Fan Fare

Fans seek midnight romance under light of “New Moon”

Fans lined up Thursday night at movie theaters to be among the first to get bitten by the “New Moon” phenomenon, the sequel to last year’s “Twilight.” The vampire romance movie ended up setting a box office record of $26.3 million for those midnight screenings by drawing fans like the ones profiled in our Fan Fare video below.

Who will go to “New Moon?” Lots of teen girls, for sure, but also moms who are into the story, young women and the men they drag along on dates. Those groups are expected to snap up tickets to the tune of about $100 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices this weekend. That’s a lot of howling at the “New Moon.”

“New Moon,” of course, has generated plenty of buzz. Tracking firm Trendrr said that in the last three months, more than 100,000 “New Moon” related videos have been added to YouTube.com. Trendrr also said that on Thursday, Twitter.com received more than 91,000 posts related to “New Moon.”

But despite all that popularity, the Vatican is not on-board. This week, an official with the Catholic Church called the film “nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message.” This despite influential film critic Roger Ebert saying that the “Twilight Saga is an extended metaphor for teen chastity.” Who to believe?

“Idol” finalist Danny Gokey gets countrified with record deal

Competing this year on “American Idol,” contestant Danny Gokey often sought to cut an image in viewers’ minds as an R&B singer, but now that a record label tied to the TV program has flashed a contract in front of him, the Wisconsin native has decided he’s a country singer.

Gokey has signed to 19 Recordings/RCA Records Nashville and plans to release a country album next year, the label said on Wednesday. In a statement, Gokey said, “I didn’t realize the ‘Idol’ experience would give me a musical direction, but it did.”

“Transformers” topples box office, fans give their reviews

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” does not have most critics on its side, but with its $200 million-plus first five days in the U.S. and Canada, the movie starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox has box office watchers buzzing. Read the box office report here.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com Box Office, said “Transformers” is now No. 2 on the list of highest grossing, five-day debuts of all time. The top spot belongs to last summer’s “The Dark Knight” with $203.8 million.