Girl-meets-boy stories are not the usual stuff of Hollywood blockbusters, even when it's girl-meets-vampire.
Neither are stories created by women, with a predominantly female audience, shot on a bargain budget with a cast of relative unknowns and released by an independent distributor trying to establish a niche among Hollywood's half-dozen studio behemoths.
But, teenage girls from around the North Shore — and their mothers — are counting the hours until midnight tonight, when the film version of the book "Twilight" opens in theaters. Some will show up to school and work sleepy-eyed tomorrow; others will wait until the weekend to see the film, based on the first in a series of four novels by best-selling author Stephenie Meyer. Rest assured, most fans will have seen the film before week's end.
Karen Hackney, a mother from Marblehead, recently bought tickets online for herself and her two daughters. They'll see the movie Sunday at AMC Loews at Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers.
"Twilight" is the story of forbidden romance between two teenagers — Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), an immortal vampire, and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a "different" girl in small, rainy Forks, Wash. The two face many obstacles: Friends and family disapprove of their true love; Edward must resist his primal urge to drink Bella's blood; and he has to protect her from other, blood-thirsty vampires.
The movie has a few stunts and clever visuals, but it's far from the special-effects extravaganzas that dominate the movie business. It was shot for $37 million, a pittance compared with big studio movies that can cost four or five times more.
What "Twilight" does offer is epic star-crossed romance, melodrama, peril, an attractive young cast and an action-packed finale. But mostly, it has arguably the most passionate fan base of any literary adaptation since "Harry Potter" — with T-shirts, a sound-track and a book of stills from the upcoming film on sale.
Middle- and high-school students, and parents, have devoured the "Twilight" series since the first book came out in hardcover in 2005. The "Twilight" series, including subsequent books "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn," has spent 66 weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List.
One would think that a book about vampires with violent themes would not be appropriate for teens, but local parents and educators agree the book is full of positive themes, such as abstinence, religion, chivalry, politeness and selflessness.
"('Twilight') is the first book (we've read) that's so true to life, and it's helped us discuss things that are central to their own lives," said Hackney, about her two daughters, Anne, 13, a seventh-grader at Veterans Middle School, and Laura, 15, a sophomore at Marblehead High School.
Laura read the "Twilight" series first, her mom said. When "Twilight" appeared on Anne's summer reading list this year, Karen Hackney took an interest. Originally concerned the book would have too much graphic adult content for young Anne, Hackney picked it up in August, while her daughters were visiting relatives. She liked it so much, she read all four novels in a week, bonding with Laura and Anne over the phone for an hour to an hour and a half a night.
"('Twilight') had none of the darkness and explicitness of other vampire novels," such as Ann Rice's, said Hackney. "The basic values that you want to teach your children were coming from a vampire."
"Twilight" will have to contend with the Disney family flick "Bolt," an animated canine adventure opening the same day and featuring the voices of John Travolta and teen idol Miley Cyrus.
No one in Hollywood expects "Twilight" to put up numbers anywhere near a "Harry Potter," whose five installments have averaged $90 million over opening weekend.
However, sales for "Twilight" have been brisk, with MovieTickets.com and competitor Fandango.com reporting hundreds of shows already sold out more than a week in advance. Both companies reported that "Twilight" initially was outselling "Quantum of Solace," even though the new James Bond flick opened a week earlier.
Summit Entertainment has good reason to believe "Twilight" will have more box-office bite than your typical teen soap opera and has three potential sequels to make if "Twilight" does well enough, so the studio has sought to expand the audience further to pack in young males.
A solid male audience seems possible, considering "Twilight" features a studly male with superpowers, a pack of ravenous bloodsuckers and fetching young women, both human and vampire.
"I don't see it as only girl-oriented, because I think guys really like vampires, too, and they like hot girls," said director Catherine Hardwicke. "When we've shown it to our little family and friends screenings, the boys liked it as much as the girls. Just because the early adopters, the first ones that read it, were girls, I don't think it needs to stay there.
"If you're a guy and you want to pick up chicks, you should go see 'Twilight."'
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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