Why Is Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Failing To Grab Repeat Viewers?

I just heard it was a terrible movie.  The Twilight fans are even complaining about it.

How do they accurately measure how many are repeat viewers?

I watch them when they show up on Starz – Yes, I watch the movies. I thought the books were freakin’ hilarious and the movies are even sillier.  But. The last movie I saw more than once in the theater was “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” so I’m clearly not a re-peater.  Unless revivals count. Or RHPS.

The movies are horrific, and from what I heard, they changed the movie plot from the book. Considerably.

The film is playing almost identically to New Moon, Eclipse, and the last few Harry Potter films, as they have similar frenzied fanbases.  It’s not a mystery, it’s basically reached a (very tall) ceiling where the fans go and sample right away but don’t come back for more.  The issue (if it matters) is that the series isn’t picking up new fans, which is to be expected four films in and with such a known entity.  Even the final Harry Potter film didn’t get that much uptick from being the series finale (although in the end it sold more tickets than any installment after the first one).  Breaking Dawn actually had a bigger second weekend than any prior Twilight film, had a smaller second-weekend drop than New Moon, and is so-far outgrossing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part I at their respective 17-day points.  Nothing to worry about here, even if Breaking Dawn ‘only’ makes it to $275 million.  

This is a trick question, right?

Because the fans have passed out of the “Cloud of Stupid” and now see the franchise for what it is!

Okay, at the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses… one of my girl friends, who  moved out of the country permanently recently, made watching the movie as a group (there were 12 of us) a mandatory part of her send-off.  I was not so unkind as to resist even if I had no interest whatsoever in seeing the movie, but she was leaving the country for good and this was her little request, so… off to the movies I went. Anyway, I believe that many rabid fans *made* other people see it with them, and honestly, for my girlfriends at least, I didn’t have the heart to say no. I mean, it’s just a movie, and I earn enough money that blowing $12 on a movie I’m not enthused about isn’t going to hurt so much. But then, I’m not going to go see it again. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was made to see it by their girl friends (or boy friends–not as unusual as you may think).

I read and enjoyed the Twilight books and I’ve seen all the movies – it’s a tradition now that I go see them with my best friend from childhood and we giggle our way through them like the 13 year old girls we once were together.

But Breaking Dawn Part 1 was just poorly done. The makeup and wigs are distractingly bad.  Usually my friend drags her very understanding husband to see the movie after she and I go – but she won’t ask him to sit through this one.

Sure there’s some plot craziness, but that’s only to be expected thanks to the source material. But when a movie franchise makes that much money, people expect the hair and makeup to be on par with other movies. The actors who play the vamps are all pretty people – they had to work pretty hard to make them look so bad. I found it horribly distracting and, frankly, insulting. I guess the effects were ok, but again I keep expecting them to get better with each movie rather than worse.

I’m sure if I analyzed it I could come up with other problems – it’s been so long since I read the books that honestly I couldn’t have a detailed discussion about how they did or didn’t mangle the plot. But I was looking for fun escapism and when I kept thinking about how that white makeup apparently irritates all the actors’ eyes and how itchy those awful wigs must be…

Anyway, it was clunky in its storytelling and pacing, and visually it looked like a B movie. And I say this as someone who tends to enjoy Twilight.

If people aren’t going to see it again, why is it still making so much money? I was hoping The Muppets (which I did see twice) would beat it. Oh, well.

Not sure where you got the notion that there are no repeat viewers… or that Twilight fans dislike the movie.. as I’ve heard the opposite from a great deal of people.

Although really, I’m not sure why this site continues to talk about Twilight, as all it really does is serve to stir the “shit-pot” as it were, and prompt lots of anti-fans to complain and hate even more than they already do.

If you despise something to that extent, it’s considerably more healthy to just leave it alone instead of constantly bringing it into your life and thoughts.

I love these movies, sadly. I know, I know. I am a big pop culture phenom voyuer and also read the books back in the day and loved them. I am 32 years old. I did see it the opening week, but did not go back. Because maybe at some point I could watch it on my laptop, and maybe then I wouldn’t go to the theater again to see it. Just maybe. 

