Vampires Rule Box Office

Proving that our national vampire obsession will long outlive Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the vampire pic Twilight cleaned up at the box office this weekend. Variety reports that the film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, earned more than $70 million, an extraordinary total for a film with few name actors and few special effects. It’s the highest opening gross for a female director. Predictably, the paper reports, the studio “didn’t even wait for the weekend to finish before announcing plans for sequel New Moon.” We’ll stand by breathlessly for that one. In other news, Disney’s cartoon Bolt finished with a comparably modest take of $27 million.