Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
UPDATE: Summit Entertainment's Twilight DVD went on sale Saturday at 12:01 AM. I hear it's already debuting in at least the Top 5 of all DVD one-day sales openers of the last 2 years. What a franchise! Specific numbers will be released today. (I've already tweeted that Twilight became available to Comcast customers On Demand beginning the same day as the DVD, including 3 featurettes like an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Vampire Baseball”.) Here's the Summit Entertainment news release:
Los Angeles, CA March 22, 2009 – Summit Entertainment announced today that the home entertainment release of the studio’s action-packed, modern day vampire love story TWILIGHT sold over 3 million DVD units in its first day of release. The DVD launch commenced this past Saturday morning at midnight with nationwide events during which time Summit and its retail partners provided TWILIGHT fans with the chance to celebrate the DVD release of the film. “TWILIGHT at Midnight” allowed participating retailers the opportunity to stay open late as fans lined up in impressive numbers to purchase the DVD of the epic romance at midnight parties.
Thousands of TWILIGHT fans across the nation participated in the “TWILIGHT at Midnight” event and some were surprised by filmmaker and cast appearances. 2,500 fans attended in Salt Lake City to see Rachelle Lefevre who plays Victoria; 2,000 showed up in Los Angeles to see Ashley Greene who plays Alice Cullen; over 1,000 fans came out to see director Catherine Hardwicke in Dallas; 700 fans lined up in New York for Edi Gathegi who plays Laurent; and 500 fans in Chicago saw Nikki Reed who plays Rosalie Hale.
With over 3 million DVD units sold, TWILIGHT enters the top five best first day DVD releases over the past two years along with PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END, THE DARK KNIGHT, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, and TRANSFORMERS.
Summit Entertainment’s Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger stated, “The Saturday release in conjunction with the groundbreaking retail events across the country have proven to be overwhelmingly successful which in turn benefited TWILIGHT fans as well as our retail partners. Home Entertainment President Steve Nickerson, the home entertainment group and the entire family at Summit are to be commended for the conceptualization and execution of this unique approach.”
“We are incredibly appreciative that TWILIGHT fans came out to once again support this film at our midnight events across the nation,” said Steve Nickerson, Summit’s President of Home Entertainment. “With such a successful first day sales, it is apparent that our fans remain passionate about the TWILIGHT SAGA and want to own a piece of the Edward and Bella story they have come to love. We look forward to the continued success for both the home entertainment and retail sales of this property as a whole.”
TWILIGHT, which was released in theatres on November 21, 2008, grossed $69.6 million domestically in its first weekend and to date had grossed nearly $380 million worldwide.
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Love the Vampire Baseball scene shown on On-Demand. Andy Cheng, the 2nd Unit Director, came up with such a cool concept for this.
So 7000 lonely women show up at a few WalMarts at midnight… that does NOT equate to the sales volume Summit is claiming. The only way Twilight gets near 3 million units in a single day is if they include shipments to Blockbuster, Netflix and other rentailers and call them “sales.”
Even then, given that there was an SEC investigation into this type of bragging/lying bullshit, you’d think a one-film studio would be more careful. Oh wait, isn’t someone trying to buy or merge with Summit? In that case, this is damn near criminal.
Nikki,
DHD is where I get all my news and it’s a respectable site. I have a hard time telling people that when they see me looking at flabby stomachs on the right side of the screen. Eh. Business is business I guess.
I’d just like to add myself to the list of 18-29 year olds who can read and write above an eighth grade level and are still boggling that this tripe is actually making money. If this garbage gets published and fast-tracked to a film franchise in less than three years, I’m clearly trying too hard and using far larger words than necessary. Obviously all you need is a hot guy and a damsel and handful of subpar clichés. And sparkles, apparently.
::vomits some more::
Kristen Stewart is probably one of the finest young actors of her generation, but this terrible script and indulgent directing found a way to make even her seem awful. If you need proof of her talent, check out the Indie “The Cake Eaters.”
“Twilight” just proves there’s a very large market for young women entangled in the fantasy that they need to find a man who will change their fundamental being just to be with them.
Too bad that in reality – they usually just get eaten alive.
