Grrrrl Power at the Box Office: ‘Twilight’ Sales Set Records
Posted on November 23, 2008 at 9:54 pm
To the surprise of no one but the Hollywood insiders, none of whom apparently have ever spoken to a teenage girl, “Twilight” set records at the box office this weekend, exceeding all predictions to bring in over $70 million, almost doubling the previous record for a movie directed by a woman. Blockbuster films have always been directed at teen boys. “Twilight” shows that teen girls are just as eager to buy tickets — often more than one — for movies that speak to their lives and interests.
E! noted:
“This is a game-changer. This is an industry-changing performance,” Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock said today. “…With the success of Sex and the City, and Mamma Mia!, we’ve awoken a sleeping giant at the box office.”
The Associated Press spoke to an expert who saw a trend:
“Teen girls rule the earth,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. “If you look back at the `Hannah Montana’ movie, how well that did, and now this movie, the teen girl audience will never be ignored again or underestimated. It was always teen boys who were the coveted ones, but someone finally caught on to the idea that girls love movies, too, and if you create something that they’re into, that they’re passionate about, they will come out in big numbers and drive the box office.”
One of my favorite reviews of the film was from my pals at the Kansas City Star, who run my parental advisory capsules each week and occasionally invite me to write reviews. My email pen pal, “resident fangirl Sharon Hoffman” added her comments to the negative review from the paper’s critic, responding to his complaints about the story and the actors by explaining what she liked about the movie. In every case, I was on her side.
I have read the first 3 books of this 4 book series in 6 days. I couldn’t put them down! As a 46 year old woman, I found the story between Bella and Edward just as exciting as a teenager would. When I went to the movie yesterday with my 68 year old mother, I found that the crowd was probably 50/50 teenagers vs. and older audience. I sat next to a couple that both read the book and he was just as excited to see the movie. I feel that the theme of finding true love and overcoming huge major obstacles is what everyone wants out of life, right?
To think that Twilight was only driven by teen fan sales is a fallacy of logic. To really understand the demographic behind these movies, you only need to look at whom bought the best selling book. The Twilight books have gathered a huge cross section of women and have struck a nerve those not so teen sence age! Mothers love this film as much as the teens and then the drag their boyfriends whom themselves are closet “Twilight” fans. You may notice that one of the biggest sites for the Twilight books is a site called “Twilight Moms”! Check it out. Paramount screwed up! Twilight has an addicited fan base that goes to midnight purchase of books. Dress up like their favorite character and then go home to put their babies in bed! ~ the hand that rocks that cradle does rule the world!
Thanks for writing, Sunshine! I am delighted that there are so many fans of this movie — both girls and women.
I am a great fan of twilight. It changes my perception about vampires. Frankly, I want to be a vampire now. This is the only movie that influence me to hope(becoming a vampire). My dream now is to become an immortal vampire with the superhuman abilities like edward. I hope that all the books will be made a movie. I can’t wait for it.
im a guy and i thought this movie was amazing.. not gay btw lol
and after the movie i read the book.. even better but it didnt ruin the movie for me because i read it after
I read the books before the movie was created and i absolutely loved em, the movie was great obviously and brought all your mental pictures to reality and it really gave me goosebumps.
When reading the books, you cant help but becoming close to the characters like their your own, and then seein them on screen…was just truly amazing.
I am a normal guy that was never really to into reading, but hearing nothin but this is great for girls and “moms” really drives me crazy.. like wth? how is this for girls? its a love story with vampires and werewolfs… im not ashamed to say it, but i love the whole series and cant wait for the next movie. im weird in a sense of i like all the “original” fans…we’ve been there since the beginning.. all these ppl talkin the shit of great girl story, yada yada…piss off…it was ours before you knew of it!
I love your comment, kylee! The books have a lot for many different kinds of readers and I am really happy to hear that you like them so much and that the movie felt as true to the book for you as it did for me. Thanks so much for writing!
I am totally team Jacob all the way!!!!!
I love twilight so much, I watch it every day before I go to bed!!!!!
lol