Mindy Goodin, a 36-year-old teacher, was planning to take her daughter, Cydney, 10 to see the movie. DAVE ELLIS/THE FREE LANCE-STAR Visit the Photo Place

One bite leaves local 'Twilight' buffs enthralled

"Twilight" super fans excited about new movie opening

Date published: 11/20/2009

By LAURA L. HUTCHISON

They're called "Twihards"--the major fans of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" saga.

And there is no shortage of them in the Fredericksburg region. Many anxiously awaited the opening of the second movie of the saga, "New Moon," at 12:01 this morning.

It's playing at both the Marquee in Massaponax and the Regal in Central Park. The screening at Regal gives the theater a chance to show off its recently completed renovations.

Mindy Goodin, 36, of Stafford County became interested in the series fairly recently. She read the first book in April, after a suggestion from her principal.

"I thought, 'I'm not really into vampires,'" she said of the series, which features a love triangle among Bella Swan, the vampire Edward Cullen, and the werewolf Jacob Black. "But I was begging, stealing and borrowing copies from people at work. I read them all in a week. It was pretty crazy."

The first movie was on pay-per-view, and she watched it that weekend-for the first of probably 50 times. "There was no turning back," she said.

Goodin's 10-year-old daughter, Cydney, will watch the movie with her and is in the midst of reading "New Moon." Goodin has bought several "Twilight" shirts featuring Edward. She also has a "Twilight" key chain, an umbrella, books about the making of the movies, a lunchbox and Band-Aids.

She doesn't take the lunchbox to her job as a teacher at Dale City Elementary School.

"It's only for special occasions," she said. "The Band-Aids, too. You have to be hurt really bad before I'm going to let you use one of those!"

Goodin said she can't say what's drawn her to the series. "It's hard to pinpoint," she said. "I guess it brings you back to that feeling for first love. Then you throw in the action."

There's also a little bit of female self-esteem, she said. "Bella starts out insecure and weak," she said. "By the end, she is strong and sure of herself."

And then there's the boys. Goodin first fell in love with the vampire Edward.

"He loves Bella so much," she said. "He's so strong and protective. And sparkly."

When she saw the movie, her affection grew to include Robert Pattinson, who plays the centuries-old vampire.

Online ticket-seller Fandango said "New Moon" is the top advance ticket sales movie in the company's 10-year history. The company surveyed ticket buyers and found: 66% Say the love story in "New Moon" is the biggest draw in their decision to buy a ticket 39% Of moviegoers plan to take off time today--from school or work--to see the movie 57% Claim Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) is the secondary character they'd most like to see in his or her own "Twilight" spin-off movie 27% Picked "Breaking Dawn" as their favorite book in the series 16% Chose "Eclipse" 11% Voted for the first book, "Twilight" 8% Pegged "New Moon" as their favorite 38% Said they love all the "Twilight" books equally.

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Date published: 11/20/2009

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