Underestimating Twilight

Early reviews have been mostly positive for Twilight, but I still hold my doubts. Most of these people had low expectations to begin with and came out pleasantly surprised. I, on the other hand, hold high expectations and expect the movie to deliver.

Last week, I found out that some of the cast members were going around to some of the nation's major malls to sign autographs and meet fans. On Monday, three of the cast members, Taylor Lautner, Edi Gathegi, and Rachelle Lefevre (Jacob, Laurent, and Victoria), came to Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, WA which is only a few miles away. They are holding these signings inside Hot Topic stores. I thought to myself, "Self, isn't Hot Topic a small venue to hold such a big event." We were going to go, but found out that it would cost $30 and would most likely be packed. Maybe if it were Bella or dreamy Edward, we would have gone, but not for Jacob, Laurent, and Victoria. Although, Taylor Lautner will be playing a bigger role in the next two movies if they get made. I see a bright future for him in the Teen Bop world.

I really think people are underestimating the Twilight fanbase. Sure, it's not as big as the Harry Potter crowd, but there's something that this crowd has that the HP crowd doesn't: 13-year-old girls.


Pictured above is the riot that ensued at a San Francisco mall where Robert Pattinson (Edward) was going to be doing signings. The Hot Topic there was expecting 300-500 people to show up; they got 3,000. Apparently a few of the teenage fans were trampled and one girl reportedly broke her nose. The event was canceled for safety reasons. Reportedly, some fans had traveled with their families all the way from Los Angeles, Hawaii, and Arizona.


By the way, the Seattle signing went just dandy.

My point is that the movie is being incredibly underestimated. It is not going to even come close to winning an Academy Award, but the fans are going to carry this one into success. The soundtrack is #1 on the Billboard charts. It is already sold out in 100+ theatres and is expected to sell out in 100 more before its release on November 21st. I'm looking forward to it.


As a side note, you know that episode of Family Guy where Peter is in Chinatown and keeps going up to every Chinese man and saying, "Oh my god, it's Jackie Chan!" Well, I wanted to do the same thing when we went to the mall the other day, except I wanted to run up to every 13-year-old girl and yell, "Oh my gosh, it's Miley!" I guess there are worse role models young tweens could be looking up to.