Midnight premiere: “Twilight”

Interview

By Kaley Roberts

Posted on Nov. 24, 2008, at 12:00 a.m.

Nationwide, more than 500 midnight showings of “Twilight” took place Friday, Nov. 21. Orono’s own Spotlight Cinemas had two theaters filled nearly to capacity with fans waiting for the first look at the film phenomenon.

“We had 176 tickets sold [out of 201]. We usually hold out for the films we know are going to sell out or come close to selling out,” said Jenny White, a Spotlight employee and senior microbiology student at the University of Maine.

Female fans flocked in large numbers to the midnight show, with the occasional male enthusiast or surly boyfriend speckling the crowd.

Following the showing, moviegoers had mixed feelings about the flick.

“I . enjoyed the books a lot. I kind of had good expectations and got disappointed in the middle [of the film] because there were a lot of slow parts. But the ending’s good,” said Sara Lauter, a first-year business student.

Unlike Lauter, junior education student Ashley Kerekes and first-year English student Sarah Lingo were prepared for a less-than-stellar show.

“I really enjoyed the movie . I didn’t have high expectations for it; I didn’t think it would follow the book as well as it did . but all in all, it was a really good movie,” Kerekes said. “It was a lot better than I expected, and everything’s really kind of how I pictured it.”

Lingo was less positive about the outcome. “I had low expectations; thus, I liked it,” she said.

The film’s transition from print to screen was rough, and some filmgoers had a bone to pick with the cast and crew. Kerekes “didn’t like who they picked for the actress as Bella [Kristen Stewart] and . didn’t really like who they picked for Jacob Black [Taylor Lautner] either.”

Sophomore English student Cassandra Lueneburg felt the film “rushed a lot of parts,” but was still better than she had expected.

Lauter offered a word of advice to those planning to see the film: “Don’t bring your boyfriend; he’ll die of boredom.”

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