Well, what can I say?
Crap sells. Always has, always will.
I wouldn’t buy this DVD even if they gave them away for free. Or perhaps I could use the DVD as a beer coaster.
Is it so hard to keep quiet and allow the fans of this book series and the movie to enjoy how well it’s done? I am so tired of the haters always trying to put this book series down. If you don’t like it FINE, but can’t you keep from insulting the readers and the author? And have you actually read the novels to be able to insult the content? My guess probably not, though I could be wrong, wouldn’t be the first time or last either.
BTW I’m a 30 year old married woman who can read AND write above the level of an 8th grader. If you stopped to pay attention to library numbers, this book series and its author have engaged a new wave of readers to classic novels due to the author’s use of classics in and as a back drop for these books. Speak your mind if you must but at least be intelligent when doing so from now on.
Maybe every now and again its nice to escape the nastiness of the world and find a happy ending in a book. I suppose that’s too much for some to allow to happen. Sad, it really is.
With no disrespect to the creatives involved, this whole thing is just a marketing wet dream.
Am I the only one who smells some jealousy from the first few posters? Hmm…
Maybe every now and again its nice to escape the nastiness of the world and find a happy ending in a book. I suppose that’s too much for some to allow to happen. Sad, it really is.
Melanie you are on the money..So much hating and no appreciating
To respond to Ohgoodlord, while I can read complex works by authors such as Foucault (which BTW is much higher than the standard by which you have measured your reading level), it does not mean I cannot appreciate and enjoy reading the works of Dr. Seuss.
To the rest of the negative posters: a well-read person enjoys reading a variety of literature and is able to identify with a variety of subjects. So if you cannot identify with Twilight, that’s fine, there are plenty of readers that can. A wise person recognizes that fact and accepts it rather than keep on complaining about it.
Ah yes. Jealousy and censorship. Two of the Twihards top defenses. “You hate it because you’re just jealous!” “Why can’t you haters just keep your opinions to yourselves?!”
Ever heard of freedom of speech? No, Twilight fans don’t approve of that because it means there are others that don’t have the same opinion as themselves and that drives them nuts that people don’t like Twilight.
The problem with Twilight, is that it lowers the standards for reading. Young people now think this is what makes up a good read or great literature. So many young people have said that what they’ve read after Twilight is complete garbage because it did not measure up to Twilight, or did not give them the same “tingles” that Twilight did, or none of the other characters are as “HAWT!” as Edward. Pretty sad when everything is being compared to Twilight in that way. If that is what makes up a good read for youth today, then I weep for the younger generation.
It’s not just a quick fun happily ever after read for so many. So many have turned it into an unhealthy obsession.
Whoever said “crap sells” is right. Twilight is proof of that.
I wasn’t going to post but after having been attacked and having friends needlessly attacked on other sites for their “opinions and love of all things Twilight” I feel the need to say the following.
If you read and I do mean actually read the posters that didn’t agree with the “haters”, they were responding to the fact that it’s a sad theme that people cannot dislike the movie or the series without putting the readers or the content down. Sure you have the freedom of speech and I don’t think they want to censor you, rather I think it’s more shutting up the freedom of stupidity that seems to be running rampant. How about you get your facts straight before you run off at the keyboard about this book series or its readers?
Ok so let me get this straight the problem with Twilight is that it lowers standards for reading? That’s laughable at best. Have you “Haters” even read the series? I’m curious but of course you won’t respond. It’s the hater’s way to swoop in, say your “crap” and then move on to the next website to act all righteous as if you are looking out for the next gen’s best interest. You take a few comments from some fanatical fans and run with it.
I have two younger sisters that wouldn’t have picked up half the books they have read in the last year if it wasn’t for Twilight. My mother had been trying to get them to read for years but it took a series with a STRONG female lead and a male lead that didn’t think he was god’s greatest gift to mankind, and it just so happens that he is a Vampire. He takes responsibility for his actions, and if you had read the series you would know that Bella and most of the readers don’t fall in love with Edward because he’s “hawt” in the sense of his looks but in the way he treats Bella and how much he LOVES her and the lengths he goes to show her that fact.
