Mobs form for ‘New Moon’

“Starting on 10.”

“Cue tape!”

“When you’re ready…all clear!”

“Let’s go guys – let’s do it!”

I am standing in a projection room with a group of on-edge employees of The Grand Theatre in Hattiesburg. Their walkie talkies are a source of constant nervous chatter, giving the setting the feel of a NASA control room before a shuttle launch. It is a few minutes past midnight on Friday, Nov. 20. The newest film in the “Twilight” saga, “New Moon,” has yet to begin, and if something goes wrong, over 1,600 screaming fans dressed in vampire garb will likely cause a riot. There is a lot riding on the next few moments.

The projectors are all located in one large room rather than in individual booths. This allows projectionists to string one roll of film through multiple projectors, allowing the theater to show popular movies on more screens than they have prints of the movie. They have done this before with other popular midnight screenings – notably “The Dark Knight” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” However, because of the unparalleled popularity of “New Moon,” The Grand Theatre in Hattiesburg was only allowed three prints of the film. But how could The Grand possibly open enough screens to match the demand with only three copies of the film?

The solution was something they had never before attempted – they would string one roll of film through an unprecedented seven projectors, stretching one roll of film roughly one-sixth of a mile around a giant room. If something went wrong with this one print, fans in seven out of the 12 screens showing “New Moon” would not get the film they waited outside for hours to see.

And I do mean hours. The line of “Twilight” fans stretched exactly halfway around the massive, 18-screen theater, and all the people in the front were happy to boast the amount of time they’d spent shivering in the cold in hopes to get a good seat for the midnight screening. While many young girls shouted they had been waiting since 8 or 9 p.m., one group of adults in the front showed their true devotion to the “Twilight” franchise.

“We have been here since six o'clock,” said Rosie Bullard, accompanied by her husband, Officer David Bullard and her friend, Brittney Tamberg. “Money Mike (a former manager of The Grand Theatre) got us tickets 3 ½ months ago.”

Near the front of the line, after every 15 to 20 feet, the fans’ arrival time would increase by about half an hour. The crowd – comprised mostly of high school-aged girls – would erupt with screaming hysterics as a response to even the simplest of questions. Understandably, the only usable quotes I received during the madness are from adult fans of the series.

“I’m 55 years old, and I’m for Edward,” said Sylvia Thompson, a fan who was standing amongst the 8:30 – 9:00 arrival crowd. “My mother-in-law is in her 70s, and she wanted to come, but it’s too cold. She’s Team Jacob.”

For those who haven’t read the books or seen the films, “Twilight” fans divide themselves into two camps: Team Edward and Team Jacob. The “Twilight” saga is a love story, and the team in which you belong determines who you would like the main character, Bella, to choose at the end of the series. As the last book has been released, and the fans who read the books now know her fate, you would think that there would be a class divide no longer. Not true, it seems, as fans still introduce themselves as part of one of the groups, much like a politician would say “Democrat” or “Republican” after his or her name.

Garth Keely, General Manager of The Grand Theatre in Hattiesburg, said the tickets for the midnight screening had been available for nearly a month, and they had sold out entirely about a week before the screening. With the exception of some of the early Friday matinees when a lot of the younger fans would be in school, Keely predicted that most if not all of the weekend “New Moon” screenings would follow that pattern.

Keely himself was able to see the film early at an employee screening, though he does not count himself among the masses who love the series.

“It was okay,” Keely said. “It’s more of a chick flick type deal. But it had good special effects.”

When asked if he was Team Jacob or Team Edward, Keely laughed and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m on the Green Team,” he said.

James Walters, another Grand Theatre employee, offered his own take on the vampire/werewolf divide. “We’ll sell tickets to both teams,” Walters said.

At 11:15, when all 12 screening rooms were empty and ready for the midnight “New Moon” screening, Keely – with the help of a couple of police officers – began letting people inside. The cheering and the shouting that happened when the fans were stationary became a sort of crazed mass hysteria when they were allowed into motion. I had never seen anything like it, save perhaps the footage of The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

The movement of the crowd allowed me to catch some glimpses of creativity from the fans in regard to their wardrobe. While some wore “Twilight” tees bought at Hot Topic or “New Moon”-themed Burger King crowns, others made theirs from scratch, including two girls wearing “Twilight Whores” tees and another girl whose shirt declared she was a member of “Team Jakeward.” Costumes were also prevalent, from the obscure (Bella’s father) to the inspired (Robert Pattinson at the “New Moon” premiere). Josh Stockett, 24, an insurance agent by day, showed his true form as the vampire Edward in perhaps the most elaborate costume of the evening.