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It's 5:06 p.m. and 56 degrees outside Crow Canyon Cinema in San Ramon. Doors don't open to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" for another seven hours or so, but 12-year-old Brianna Anderson and her mom, Jennifer, don't seem to mind a bit.
"We've got drinks, we've got chairs and the hubby is bringing us dinner," Jennifer said with a smile as Brianna buried her nose in yet another teenage vampire novel.
The two were the first in line for the theater's midnight showing of the second movie in the "Twilight" saga. They've already been here an hour. A sellout crowd of 800 is expected.
They were among the thousands of fans — tween girls to women old enough to be their mothers — who lined up at movie theaters across the Bay Area for the Thursday midnight showing of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." It was a scene that was seen across the country. Over the past few weeks, anticipation for the movie's release has reached a fevered pitch, and the lines are expected to continue this weekend. The first "Twilight" movie — made on a relatively small budget — crippled other movies its opening weekend last year with more than $70 million in tickets sold.
Brianna, who said she has read the first "Twilight" book exactly 32 times, was looking forward to seeing the Italian Volturi, rulers of the common sparkling vampire clan. Her mom said she was just happy to be spending the time with her daughter.
"I know I don't have a lot
At the Century 16 Theater in Pleasant Hill, first in line was Brandy Elkanick, 30. She figured that there would be even more "New Moon" fans than for the first "Twilight" movie.
That time she had arrived at 5:30 p.m., only to find herself in line behind 29 other fans. This year she showed up at 11:30 a.m.
"It's a big deal to have books you read and love come to the theater," she said, slipping a bookmark into a copy of "Wuthering Heights."
Standing near Elkanick was 46-year-old Marilyn Harte, of Walnut Creek, who said she feels no shame in loving the "Twilight" saga and being one of the first people in line in Pleasant Hill.
"The biggest thing for me (about the books and the movies) is the love story, the romance," she said. "I remember my first love, and you just have this overwhelming sense of loss when you're not with them. The books took me back to my first boyfriend."
Speaking of men, makeup artist Christopher Bustos, of Antioch, spent the afternoon putting vampire makeup on his friends at the Wild Orchid Salon in Antioch before they headed out to the Rave Theater in Brentwood, where 12 of the 13 screens were sold out.
"Twilight" brings a sense of fantasy to his life, he said. "We want everybody to get vampired up."
Back at the Pleasant Hill theater, best friends Jacqueline Malkovich and Jessica Esparza, both 12, were sitting on the floor inside while Malkovich's dad milled about. Both were doing homework and were very excited to see the second installment in what they call "the ultimate love story."
"I'm more excited about this movie because I can tell they worked a lot harder on it and had a bigger budget," Jacqueline said.
The girls are decidedly both on Team Edward, a loving nickname given to fans of the 100-something-year-old vampire hunk played by Robert Pattinson. Have they found their own floppy-haired boys?
"Not yet," they said in unison, giggling. "We're looking."
