TWILIGHT: The Internet Crucial to its Success

Stephanie Meyer grew her books’ readership with a constant, open, grateful and helpful online presence

By Susan Carpenter

November 29, 2008

Mania is almost too sedate a term to describe the ongoing frenzy surrounding “Twilight,” Stephenie Meyer’s mega-hit young adult series about a devastatingly handsome vampire and the plain-Jane human he wants to sink his teeth into.

Since 2005, when the first of the four books was published, more than 25 million copies of the “Twilight ” saga have been sold worldwide. At least 350 fan sites have cropped up online. And the movie, which opened Nov. 21, has been the season’s breakout hit; it’s grossed close to $100 million in fewer than 10 days, the kind of numbers that guarantee sequels.

Yet only five years ago, no one had even heard of Meyer. In 2003, she was a 29-year-old stay-at-home mother who spent her days doing what any other Phoenix mom was doing: chasing her kids around and trying to keep her sanity. Going from maternal obscurity to cultural phenomenon in a scant five years is no easy feat. Like so many success stories, hers was a combination of hard work, dumb luck and being in the right place — and doing the right things — at the right time, including a brilliant and strategic use of the Web.

Read the rest of the article here.

Read our other posts on TWILIGHT here, here, here and here.

Update: TWILIGHT Movie Sequel Gets Green Light!

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The makers of hit film “Twilight” said they have given the go-ahead to produce a new movie based on the second book, “New Moon”, in the popular series of vampire novels by Stephenie Meyer.

“Twilight,” which tells the story of a 17 year-old girl and her love of a teenage vampire, had a blockbuster debut in U.S. and Canadian box offices this past weekend taking in an estimated $70 million.

Summit Entertainment, the film’s producer and distributor, said on Saturday it would move forward with a second feature film, also to be called “New Moon.

In a statement, Meyer said she was “thrilled” to be making another movie. “I don’t think any other author has had a more positive experience with the makers of her movie adaptation than I have had with Summit Entertainment,” she said.

Read full article here.

Read our other posts on Twilight here, here and here.

TWILIGHT Box Office: Highest Opening for a Female Director!

According to the AP:

Catherine Hardwicke’s film also enjoyed the biggest opening ever for a female director, blowing away the previous standard of $41.1 million set by Mimi Leder ‘s “Deep Impact” in 1998.

Way to go Catherine!

Check out our other posts on this story here and here.

TWILIGHT Scores $70 Million Opening!

As the weekend draws to a close, studios place Twilight’s opening weekend haul at $70.6 million.

Whether you’re a fan of the novels or not, this is great news for the YA novel market, for the horror market, and for the tween and teen girl demographics.  And it proves once again that the adaptation of successful novels is still a powerful force at the box office!

And Brandon Gray of www.boxofficmojo.com said, “This is a huge opening, no asterisk!”

We at the Ghost Radio blog have been pleased that many Twilight readers are embracing Ghost Radio.  And we will continue to cover this story because we feel its an important one for a segment of the industry that we care deeply about.

TWILIGHT On Pace to Break Box Office Records!

Despite some poor word of mouth, Twilight fans seem to be coming out in droves.

Here’s what Entertainment Weekly has to say:

Twilight is off and running on a record pace at the box office. The film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-romance saga scored $7 million from shows at midnight on Thursday, and it’s on pace to bank as much as $30 mil on Friday, Variety reports. That Harry Potter-esque sum would rank in the Top 20 of the biggest opening-day grosses in history. Moreover, the film is almost assured of exceeding its expected $60-mil-plus first-weekend haul — by far. Check back for updates all weekend, including a special Saturday bulletin and Sunday’s Box Office Report.

See the full article here.

Dueling TWILIGHT Reviews!

So is the new movie based on Stephanie Myer’s best selling young adult vampire series worth seeing?  Is it a chick flick?  Do you have to read the books first?

In order to examine all these issues, Dread Central has posted two reviews.  One by a man, one by a woman.  One a fan of the books, one not.

We think you’ll be surprised by their area of disagreement.

Check the reviews out here.