Twilight, the debut movie from Stephenie Meyer’s series of the same name, took $70m at the US box office this weekend, pushing Bond film Quantum of Solace into second place.
Twilight stars Harry Potter series actor Robert Pattinson as a vampire and Kristin Stewart as his fang-struck love interest. The film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, a top production designer who also directed indy film Thirteen. It’s the highest-grossing film to date by a woman director.
Vampires are coming in for a revaluation these days; no longer the creepy bloodsuckers of old they now seem to be regarded as dashing and sensitive figures with a few unfortunate issues.
As such they seem to have taken over from angels, who used to pop up in the movies from time to time to provide a contrast and tension between immortals and the earth-bound.
The Twilight series is aimed at teenies and looks set to go on to produce Harry Potter-like returns (it replaced the next Harry Potter in the pre-Christmas release list).
An intriguingly dark sign of the times.