'New Moon' Midnight Tickets Already On Sale

Advance tickets for the first screenings The Twilight Saga: New Moon are already on sale, a little more than two months before the movie arrives in theaters. For some of you, that's all you need to read. OK then; see ya later. Others of you might be interested in some of the details, so I'll just carry on as usual. The first chain to make the sales official is Carmike Cinemas, which owns about 250 theaters, mostly in mid-size markets and smaller. Right now, 63 locations are offering tickets for the vampire sequel, which opens November 20th, although these tickets may technically say November 19th depending on where you buy them. Last week, AMC opened up sales for Avatar, which doesn't hit theaters until mid-December, and according to MovieTickets.com, the ticket sales are "healthy" for James Cameron's new 3-D bonanza, although what that precedent is, I have no idea. I guess any movement at this point is probably a good thing. As for New Moon, this strikes me more as a group sales event than Avatar, so once it starts gaining momentum, you'll see six or eight tickets go at once, which will appear like a massive amount of tickets until the movie opens and people remember exhibitors can only sell the seats they actually have. A sell-out is a sell-out. But based on the midnight crowds last year for Twilight, this one will be very well-attended.