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?

For the uninitiated, “New Moon” is the second installment in the “Twilight” franchise based on the books by Stephenie Meyer. In the books and the movies, high school student Bella Swan (Kristen Stewartin the films) falls in love with the vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). But in “New Moon,” there’s another boy competing for Bella’s affection, and that is werewolf Jacob Black, played by 17 year-old actor Taylor Lautner, photographed above at right. As a result, some fans going to “New Moon” are on Team Edward and some are on Team Jacob. As if any fan support is going to change which way Bella’s vampire-loving heart really leans.

Check out the video below.

Zac Efron, a graduate of Disney’s star machine and teen heart-throb of the “High School Musical” series and “17 Again,” is not the biggest fan of his own movies.

And he’s not the only one. “Twilight” stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are not exactly talking their own work up either.

With his latest film “Me and Orson Welles” due out next month, Efron told Nylon Guys magazine, “It’s the first time I’ve ever watched a movie (that I’m in) and in the end I’m like, ‘OK! I didn’t check my watch once!”

In fairness to Efron, he is only 21 year-old, so it’s not like he has the long list of movie credits of, say, a Jack Nicholson. Maybe it takes him a while to get warmed up, and he will have some other favorite roles after “Me and Orson Welles.”

But that does not sit well with some Disney fans.  At the Disney fan website, DisneyDreaming.com, they whipped up an article titled “Zac Efron Disappoints Us Again” after his latest comment.

“C’mon Zac Efron, really? We love your movies, and we support all of your roles,” the short article states. “And on top of that, we PAY to watch your movies in theater, purchase them on DVD and buy paraphernalia with your face on it. The LEAST you could do is act like you enjoyed those movies too.”

Wow, who knew those Mickey Mouse ears could be so sharp?

“Twilight” star Robert Pattinson recently told a British publication that watching himself on-screen is painful, especially when it comes to this year’s art house film “Little Ashes,” in which he played Salvador Dali.

“It’s like self-flagellation, so why would I bother,” Pattinson said in the piece. “… It was hard to watch my first scene in which I turn up in this funny little hat.”

Meanwhile, Pattinson’s “Twilight” co-star Kristen Stewart is also feeling some ennui. She tells Interview magazine that the hype around her movie has her feeling the blues.

“The sad thing is that I feel so boring because ‘Twilight’ is literally how every conversation I have these days begins - whether it’s someone I’m meeting for the first time or someone I just haven’t seen in a while.”

The question is whether the rest of the public is getting bored with Efron, Pattinson, Stewart et al as well?

(Corrects last paragraph to replace Cullen with Pattinson) 

Robert Pattinson is looking to put some distance between himself and the lovestruck vampire he played in last year’s surprise hit movie “Twilight.” In remarks to OK! Magazine, the British-born Pattinson compared Edward Cullen’s fan appeal to women’s age-old love affair with the bad boy.

“With virtually anyone, the nice guys always seem to come last,” Cullen told OK! in remarks posted on the magazine’s website on Tuesday. “You always get weirdos like Edward who seem to attract women for some reason.” 

“If Edward wasn’t a fictional character and you met him in reality, he is like one of those guys who would probably be an axe murderer or something,” the actor added.

What do the hard-core “Twilight” fans, or “Twihards” as they’re known, think of that comment? Does it detract from the appeal of the vampire romance movie series that features Cullen, as the dark vampire heartthrob at the center of it all?

Pattinson continues to star in the movie series, with sequel “New Moon” due out on Nov. 20. Pattinson is a rising star who was virtually unknown before playing Cullen in “Twilight,” so slamming the character he is most famous for portraying is an interesting move on his part.

“People just project their idea of my character on to me and they just seem to assume that I’m the same, when in reality I’m not,” Pattinson told OK!

Wannabe vampires can now suck up some "Twilight" love -- ummm, read fashion -- at department store Nordstrom. The retailer has announced a deal with Summit Entertainment for an exclusive clothing and jewelry collection inspired by the upcoming film "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

"Twilight," of course, is the smash hit movie romance ($382 million global box office) about a teenager (Bella Swan) and her forbidden love for a vampire (Edward Cullen) and all the blood-sucking complications that can bring. "New Moon" is its sequel, due in theaters this November.

Shoppers can find their plaid tunics, "Team Jacob" T-shirts or "I love Edward" heart pendants starting October 1. The collection, created by Awake Inc, "reflects the mood and spirit of the film," according to a press release. Prices range from $32 for a T-shirt to $58 for a jacket.

An Entertainment Weekly blog described the line as "supercute" but bemoaned the lack of life-size cutouts of heartthrob Robert Pattinson (Edward) in a suit for sale. That's him at right with Kristen Stewart (Bella).

Nordstrom is also holding events in stores in advance of the release of the second installment of the vampire saga, including advance screening parties, and has launched an online countdown on a special website.

But if you're trying to re-create a bare-chested werewolf look, don't go to Nordstrom -- there's no love there. You're on your own.

(Photo: Reuters)

Move over “Twilight”. Harry Potter’s spells are way more potent.

