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Twilight stars Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner pose ahead of German premiere in Berlin

Twihards are breathing new life into movie theaters this weekend.

The passionate “Twilight” fans already are turning out in droves to see the beginning of the end for the hugely popular vampire and werewolf series. Midnight screenings early Friday generated $30.3 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1,” according to studio Summit Entertainment. With many showtimes already sold out, box-office watchers predict the weekend tally will reach a massive $140 million through Sunday. Summit’s more conservative projection sees $110 million to $125 million for the first of the franchise’s two-part finale. Either way, the movie, which features a vampire-human wedding and pregnancy, looks set to record the year’s second-highest debut behind boy wizard Harry Potter’s summer farewell. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2″ opened to a staggering $169 million in July.

For families, dancing penguins return in 3D for “Happy Feet Two.” Box-office watchers forecast about $30 million domestically for the animated movie from Warner Bros. Elsewhere, new drama “The Descendants” starring George Clooney as a Hawaiian father grappling with a family crisis hits 29 theaters this weekend. The Fox Searchlight film, touted as an Academy Award contender, opened in five locations on Wednesday.

(Photo credit: Reuters)

Check out the popularity of vampires and werewolves, Taylor Swift and caped superheros in the online trading world.

Swaptree.com,  an online company that allows consumers to trade books, CDs, DVDs and video games for free with others, provided its top swaps of 2009.

Topping the books lists among most traded were "The Host," which topped four offerings in the Twilight series.  Albums by Taylor Swift (pictured) claimed the top two spots on the most traded CDs list, while "The Dark Knight," the latest Batman movie, was No. 1 on the movies list. The most traded video game was Wii Fit.

Check Out the top products on Amazon.com.
 
Amazon.com just came out with its "best of" lists for 2008.  Since Amazon is best known for selling books (even though it offers everything from groceries to jewelry these days), we thought you might want to know which titles were the hottest this year.

No surprise to tween girls or their parents, the best-selling book was "Breaking Dawn," also known as the fourth book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga.

The book that got the most positive reviews was "The Revolution: A Manifesto" by Ron Paul. Meyer's "Twilight" got the most positive reviews for a Kindle book. Of course, Amazon's Kindle was the best-selling electronic item on its 2008 list.
 
The book most frequently purchased as a gift? It was the first book in Meyer's series, "Twilight" - the one that became a hit movie when it opened in November.
 
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