I’m not a Twilight fan, though it is a tradition with me and a few friends to get drunk and go see the movies in theaters (once they’ve been out a few weeks) to give them the MST3K treatment.  I do, however, remember when the Breaking Dawn book came out, many die-hard Twilight fans of my acquaintance HATED it.  The book itself split the fandom easily in half, so it doesn’t surprise me that the (first!) movie of that book isn’t doing as well.  And from what I’ve heard, basically everything that “happens” in the book happens in this movie, so I’m very morbidly curious what “Part 2″ is even going to be.

I can’t speak for this movie in particular (not my pot of tea), but it wouldn’t surprise me if a lot fewer people are going to movies multiple times in general than was the case 10 years ago.  With the economy the way it is people aren’t spending as much money in general, plus the price of movies in the theaters is kind of crazy compared to how fast and cheap you can get them online and on DVD, PLUS lots of people have nice TVs (or know people who do) so you can enjoy all the fun exploding bits at home, it’s just hard to justify seeing anything in the theater more than once.  Or at all, as is often the case with me.

I know, they all look equally dumb

I think part of (my) issue with this installment is that it’s half a book, and that shines through in the movie. I understand the need for breaking up such a large book into two movie installments, but story-wise (and story-telling-wise), there just wasn’t enough substance (yes, I know, substance is perhaps not the best word to use when discussing Twilight) and action to warrant a stand-alone movie. Spoiler alert: the movie consists of Bella and Edward getting married and pregnant. There’s not much action in that, which made the movie rather slow-paced, drawn out, and therefore much less compelling or interesting than the others. I enjoyed the movie as a piece of their story (I’m a sucker for vampires [sorry, pun was not intended]), but as a movie it just doesn’t have the draw or the action to pull the same numbers.

Having been taken to the first movie, I found the makeup and special effects to be of B-movie quality at best (like, you could see where the makeup was missing at the edges of the face on some vampires, or that wonderful running up a mountain escalator scene).  Admittedly they did improve with subsequent films, I guess they dropped back again (?)

*I* did not get the notion, the L.A. Times and Summit did.

And we continue to talk about items of interest to our readers, see the reader survey part of the post.

I’m inclined to agree. I’m not a Twilight person, but I am a Harry Potter person, and the only reason I saw any of those movies multiple times in theaters was if it was someone else’s treat. My, and many others’, bank account is just not built for multiple viewings at movie theater prices.

In the first movie, the effects were awful – it looked like a tragic craft store accident. On some level that was part of the charm because it was truly a shoestring budget – a labor of love made by a fan for fans. But as the budgets have improved, the effects have not.

Admittedly, the werewolf effects probably do cost more than attacking someone with glitter glue, but it’s still disappointing that with as much money as these films pull in, they can’t find the technology to make beautiful people look beautiful.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3. I saw them once just because I wanted to see them, then a second time back home so I could go with my best friend, sit front row and make snide comments. Couldn’t make it happen with the fourth, which is a shame cause I have some serious smack to talk about that Cruz person….
Also saw Deathly Hallows Part.1 twice, on account of how I planned to with two different parties and they never came together.
Indiana Jones 4 on account of my mum wanting to see it. In French. Urgh.

With Rifftrax, New Moon was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

I wonder if some crazy cult religion was behind the Harry Potter franchise..

I saw the other three (don’t ask me why), but this one…
Now that I’m in college, it’s harder to justify seeing a movie, let alone a good one, and I would need to find someone willing to go with me with make the process even harder (unfortunately, my friends have integrity and good tastes, huh).  
There is the possibility of a large group of us going the last day it is in theaters, so that we may berate the movie in peace without those darn Twihards.

i have to agree with this. a friend of mine who got me into the book series (which i really liked and still like, as fluff reading goes) was RABID about the books. she practically forced it on all of us who were avid readers by any measurement. she talked us all (like 6 people) into reading the series before the last book was released because she was so passionate about it. how could it not be good with that level of devotion? then breaking dawn came out. she hated it so much she sent us all apology letters for wasting our time and money on such a horrible book.
we saw all the other movies opening night at midnight with a large group of friends. the films have steadily gotten better (there was no where to go but up after the first one) but we’re still waiting until the movie gets to the dollar theater to see it. we’re planning out mst3k-esque comments already.

Costs too much to go to the theatre. You watch something you really want to once and save teh money for the next movie. I did make an exception for Harry Potter and saw it in 2D and 3D. It was the last one also. And ending in a cliffie doesn’t help also.