The new movie “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” just blasted box-office records by taking in $22.2 million in midnight screenings alone in the United States — and that’s before most fans even woke up to premiere day of the sixth instalment of the wizard franchise.

Harry and his Hogwart pals also regained their place among the top three of advance sales tickets of all time — an honor it lost to vampire blockbuster “Twilight” last year.

The bumper figures give the lie to recent suggestions in some media that Potter might be losing his magic with those who started reading his books 12 years ago when they were kids, but who are now well into their teens — and older.

With “Half-Blood Prince” already having won the first skirmish in the popularity battle with “Twilight”, everything is pointing to a massive opening weekend box office.

Are you a fan of both Potter and “Twilight” and is it fair to draw comparisons between them?

With the latest Harry Potter movie opening across North America tomorrow, “The Half-Blood Prince” is already — and perhaps expectedly — among the hottest-selling movie tickets of the year.

From Alaska to Florida, 2,500 midnight showtimes of “The Half-Blood Prince” have sold out, according to Fandango, a top movie and entertainment online ticket seller.

The website is currently selling an average of eight Harry Potter tickets per second.

It seems the British boy wizard has cast the right spell to reclaim his spot among the top 3 advance-ticket sellers of all time, a coveted honor lost last fall to “Twilight”.

In fact, by the end of the day, “The Half-Blood Prince” may even outpace “The Dark Knight” in advance-ticket sales.

“Harry Potter fans are insanely loyal,” said Fandango spokesperson Harry Medved. “And it’s clear that the online buzz and positive reviews for ‘The Half-Blood Prince’ are fueling the online ticket sales.”

This should come as a surprise to the Wall Street Journal.

An article posted Friday on their website argued that Harry Potter fans were getting too old for spellbooks and Quidditch.

The article further stated the average teen would rather spend time with “the gorgeous vampire (Robert Pattinson) who fights his own biological destiny to fall in love with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a human girl” in the Twilight series.

While there is no denying Potter fans are growing up (the first Harry Potter book was published in 1997), are they really ready to abandon the boy wizard en masse?

The numbers suggest most fans have room for both.

Fifty-five percent of people who plan to see “The Half-Blood Prince” said they are also fans of the Twilight series of books, according to Fandango.

And 59 percent of people who plan to see “The Half-blood Prince” said they are looking forward to “New Moon”, the upcoming Twilight movie.

But there is one category where Harry Potter has Twilight beat.

While 63 percent of people planning to see “The Half-Blood Prince” are female, there is still a sizable group of males looking forward to watching Harry Potter’s latest adventure on screen.

“It’s not like Twilight,” said Medved. “That was 80-90 percent female.”

Medved added that Twilight’s popularity may have been fueled by the fact that “The Half-Blood Prince” was delayed from its original release date in November of 2008.

“A lot of fans had to satisfy themselves with ‘Twilight,’” said Medved. “I’m assuming that some went to see ‘Twilight’ to get their fantasy and romance fix.”

The draw of a romance-infused plot line has not escaped the “Half-blood Prince” producers. If this trailer is any indication of what is to come, the latest movie promises plenty of romance.

As the film industry looks ahead to box office business after “Harry Potter,” with the lucrative franchise due to wind up in the summer of 2011, one person in as good a position as most to offer an opinion on what may be the next big film series suggests that the “Twilight” vampire romances could fill the void.

“Harry Potter” 1-5 have amassed $4.5 billion at global box offices so far, and with HP 6, otherwise known as “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, due to hit cinemas this week, the cash tills look set to go on ringing. HP 7, the final book in J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard series, has been split into two movies, meaning that at the current rate, the 8-movie series could take a cool $7.2 billion.

Last year’s first outing for the “Twilight” series, based on the Stephenie Meyer books, made $380 million worldwide, according to www.boxofficemojo.com, a far cry from HP 1. But the word — and more to the point, the hype — appears to be spreading beyond U.S. shores, and with heartthrob lead actor Robert Pattinson causing hysteria wherever he breathes, the momentum could grow.

Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry in the “Potter” pictures, knows how Pattinson feels.

“The thing that’s interesting for me is that it’s the only other franchise really which comes close to ‘Potter’ in terms of the mania that surrounds it and the attention that the leads get and how global it is,” he told reporters in London recently. “So part of me doesn’t actually want to have an opinion on the film.”

Underlining the pressures superstardom can bring, Pattinson was hit by a taxi in New York last month while trying to flee a crowd of hysterical teenage fans. He was not seriously hurt.

Radcliffe is under no illusions about why the girls scream when they see him.

“I go to Japan and they all scream and it all goes mad and it happens all over the world, but that’s a different type of me, that’s the me that’s on red carpets and stuff and that’s who a lot of people seem to be attracted to and fancy and stuff. But the me who sits in a darkened room for eight hours watching cricket with a big bowl of pasta in my socks and underwear is not nearly as appealing to women.”

The lovelorn vampires of “Twilight” will vie for top honors at the Teen Choice Awards on Aug. 9 with the singing stars of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.”

