New Moon starts frenzy

By Kelly Yates
TWIHEARTS lined up at Village Cinemas Fountain Gate last week to catch a glimpse of the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s hit Twilight, New Moon.
Village Cinemas Fountain Gate manager Robbie Ager said there were two screenings of New Moon at the opening last Thursday, one at 12.01am and the other at 12.15am.
Mr Ager said they ran a second screening because the 300 tickets for the first session sold out within a week of going on sale.
“We knew there would be a great demand for the film,” he said. “Tickets for the second screening sold progressively up until a week prior to the opening night.”
The film, which is based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer, stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.
Mr Ager said there was excitement and energy among more than 600 movie-goers.
“The amount of people at the cinema was similar to when we screened Star Wars about four years ago,” he said.
“Many people came dressed as the characters from Star Wars on the opening night yet for New Moon many wore tee-shirts and badges promoting the film.”
Local fans Jessica Michael and Rishni Gunasekera, both aged 14, told the News they were die hard Twilight fans.
“We’ve both read the books like six times and got our movie tickets about six months ago,” Jessica said.
“We’ve been counting down the hours and minutes to see New Moon.”
Since the opening of New Moon at Village Cinemas Fountain Gate, Mr Ager said the cinema had attracted around 20,000 people, with the majority seeing New Moon.
Mr Ager is anticipating New Moon will screen for the next eight to 10 weeks.