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"The Twilight Saga: New Moon," based on the second book of the wildly popular series by Stephenie Meyer, opens today. The movie is one of the most highly anticipated of the year, recently becoming Fandango's biggest advanced ticket-seller ever -- beating the likes of "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter." Droves of "twi-hards" are eager to watch the next chapter of the series play out on the big screen, immersed in the romance between Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black's evolution into a wolf.
Some local fans of the four-book series, however, have other motives for watching.
"I want to see how many things they mess up," said 13-year-old Shelby Keating, who's read the complete "Twilight" saga five times (that's 12,740 pages combined). She and her friends have created Facebook quizzes for only the most obsessed bookworms -- "We flip to a random page in one of the books and then come up with a random fact." An ardent reader, Shelby says the movies could never compare to Meyer's books.
Savannah Tuten -- who proudly claims to have read "Breaking Dawn," the fourth book in the series, 73 times -- agrees.
"Key fact of life: Books are always better than movies," the 13-year-old said. "There are no limitations in books."
Despite their distaste for the "Twilight" movie and its sequel, the eighth-graders at H.E. McCracken Middle School remain enthralled with the story. "New Moon" picks up with Bella and Edward enjoying their ill-fated romance. When Edward's family of vampires throw a party for Bella's 18th birthday, an unfortunate paper cut sends one of the "vegetarian" vamps into a blood-induced frenzy. Deciding their relationship is too dangerous, Edward and his family skip town, leaving Bella broken-hearted. She finds happiness in her friendship with Jacob, who soon discovers he's a werewolf.
Though members of Team Edward might be disappointed by the handsome immortal's absence from this installment, Savannah said it creates an opportunity to get to know the series' female lead.
"Even though it was sad that Edward left, you really got a good sense of Bella," Savannah says. "When (Stephenie Meyer) breaks them down and makes them vulnerable, you find out what makes (the characters) tick."
Besides, Shelby added, "everything can't be happy all the time."
