The vampire romance “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” had an opening weekend of $142.8 million last weekend, taking in twice as much as “Twilight” did a year ago. The movie distributor, Summit Entertainment, made $2.1 million more than they even estimated. New Moon” was the third-best opening weekend ever.
The “New Moon” excitement was evident at the Auburn Carmike theatre last weekend, but four Auburn students’ love for the vampire stories took them to Knoxville, Tenn., for one of the movie’s premieres.

“I have been a fan of ‘Twillight’ since June 2008,” said 19-year-old Hadley Kirkpatrick. “I saw the movie back in June before it came out and became obsessed.”

Kirkpatrick’s mother is an executive at Summit Entertainment and organized the event in Knoxville. She reserved tickets for Kirkpatrick and her friends.
“We decided to go to the premiere in September,” Kirkpatrick said. “I was sad I couldn’t go to the premiere in Los Angeles so my mom told me there was a smaller premiere in Knoxville she could get me tickets to.”

Kirkpatrick’s roommate, Mary Ellen Skinner, 19, joined her at the premiere. She said that she has been a “Twilight” fan since reading the books over Christmas break last year.

“I heard about the movie first, but I read all four of the books before I went to see the movie,” Skinner said. “I am a huge fan of both!”
Both Kirkpatrick and Skinner said that they enjoyed “New Moon” much more than “Twilight.”

“New Moon is amazing,” Kirkpatrick said. “It is such a better film than ‘Twilight.’ And it doesn’t hurt that Taylor Lautner is half-naked most the time.”
Skinner agreed.

“I have seen the movie twice. I think it was amazing, and can’t wait to see it again,” she said. “I thought that it was far better than the first one.”
Not only did the girls get the chance to go to the premiere, they also got a chance to spend time with some of the actors.

A friend of Kirkpatrick’s, who is an Auburn University alumni, worked the premiere and arranged for the girls to meet actors Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. They also got their picture taken with them.

Kirkpatrick said that she has met the actors on several occasions.

“Kristen Stewart is very hip and serious,” she said. “Taylor Lautner is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet and is very similar to his character Jacob Black.”
Skinner added that she enjoyed spending time with the actors.

“They were both extremely personable, and were interested to learn about our college experience at Auburn,” Skinner said. “They may be stars, but they are still teenagers, and related well to us.”