ALLEGANY - Workers at Carmike Cinema 8 said they had a record night Thursday when the midnight premiere of “New Moon” sold out every seat in seven of its eight auditoriums.

The movie is the second in the series adapting Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” books chronicling the on-again, off-again romance of Bella Swan with vampires, werewolves and the like.

“It was probably 8, 8:30 (p.m.) we sold out completely,” assistant manager Ryan Chizewick said. Theater manager David Stewart said the theater sold 1,000 tickets for the midnight screenings alone. More than 2,000 tickets were already sold for this weekend, he said. Many of the midnight viewers said they bought tickets on the Fandango Web site weeks ago.

By around 10 p.m., movie-goers were being seated in various auditoriums, and the lobby was mostly open. Around 11:30 p.m., however, the entrance had become an impassable cloud of viewers that one could neither see nor walk through.

Elbow to elbow, wall to wall, most of the fans wore shirts sporting the series’ various teen heart-throbs, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.

Several girls had the characters’ names painted on their faces, as if at a football game; another wore an actual “Twilight” poster.

“The best part about coming tonight compared to any other night is there are people dressed up like a vampire. You wouldn’t find that any other night. There are some pretty freaky people here,” said Margaret Chamberlain of Belfast. “It’s a rush.”

Ms. Chamberlain saw the show with her friend, Corinna Cole of Wellsville. Ms. Chamberlain said the series is better than other series with comparable cult followings, like Harry Potter.

“Absolutely better - it’s ‘Twilight,’” she said.

“The first movie was amazing, so we figured this one would be just as good,” said Danielle Rothermel of Port Allegany, Pa. Ms. Rothermel was there with her friend, Hannah Wise. Ms. Wise said she likes how the films intertwine fantasy and the real world.

Kelly Hustak of Olean came out to the show, even though tomorrow (today) is a school day.

“My mom let me, but she said I had to go to school in the morning, so I guess I’ll just get, like, three hours of sleep,” she said.

Ms. Hustak said it would be worth it since she was there with her six friends. One of them, Holly Hardenbergh of Olean, said the film will probably be a good translation of the books.

Peter Ebert of Allegany said, “This is the largest mass of people to come for a show at Carmike.” Mr. Ebert has worked at the theater for more than four years.

“This is a lot different, because it’s all basically teenage girls,” he said. “They’re a lot more energized, and we need to make sure we handle it accordingly.”

About five workers were dedicated solely to checking tickets and seating people. Mr. Chizewick hurried back and forth down the hall, covering one ear with his hand and pressing a walkie-talkie to the other.

“This isn’t as bad as I expected. This is actually a lot easier,” he said.

The theater’s digital projectors allowed workers to spread the viewers throughout the building. In the past, for a movie to be released in several auditoriums, workers needed several copies of the film.

In some cases, projectors would be interlocked. The film would start running through one projector, then run over spools along the ceiling to be shown in an adjacent theater.

Now, Mr. Stewart said, “You get one drive, which goes on a central server. A duplicate is made to go on all the servers locally; one in each auditorium.”

The theater workers filled auditoriums as customers came. They barked numbers to each other over walkie-talkies; one man arranged customers into groups, the other used the groups to fill clusters of empty seats here and there.

“For seven auditoriums to be sold out for one specific show - that I haven’t seen,” Mr. Stewart said.

(Contact reporter John Loyd at jloyd@oleantimesherald.com)

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RKT wrote on Nov 20, 2009 6:55 PM:

" Must be pretty boring in Olean. I never saw Twilight and vampire movies..they're a dime a dozen. Whatever floats their boat. I guess its better than sitting around wasting time watching the Bills lose, the Sabres teasing you early in the season and faltering again in the spring or St. Bona's attempt at playing basketball. "

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PBR wrote on Nov 21, 2009 3:59 PM:

" (slow clap) Wow RKT. I suppose you feel so sophisticated and insightful with your opinion post on the Olean Times Herald website. If you had any worldly comprehension, you would see that this is not so much about a teen movie fad, but it demonstrates that in a tough economy, people are still trying to enjoy themselves. Parents who may not have much can still give their children some money to go to a movie with their friends. "

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