'Twilight' Midnight Screenings Bring in $7 Million

I'm glad I saw Twilight with its most loyal supporters. I lined up two hours early to take my seat at a midnight showing of the new teen vampire love story, and I have a few observations:-Even in a theater packed with fans, the movie lacked energy -I'd say 15 - 20% of the crowd were women over the age of 30 -It may not do the repeat business we might have thought -With its midnight screening numbers, it may not need toI attended my screening at the busiest theater in the state of Arizona, and was told by no less an authority than the president of that chain that its midnight screening ticket sales were higher throughout Phoenix for Twilight than they were for The Dark Knight. So a big weekend is definitely on the horizon.How big that weekend is remains to be seen, but Variety is reporting that the film sold $7 million worth of tickets for its midnight screenings nationwide, well ahead of Sex and the City, which earned $2.5 million in the witching hour in May. There are some 3am shows sprinkled in there, too, I would think. Variety used the fan loyalty for Sex and its eventual weekend box office as a predictor for Twilight's success. I don't think there's much of a direct comparison, because the Sex and the City crowd is not strictly speaking your midnight movie audience. But the point is hard to miss: If Twilight can do $20 million on Friday, it would probably be in the ballpark for a $55 million weekend, and if you add $7 million to that, you're in the sixties. We predicted $66 million for the film in our Fearless Forecast. You're wondering, and rightly so, how it compares to The Dark Knight, which had midnight, 3am, and 6am shows on its record-shattering opening day this summer. The answer is, not bad. The Dark Knight made $17 million, but had a lot more available screenings. So even if you say Twilight did half as well for the overnight period, that could mean a $25 million Friday or more.Since we last reported its sales figures, Twilight has vaulted from sixth on Fandango's list of advance ticket sales to third. And that only took Thursday. It finishes its early sales behind only Revenge of the Sith and The Dark Knight.