theater seat. So she and Theresa went into the adjacent Starbucks Thursday evening, ordered coffee, a java-chip frappuccino and a chocolate cookie, and settled in to wait for the hordes to descend.
And descend they did. By 10 p.m., the line extended around the corner of the theater. This theater, like many across Long Island, had several midnight showings - 12:01, 12:02, 12:03, 12:04, 12:05, 12:06, adding one after the other as they sold out.
Several thousand theaters across the country had sold out in advance for the show, making it the most Fandango and MovieTickets.com have ever sold prior to a film's release date, surpassing even "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" sales, according to the company.
For the first Twilight movie in the four-book series, Theresa and her aunt were behind the masses. They only saw it after it was released on DVD. This time around, things were different. Gimber and Theresa, who live in North Massapequa and Massapequa, respectively, bought their tickets online two weeks ago. Theresa got permission from her mom - who also attended Thursday night's show - to go into middle school late Friday, in time for her fifth period math test.
The eighth grader was looking forward to seeing how the cinematographers captured Jacob's character morphing into a werewolf, and to the scenes when vampire Edward traveled to Italy. "I can't wait to finally get to the movie theater after waiting for so long," Theresa said. "I'm just going to be so excited; I'm finally watching it."
With Reuters
>> PHOTOS: Click here to view photos from the New Moon premiere
>> VIDEO: Watch the "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" trailer
>> PHOTOS: The 'Twilight' divide: Team Edward or Team Jacob?