“Twilight” garnered 12 nominations, ahead of 10 for “High School Musical 3.” Miley Cyrus and the teen soap “Gossip Girl” also scored 10 each, while event hosts the Jonas Brothers snagged nine.

The ceremony will be held at the Gibson Amphithreatre near Hollywood, and will be broadcast on Fox the next day. Fans aged 13 to 19 can each vote once daily for their top picks at teenchoiceawards.com.

“Twilight” stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart were respectively nominated for choice movie actor and actress in the drama category. The film’s other nods included choice movie in both the drama and romance catgories. Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed and Ashley Greene will compete for fresh face awards, and Cam Gigandet for the villain award.

The only head-to-head competition between “Twilight” and “High School Musical 3″ in the movie category was in the liplock category: Stewart and Pattinson vs. Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron. Cyrus was also nominated, along with her “Hannah Montana 3″ co-star Lucas Till.

Efron was also nominated for choice movie actor in the music/dance category, alongside co-star Corbin Bleu. Till and “Hannah Montana” co-star Jason Earles will also compete. In the actress race, Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale were up against Cyrus. Cyrus also picked up nominations in the TV and music races, and in random races such as choice female hottie.

(Writing and reporting by Laura Isensee)

These days vampires seem to be all love and no bite.

Or they bite mainly when they’re making love, as in the case of “True Blood,” the original HBO series that premieres its second season on Sunday, and is the focus of aggressive marketing with an advertisement that took over the front page of the ailing Los Angeles Times on Friday.

The series, based on Charlaine Harris’ book series called the “Southern Vampire Mysteries,” tells the story of telepathic Sookie Stackhouse, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton in a small Louisiana town where vampires have come out of the coffin, so to speak.

The show stars Anna Paquin and is one of HBO’s brightest hopes after the cable channel suffered the one-two punch of losing “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under.”

The series also is part of the latest phenomenon of vampires biting into movies and television.

The blockbuster “Twilight,” featuring rising stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, recently swept the MTV Movie Awards and the trailer for “New Moon,” the second installment in the movie series, earlier this month received 10.6 million online views in its first week..

Also showing its fangs again is an erstwhile vampire favorite. Producers say a new “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” movie is in the works, following on the original 1992 movie which morphed into a popular television series from Joss Whedon that ran from 1997 to 2003. Cable channel the CW will debut a new series in the fall called “Vampire Diaries” that tells the story of a love triangle between a girl and two vampire brothers, one good and one evil. So it seems producers are seeing an opportunity to make a killing from the vampire craze.

Even Alan Ball, the creator of “True Blood,” joked about audiences’ thirst for blood-sucking drama, at the screening of the second season at Paramount Pictures Studio this week, and how he’s constantly asked why people are so fascinated with vampires.

“Usually I answer with something vague about vampires being sexy or we’ve all known somebody who’s sucked the life out of us,” Ball said, drawing laughs from the audience.

“But I don’t really say what I truly believe which is: Why are people so fascinated with vampires? I don’t know! Why do we have appendices? Why are they still making Hummers? Who are Jon and Kate and why does anyone care? Some questions just cannot be answered,” Ball joked.

How is this latest generation of blood-suckers different from others, like the classic Dracula?

“The main difference is that they are very complex in their portrayal of characters and relationships … You didn’t see that in the others that were really blood and gore, violent and campy ,” said Elayne Rapping, a professor of American studies at the University at Buffalo.

Rapping said the latest vampire hits are more like soap operas. And the unrealistic story line makes the intense emotional entanglements possible. With a more realistic story line, “it would seem too goofy, really,” Rapping said.

By Nivedita Bhattacharjee 
 
As Bella and Edward move ahead, Hot Topic is all set to move with them.
 
After cashing in on Twilight's success, Hot Topic has snapped up an exclusive deal for New Moon, the much awaited movie sequel to the star-crossed vampire romance.
 
And in good time too.

Priced at $22, the New Moon T-shirts might just be Hot Topic's trump card for the season, and it looks like the retailer is leaving nothing to chance when it comes to promoting them. 
 
Ads for the T-shirts hold top spots on its website.  The company has also been sending out promotional emails to leverage interest in the items, available months ahead of the movie's Nov. 20 release.
 
Pali Research analyst Amy Noblin received one such mailer, and says this unexpected arrival could benefit June sales results for the company. 
 
Hot Topic had boasted of a solid performance for months on end, but forecast a second-quarter loss, saying fewer people visited its stores after Easter.
 
The usually fashion-savvy company seems to have run into some trouble inventory-wise — its neon-bright jeans aren't selling too well, and its super-successful Twilight merchandise lost some sheen over the months.

While most analysts, including Pali's Noblin, are still upbeat on the company, one confessed in a research note to have "underestimated the impact of the Twilight franchise on the company's overall business."  Yes, it seems the lure of the vampire caught even FBR Capital Markets' Adrienne Tennant a little by surprise.
 
And Noblin says Hot Topic will need the new merchandise to match tough comparisons driven by Twilight.
 
When that is the case, will New Moon make Hot Topic stores shine bright?

(Reuters photo)