Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
By: Julia Boorstin | CNBC Media and Entertainment Reporter
Vampires are the new black. They're cool, mysterious, appealing to all ages, and they (figuratively speaking) turn everything they touch into solid gold. Vampire-chic hit the mainstream when "Twilight" came out last year.
Now the sequel, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is expected to far surpass the first movie.
It opens in 4,000-plus theaters Friday, and it's already the top advance ticket seller of all time on Fandango and Movietickets.com. That means it's outsold "Star Wars," "Harry Potter," and "The Dark Knight."
International midnight screenings of "New Moon" have been huge; In Australia the movie grossed an estimated $1.6 million. And in its first day in theaters just in Spain and in Italy, the movie grossed nearly $5 million.
"New Moon" is on track to bring in some $100 million at the U.S. box office this weekend, and to surpass the impressive performance of the first film in the series. "Twilight," which grossed $384 million worldwide and is the year's #1 DVD, selling 8 million units in North America alone.
Summit Entertainment, the independent studio behind the movies will also cash in on Thursday, when it re-releases the original film in 2,000 theaters. That's sure to build excitement, while generating another box office boost in the process.
Needless to say the Twilight series is *great* for theater chains like Regal Entertainment and Cinemark. It should also give a boost to Hachette's Little, Brown, which publishes the series, as well as Amazon.com with its 'Twilight Store'and Barnes and Noble, which sell the book series and has dedicated merchandise sections in its stores and on its Web site complete with trivia games and interviews.
And they're not alone.
Here are some of the companies that are jumping on the Twilight bandwagon hoping to get a 'bite' of this phenomenon.
Check them out - then check out the movie trailer.
AT&T AND BURGER KING TAKE A BITE OF NEW MOON
AT&T brings New Moon Mobile
AT&T raises its cool factor by giving its subscribers special access to Twilight content.
The telecom company is partnering with Summit Entertainment to create New Moon ringtones, wallpaper, mobile games, and contests.
If AT&T customers text NEWMOON to a certain short code they can access additional content.
Burger King
Vampires would like a big, juicy burger, right?
Burger King is offering a "New Moon" fan pack promotion where customers who buy a "Burger Shots" value meal get trading card collectibles and other memorabilia.
The burger retailer is also selling collectible water bottles and B.K. Crown Cards.
Volvo goes Vampire
Edward, the protagonist vampire, drives a Volvo — a S60R — so the carmaker is wisely tapping into that exposure.
