YOU CAN'T STOP THE SPARKLE

[cleolinda]

'New Moon' Smashes 'Dark Knight's' Opening Day Record!

Which means it's already made a shade just under one hundred million ($100M), which was my original entire-weekend prediction. (ETA: Or wait, the midnight screenings are included? $72M is a bit better. Although that's still more in 24 hours than Twilight made its entire first weekend.) I'm officially revising my estimates up to $170M now. (Well, in that case, let's take it down to $140M.)

You know, I'm not surprised, exactly. It was tracking above TDK all week, and it's already the highest-grossing advance ticket seller and midnight opening. And it may be that the mainstream won't turn out the rest of the weekend. But the official @Twilight account on Twitter has been RTing messages from fans saying that, as of mid-afternoon yesterday, they had already seen the movie four and five times. Four and five times. I understand, sociologically, psychologically, emotionally, financially, why it's happening. I'm not surprised, precisely. But I'm kind of astounded.


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

Comments

[golden-d.livejournal.com]

What I want to know is, who the hell has the money to go to the movies five times in two days? (And can they give some to me, instead?)

[angelene.livejournal.com]

THIS. SO VERY MUCH THIS.

I mean, I dunno, maybe in the States movie theatre tickets sell for ridiculous prices, but... uh. Still.

[golden-d.livejournal.com]

They do sell for ridiculous prices. Just, you know. Ridiculously high ones.

[angelene.livejournal.com]

How much do they sell for, usually?

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

$10, average.

[golden-d.livejournal.com]

The most I've ever seen is $12; I'd say the norm for tickets is about $10.

[angelene.livejournal.com]

About in line with the prices down here (Italy), then. (Well, depending on location etc...). Thought they might've come cheaper.

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

It depends where and when you go. My local movie theater has a student price that's about $6, and most theaters will have cheaper prices for showings before 5pm. But still, that adds up.

[bumblebee-1983.livejournal.com]

PRECISELY. Also, teenage girls skipping school to see it at a midnight showing? WTH?

[tabbyclaw.livejournal.com]

Well, think of it this way: A lot of the audience is teenage girls who're having most of their financial needs met by their parents -- when I was young and working the only things I had to pay for myself were gas, clothes, and entertainment -- and five $10 tickets is about the same price as a moderately fancy pair of jeans. When you have no pressing expenses and know what you're willing to sacrifice, it's not that shocking.

Not that any of this changes the fact that THESE PEOPLE ARE PSYCHOTIC, but still.