HOLLYWOOD EVENTS

Twilight DVD Release

 

 

By Allan R. Ellenberger

March 20, 2009

 

Last night, all across the country, thousands of tween (and a few older) fans gathered at neighborhood Borders book stores and other selected outlets, to celebrate the DVD release of the supernatural vampire flick, Twilight (2008).

 

A good friend of mine – herself a devoted fan of the book and the film – asked if I would like to join her and attend the event at the local Hollywood Borders store at Sunset and Vine. The event was scheduled from 10 pm to midnight, so expecting long lines around the block, we got there early, scarffed down some pizza, scrounged through some used DVD’s at the nearby Amoeba store and headed over to Borders.

 

To our surprise there were no lines on the streets and inside there were the average amount of people to be expected at a book store on a Friday night. At first we thought perhaps our information was wrong until we finally saw a small sign in the window announcing the event.

 

Fans gather for the Twilight DVD release at Borders book store at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. 

 

In the back of the store were about 100 fans, not surprisingly composed of mostly teenage girls, all wearing their favorite Twilight T-shirts, hooded jackets or carrying shoulder bags emblazed with the much-sought-after Cullen crest.

 

We were a little more than dismayed to discover that we were probably the oldest attendees, until thankfully, I spied a grandmother in one corner desparately clinging to a girl that I assumed was her granddaughter. My friend and I momentarily  considered kidnapping an unattended teen (carefully calculating whether we were old enough to have a teen or even – sigh – too old) and passing her off as our daughter just in case anyone asked. But we soon dismissed the idea and decided we would just have to suffer through the embarassment.

 

A Twilight fan answers a trivia question

 

Finally the proceedings started about ten minutes late. The PA system was on the blink and they never would get it working properly, so we had to struggle to listen to the emcee’s instructions. However, we learned that there would be a trivia contest, charades and announcing the winners of the Borders Twilight Movie Awards (in conjunction with Summit Entertainment).

 

The crowd was divided into two groups — “Team Edward” vs. “Team Jacob” (the two main hotties in the film). Evidently there are events in the film that were not in the book — and visa-versa (imagine that), and we were asked which-was-which. Let me just say that I haven’t yet read the book or watched the film so I know nothing about it but my friend  impressed me with her knowledge, but alas she was too shy to participate (I think it was the age thing). The surprise of the evening was a 12 year-old boy who answered almost every question correctly.

 

We then were submitted to a boring game of charades that I didn’t understand at all and will not comment on.

 

Then the awards were announced. Categories included Best Quote, Best Vampire (surprisingly all the cast vampires were nominated), Best Hair and Best OME (Oh My Edward!) Moment. Each attendee could fill out a ballot and have theirs pulled and read; the winners recieved a large postcard of a scene from the film.

 

Attendees listenly raptly to Twilight star, Robert Pattinson express his thanks to fans for attending the Twilight DVD release party.

 

Finally, a brief video (exclusive to the Borders party) was shown with cast members expressing their thanks to the fans. However, the PA system was still not working so most people could not hear it.

 

With that, my friend and I left since all the wristbands required to buy the Borders exclusive edition of the DVD were all gone. Oh well.

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