Los Angeles - Thousands of fans flocked to the premiere of the Twilight sequel, New Moon, Monday night as the stars of the hit vampire franchise and many celebrities gathered for its first public showing. The event, at Mann's Village Theatre in the posh Los Angeles suburb of Westwood, saw the movie's stars Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristin Stewart mingle with other entertainment icons like Eminem, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jamie Kennedy, Ryan Seacrest, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Emma Roberts and Richie Sambora.
The premiere kicked off a final publicity blitz in advance of the film's general release Friday, when its rush of teenage fans are expected to make it one of the hottest movies of the year.
Based on the bestselling book series by Stephenie Meyer, the film is already the biggest pre-release title in online ticket sales, according to movie ticket website Fandango.
So far advance sales are ahead of previous record holders: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince, The Dark Knight, and New Moon's predecessor Twilight, which ended up taking in almost 400 million dollars at box offices worldwide.
According to the Los Angeles Times, fans of the movie started lining up last week to catch a glimpse of the stars on bleachers set up outside the premiere. With some fans arriving from as far away as Australia, the exterior of the theatre looked like a campground by Saturday. By the time of the premiere, an estimated 3,000 fans were on hand, many displaying posters, T-shirts and other paraphernalia in homage to the movie's star.
Heart-throb Pattinson admitted on the red carpet that he was overwhelmed. "I don't think most people will get to experience something quite like this," said Pattinson, who had just returned from the movie's international promotional tour. "The premiere is about ten times bigger than at any other city in the world."