Although I despise Twilight, if you like it, then like it!! Have fun and enjoy. :)

Does it have anything to do with it being a two-parter? I like the Harry Potter movies but I refused to see Deathly Hallows part 1 in theatres bc I didn’t want to see half a movie and then have to re-watch it a year later when the 2nd part came out. Instead I just rented it a week before part 2 came out. 

I saw each of the last 3 Harry Potter films multiple times, but before that I think the last time I saw something in theaters twice was over 10+ years ago and I was a young teenager at the time. I think there is some truth to the “fans growing up” piece – only in that some of the most rabid fans have been the younger fans – as they grow older some of that rabidness may temper a bit with age and some measure of maturity. The things I got really worked up over when I was 13 had to me become largely inconsequential by the time I was 15, and that’s probably true for a lot of people. 

Personally, I am a big fan of the books but I think the movies are pretty awful. I still like to see them when they come out, and I even own all the movies that have been released on DVD so far – but if someone asked me I would still say they are bad movies. For me, they are bad movies that are still deeply satisfying since I still get to see some of my favorite books come to life – however poorly it’s done, I guess it’s done just shy of poorly enough to turn me off completely. However, because of my opinion of the movies I’m a unique viewer in that, while I would never go to see any of them in theaters multiple times, I will still buy the movies when they are released – they’re part of the larger series to me, and I do want to be a part of that community.

Twilight is ok. I can make fun of it and enjoy it. It is what it is. This film though was awful if you took it seriously. If you sit back and enjoy how ridiculous it all can be, it is quite hilarious. I had to see it a second time, because my mother did not want to go alone, but that was the last time. Any other friends or family that might want to see it are just out of luck. 

But yeah, I saw all of the Harry Potter films at least three times in theatres. AT LEAST. And don’t get me started on Lord of the Rings… I saw each film five times or more in the theatres. I can’t wait for the Hobbit. I just can’t. 

Bill and Ted’s bogus Journey was a brilliant movie – one of my faves. 

Yes I wonder why they are talking about the movie is doing pretty well. I think they were expecting bigger numbers right away but is not like this is the last one. I had seen it 3 times and I haven’t seen it again for…personal reasons. I plan to watch it with my friend too.
Most of my twihards friends watched it multiple times.
I will add a new factor this is the movie were we have two graphic things, the sex and the birth and some of my friends with children/sisters too young to go but that already watched the other movies, don’t have the heart to go without them thus they are waiting for a weekend to watch them by themselves or rather wait for the DVD and watch them with them. Also some of them might not be that young but still they know there is sex and birth so they are not so confident on going without reports for the other ones, I think this probably is going to be slower in making the money but so far not even the ones that were in the fence about the book are missing it, just my two cents.

Could be the cliffhanger is too damn long (a whole year) and some people rather watch it back to back. Still I think the last one would be the big money make Summit is waiting for. Specially if they do the Twilight marathon right before it.

There isn’t really any ground to talk about this, since the other Twilight movies followed the exact same pattern. Looking at the decrease in the box office from weekend to weekend shows if people keep coming back. The other movies were the same- huge spike the first night/weekend, then a sharp drop that never recovers. Box Office Mojo puts it into nice percentages, even.

linkhide.com.ar/47632

I was in the military when the first two LOTR movies came out. Movies on base are free so I think I saw them each at least two times. t was awesome. It’s movies like that that just beg to be seen on the big screen.

To be honest, I did really enjoy the 1st book when it first came out, when half the world wasn’t crazy mad for it.  I think that if it hadn’t gained this much popularity, there wouldn’t be so much hating on it. 

I can acknowledge now, looking back on all of them, that there are some seriously problematic things with it, but it doesn’t change the fact that I enjoyed “Twilight” that first read–enough to read the rest in the series.

Twoish words. Vampire C-section.

I lik

Everyone is always philosophizing about this “beautiful story” – Twilight and especially Breaking Dawn is so transparent. I’ll explain Twilight to you… Yeah, I wish I couldn’t – really. Check out my blog, “A Different Twilight” up on Blogger. I apparently can’t put a link in here, sorry. It’s worth the read, and I’d love some really objective, honest feedback. Thanks.