New Moon Eclipses Ticket Records

It gets worse: There's a dildo on the list

(NEWSER) - As thousands of fans mobbed last night’s New Moon premiere (some had been waiting since Thursday afternoon, the AP reports), Gawker runs down the 14 craziest pieces of Twilight merchandise:

• Edward Cullen panties
• Edward Cullen sock puppet
• Jacob Black light switch cover
• Vampire sparkle dildo
• Edward Cullen sweatshirt that reads, “Edward can bite my pillows, break my headboard, and bruise my body any day.”

'Muppets' hit No. 2 with $42M

(NEWSER) - Breaking Dawn was busily sucking the life out of the box office for a second weekend, taking in another $62.3 million between Wednesday and today. That performance brings its total to $221.3 million, reports the LA Times. But Twilight wasn't the only draw at the box office, with The Muppets pulling in a hefty $42 million over the holiday weekend. Arthur Christmas took third place with $17 million; Hugo grabbed fourth with $15.4 million. More»

(NEWSER) - Author Stephenie Meyer had never even been to Forks, Wash., when she chose it, with a little help from Google, as the setting for her wildly popular Twilight books. But that hasn’t stopped fans of the series and the movies it has spawned from flocking to the town, population 3,120, in droves and spawning a cottage industry of tours and Twilight -theme motel rooms that have boosted tourism threefold, the New York Times reports. More»

Twilight sequel easily beats Happy Feet Two

(NEWSER) - Bad reviews ? Ha! The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 sunk its teeth into the weekend box office, raking in $139.5 million and notching the fifth-best domestic opening ever, the Los Angeles Times reports. (Its only financial failing: missing the $142.8 million opening record set by the series' second installment, New Moon.) The only other major release this weekend, Happy Feet Two, trudged along in second place with a mere $22 million. More»

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson star in new 'Twilight '

(NEWSER) - The latest Twilight installment is, predictably, highly popular with fans ; critics are less enthusiastic as Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson continue their vampire romance.

• “Enough with Bella's depressed, ragdoll posture and her eternal gloom,” writes Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly . “A pox on Breaking Dawn ... for its contented complicity with Stephenie Meyer's ultimately awful message to millions of readers”—a message that life is “all pain” and “no pleasure.”