The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Team Edward or Team Jacob? Take Your Pick

By: Rachael Lundeen

Posted: 11/19/09

Everyone seems to be talking about New Moon. After reading the book series and patiently waiting, the next installation in the Twilight series is finally hitting theaters.

"The action-packed, modern-day vampire love story and blockbuster success first film in the series was released in theatres on Nov. 21, 2008; grossing $60.9 million domestically during its first weekend. To date, the film has grossed nearly $380 million worldwide," says Summit Entertainment. New Moon is expected to be just as big.

With the midnight showings sold out, this is also a big weekend for the CineMagic Theater in Menomonie.

"We generally sell tickets up to two weeks early, but for this one we started selling tickets Sept. 25, and a third sold on first week and then completely sold out almost three weeks prior to the actual showing," said CineMagic Stadium Theater Assistant Manager, Ben Heckenkamp. "I have even had people hit me up on Facebook trying to get into the sold out showing."

Some fans have gotten emotional over this as well.

"I sold the last two tickets for the midnight showing to a mother that was buying them for her daughter." said Heckenkamp. "There was a 23-year-old woman in line behind her that started crying because they were sold out. She broke down in tears for at least ten minutes in the middle of the lobby, she even called her mom."

"New Moon will be phenomenal, because it has such a large fan base behind the stories," said Heckenkamp. "T-shirts, buttons, posters, calendars and just about anything you can imagine now have the face of Edward Cullen or Jacob Black on it. With the second book and movie, fans are now taking sides: the vampire or the werewolf. Walking through the mall last weekend, I saw numerous young girls wearing Team Jacob shirts. This book series by Stephanie Meyer is the new big thing."

Team Edward? Team Jacob? Many girls are taking sides with the characters they want the main character, Bella, to be with. The vampire who broke her heart, or the werewolf who is always there for her? What team are you on?

The teams have caused a lot of noise from fans because there has been much debate about whether Taylor Lautner would be playing the part of Jacob in the rest of the series. "The characters in Stephanie's books go through extraordinary changes of circumstance and also appearance; so it is not surprising that there has been speculation about whether the same actor would portray a character who changes in so many surprising ways throughout the series," says the film's director Chris Weitz. It has been decided that he will continue to play the part.

"I think that fans of Twilight will be surprised by the Jacob Black that Taylor will bring to the screen in New Moon; and I'm looking forward to working with him and the rest of the cast in realizing the film," says Weitz.

REVIEW: A question many people are probably wondering is, "Was the movie as good as the book?" My answer would be no. It would be impossible to reproduce a movie with the same experience that occurs in the Twilight series. Stephanie Meyer's website says, "In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality."

Another question I have heard among fans is, "What if you haven't read the book first?" The first time I saw the movie, I hadn't read the book, but I fell in love with it. I usually don't get pulled into book series that get turned into movies, but these were hard to resist. Twilight was produced brilliantly on-screen in the two-hour time period, and I don't see any reason why people who haven't read the books or seen the first movie wouldn't enjoy the second one.

I think the movie has a good amount of both action and comedy that both men and women can enjoy, even though it is technically a "love story." With the new director for New Moon, there are a few differences that people will notice. The story is definitely portrayed stronger and it is more in-depth. Also, you can see great comfort-ability between the characters as well as extremely strong chemistry between Jacob and Bella. I think most people will like this story better because it is no longer the foundation; the story is already started. In this one, it is really building upon the characters in a way that the audience can better understand what they are feeling.

"A key difference I noticed between the two movies was that with the new director, you definitely notice that sex appeal is more important. Just by looking at Jacob, you can tell that was a major factor when filming," said Heckenkamp.

The only thing I didn't like about the saga was that the script seemed rushed, like the movie should have been longer. However, I thought the new director and cast did an amazing job on keeping the phenomenon going strong. After all this, the burning question is still, "Are you on Team Edward or Team Jacob?" I just can't decide!