Thoughts: The Twilight Phenomenon

It's a boring day in my world of production. After a busy Wednesday and a busy-ish start to the day yesterday, it has been really, really slow. So here I am, bored, browsing the internet, and eating a bowl of goldfish when my half interested perusal of an article on the future of renewable energy is interrupted by surprised exclamations from down the hall.

"What?!? It's SOLD OUT?"

Quantum of Solace? I think to myself.

Wrong.

While I'm sure Bond is doing a brisk business at the box office, this was not the film in question. (And yes, I didn't need to hear anything else to know it was a movie being talked about. I'm in a production office after all.) In fact, the movie being discussed hasn't even opened for wide release yet.

If you follow movies at all I bet you can guess what I'm talking about here. It's the phenom that has swept the message boards, whipped the tweens into a rioting frenzy, and I guess could be seen as the Next Big Thing.

Or I guess it isn't next. At this point it just is.

Yeah, you know. Twilight.

That's right, scheduled to open next week, Twilight is all ready selling out. And I know it's not unprecedented. Dark Knight sold out showings before it opened. Harry Potter. Star Wars Episode 1. But where these flicks were all parts of franchises well established, Twilight isn't even officially a franchise yet. Not that it won't be, they're all ready figuring out the sequels.

I'm not surprised though. Months ago when I first heard of the movie, I was surprised to learn of its rabid fan base. What the heck is Twilight and why are people freaking out about it???

I know a little bit more about Twilight now than I did then. It's a vampire book, first of all. It's the first in a series by author Stephanie Meyer and the movie is starring Kristen Stewart and some dude with crazy hair. (I'm kidding. The dude's name is Robert Pattinson). Normally I would think this would be something I'd be excited about. I love vampires and I'm a sucker for romance. Not huge on the crazy hair, but I can forgive that. Maybe if I ever got around to read the books I'd be more into it.

As it is though, I'm not surprised by the enthusiasm of the fans but I'm watching from the side lines more bemused than anything else. Could have something to do with the trailers, which leave me uninspired. I've been hearing OK things though about so who knows. Maybe it will be ok. I'm sure it will be great for the fans. And if it's anything like Harry Potter, then I bet the sequels will be even better.

As for me, I'll check out the books first.

On the subject of Twilight though. I'm sure it's a Must See for the fans. I bet it could even be enjoyable for those of us not in the know. Really though, probably bad form for a critic to call it "Must See" based on the (bad!!!) trailers. Shouldn't you wait to, you know, see a movie before glorifying it? Before sicking the unknowing public upon it? Cause yeah, rabid fandom aside. It could still totally suck.

I'm just sayin'.

For your further Twilight pleasure:

Twilight 101 on Film School Rejects


Twilight the book on Amazon


Stephanie Meyer's website

And, of course, The Trailer.