‘New Moon’ headed for $90-million-plus launch

As we finally reach Friday’s (November 20) opening of “New Moon,” several thousand tickets have already sold out, according to Fandango, AMC, and MovieTickets.com, which say the film has broken advance ticket sales records set by the likes of Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings, Revenge of the Sith, and Harry Potter.

Edward and Bella’s latest bite at the box office looks like it will be the second biggest of 2009, and will likely sell about $90 million worth of tickets this weekend and could possibly exceed $100 million. To put that in perspective, the first “Twilight” movie opened to $69.6 million on the same weekend last year.

Fandango reports that ten percent of fans plan to dress up as film characters, while MovieTickets.com reports that 87 percent of its ticket buyers are women. Those lucky enough to score tickets to a Thursday night advance screening may be deaf this morning. Fandango reported that 51 percent of fans were prepared to scream as the lights went down. Eat your heart out, Harry Potter.