Almost a quarter of the British population is planning on watching Eclipse, the latest instalment of the Twilight Saga, according to new research from YouGov.
The worldwide box office event has already made $68.5m in the United States in its opening weekend and is expected to do similarly well in the UK.
22% of Brits said they planned to watch the film which opens in the UK tonight and this increases to 39% of 18-24 year olds.
Eight percent of Brits say they are planning on watching the third film in Stephanie Meyer’s trilogy at the cinema, whereas 14% say they will hold out for it to be released on DVD.
The consensus among readers is that the novels are the superior offering. Over half (55%) of British adults who have read the books and watched the films claim to prefer the story in book form.
There is also clear ‘support’ for the leading male character, Edward Cullen (played by actor Robert Pattinson), putting an end to the controversial ‘Team Edward’ or ‘Team Jacob’ debate familiar to diehard fans. In the films both Edward, a vampire, and Jacob Black, a werewolf, compete for the affection of the leading female character, Bella. 44% of Twilight fans (people who have either watched the films or read the books) want Edward to win her affection compared to 21% who wish to see a Jacob-Bella pairing.
The anticipation surrounding the upcoming opening of the latest Twilight movie, Eclipse, has resulted in the topic ‘Twilight’ creeping up the TellYouGov leaderboard this week. The volume of comments, or 'tygs', has increased by 38 over just two days putting the topic 18th on the list of most commented about topics.
Despite the highly publicized build-up, there appears to be some negative sentiment surrounding the film. Some ‘tyggers’ (or users) have expressed their dislike with comments such as 'What is the fuss about? Really?' and 'Looks terrible!' Others seem to be disappointed with previous films and doubt the latest installment will be any different: 'Great books but terrible films'.
Despite the negative feedback, the movie’s many fans, aptly named 'twi-hards' by one tygger, have still managed to get their views across, with one claiming “this has to be the movie of the year and I am really excited to see it” and another commending both books and films, saying 'fantastic books - and the movie is first class'.
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