The Los Angeles Times has been talking to people who have been watching the ticket sales today for New Moon:

By 5 p.m., the movie had already sold more than $50 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada. When evening shows are included, the total will likely be more than $70 million, the people said.

Given the huge amount of pent-up interest among fans, who are rushing out to theaters on opening day, ticket sales are expected to drop significantly on Saturday and Sunday. Nonetheless, a total weekend gross of more than $110 million is all but certain and more than $120 million is very possible. That would give “New Moon” the biggest weekend gross for any movie this year and make it one of the top five pictures of all time at the domestic box office, not accounting for ticket price inflation.

Read the whole article HERE!

I really was blown away by your work on this score. Now, on the New Moon soundtrack, you submitted a song called “The Meadow.” Was that actually a demo track for what would become the New Moon score?

A: No, not at all. It’s actually the original version of the love theme that I wrote for the film. It’s the love theme in its most basic, simplified state. The score was actually recorded about a month later. And I just thought the solo piano would be the best option to match with the other songs that were on the soundtrack. I think an orchestral piece at the end would have been a bit strange or inappropriate. I wanted the music to have a real sense of movement and emotion.

Obviously, you had to be aware of how massive the fan base is for the Twilight saga, with the films, books, and chart-topping soundtracks. Did that add any pressure to you when writing the score?

A: There was absolutely no pressure at all. I was working with a good friend, Chris Weitz, who was very protective and enthusiastic of the work. And I simply took it as another film project. I didn’t think for one second that this was a huge deal. I’d actually made that mistake before, thinking that what I was doing was going to turn into something massive, and it really derails your train of thought and puts too much pressure on you. I think I’ve grown up a little bit.

Read the whole interview HERE!

Official numbers from Summit are in!

Summit has announced that The Twilight Saga: New Moon has officially set a new all-time midnight box office record, taking in $26.27M from 3514 theaters.

This shatters The Dark Knight’s $18.4M midnight debut for a 3-day weekend. It also easily surpasses the all-time record for midnight showings which was held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which took in $22.2M on a Tuesday night on its way to a 5-day weekend total of $158M. The Dark Knight went on to take in $67.17M that opening day, dropped 29.1% from Friday to Saturday to bring in another $47.65M, and ended with $43.6M on Sunday for an opening weekend total of $158.4M.

TY to the Lexicon. Source: Larry at ProNetworks