Twilight, the first in the series of film adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight young adult book series, opened in U.S. theaters around the country on November 21, 2008. Audiences everywhere were introduced to relative newcomers Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, who played mortal Bella Swan, vampire Edward Cullen and soon-to-be werewolf Jacob Black, respectively.
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Fans of the vampire saga flocked to theaters, and Twilight earned a stunning $35.7 million on opening day. One day after its release, Summit Entertainment announced it was starting production on the Twilight, New Moon, the next installment in the series. In all, the five Twilight films have earned more than $3 billion in box office sales. And that doesn’t include video and merchandise sales. Pretty impressive for a bunch of sparkly vampires!