It has a strong family and a family with values, I can think of a lot WORSE things in the world for younger women or teenagers to look up to. So it raises the bar for younger girls to look for a man who will treat them with the respect they deserve, oh that’s horrible! How dare they look up to such a series? God forbid! And I have to agree with Melanie, is it so dang hard to allow others to read about a happily ever after? In a world of such turmoil and hate, a little love story could be a good thing.
Be smart before you post crap like weeping for the youth of today because they read and are excited about Twilight, there are much worse reasons to worry and weep for youths today. I weep for ignorance from posters like you Cake. Get a life! Come to the realization that Twilight and it’s fans aren’t going anywhere any time soon, so go and weep for the corrupt youth who are reading books, oh my god!
I have to chime in here. Being a fan of the vampire genre, I was excited to hear about the Twilight series from a friend. And even more excited to hear there would be a movie. Now, before you Twilight fans jump my case with the broken record statement of “have you even read the books?” Yes. I have. All 4 of them. I can’t even begin to tell you how disappointed I was afterwards. These books are like watching a car crash. You shouldn’t look, you don’t want to look, but you have to look. I have no problem at all with the author’s concepts. It was the execution of those concepts that left me so terribly disappointed. While I applaud the series for causing young girls to devour books with 700 plus pages, I worry that they now deem this great literature, which it most certainly is not.
Don’t even get me started on the movie. That’s 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back.
I’m with you Missy, for once it is a great thing that a lot of young teenagers are getting into reading thanks to the series.
It’s much better for them to consider the series great literature for now than to never discover the joy of reading(maybe at this point of their life it’s the best piece of literature they have read because they have not been reading anything else for pleasure). Hopefully this is something that will inspire them to continue to find books to read, whatever their interests may be.
I have seen teens that have never picked up a book or 30 somethings that have not picked up a book to read since college and the series has sparked the interest in reading, and that is a great thing. To get people off their couches and stop watching the “idiot box” (as one of my profs used to call it) and do something that actually stimulates their brain and use their imagination.
On top of that to read something that promotes some values that have been long deteriorating in our society such as virtue, family, tolerance, self respect (in women) and respect for women (in men). To teach young women that it’s ok to raise the bar and expect a man to behave in a gentlemanly manner. That to love is to always have the other person’s best interest in mind and that sometimes you have to make sacrifices for each other and that is a good thing as long as it’s two-way.
Some of us are very lucky to have a person that treat us right. I’m happy that I have my “Edward” in my life, a man that cares about me profoundly, that is always taking care of me and would undoubtedly take a bullet for me if necessary. But I look around me and I see the way other women are being treated by their husbands or boyfriends and what saddens me the most is that they have come to accept it and believe this is the way it should be.
So that is why this book touches so many women, for some it’s an escape from their reality. I urge those women to not just make it an escape but to strive to make it their reality. There are men out there who have not forgotten how to be gentlemen and who truly know what it is to love someone. Look for them, wait for them, but do not settle for anything less than what you deserve
Avid Reader I respect your opinion and I understand that not everyone is going to fall in love with the series or like it for that matter. I respect that. I happen to disagree and I will not attack you for your opinions. My greatest issue with the “haters” or those who do not like the series is the way that the readers and the author are attacked. There are ways to say you don’t like something without demeaning the readers or the author. There are several book series that I do not like but I do not go around saying that those who read it are stupid, can’t read above a certain grade level and so on. I think that everyone is entitled to their opinion but I just wish that it can be done in an adult fashion, maybe I’m asking to much.
JGarcia I agree whole heartedly with you! I love that this series had a strong female character who stood her ground. She also fought for love and didn’t settle for second best. She knew what she wanted and got it. I think it’s time that the bar is raised for the younger women in this country to stand up and say “I’m not going to let someone treat me like crap”, to find a guy that will treat them with respect. And never, never settle. I too have my “Edward” and most of my friends do too. Unfortunately there are a lot of women who still get told that they should lower their standards because “Mr. Perfect” isn’t out there. I don’t think its perfection we’re after just honest love and respect. Here’s to hoping that a ton of people read what you wrote and take it to heart!