What’s nice about these photos is not only the time the two stars took out to pose with a fan, but the fact that a young girl with a camera phone managed to get pictures that a photo agency would envy.
The fact that it is also outside a Somerfield supermarket (not the most glamorous of retail establishments) makes it all the more charming.
For the uninitiated the Twilight films are based on the mega-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer which have been translated into over 20 languages worldwide.
There are currently four books: Twilight (2005), New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007) and Breaking Dawn (2008) and they have a combined sale of over 25 million copies.
When someone at MTV films made the (now catastrophic) decision to pass on making the film adaptations, newcomer Summit Entertainment stepped up and a lucrative film franchise was born.
It grossed over $383 million worldwide, making instant stars of Pattinson and Stewart and also causing wild scenes of fandom at various premieres around the world.
I got a sneak peak of New Moon yesterday at a press screening in London and the audience mostly consisted of media folk (like me), teenage girls and their parents.
The story involves Edward having to go away, Bella discovering new things about her friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and a mysterious vampire from the past named Aro (Michael Sheen).
Bearing in mind that I am way out of the target demographic for this material, here are my main thoughts:
It is slightly more expansive in terms of the locations (the action even shifts to Italy at one point)
Technically, it is an improvement on the original as the supernatural action is more convincingly done.
The narrative drags here and there but mostly moves along in a brisk and accessible fashion.
Fans of Edward may be a little disappointed that he isn’t in the story for long stretches.
Anna Kendrick is funny – she should be given a larger role next time.
For people unfamiliar with the books, brush up on Wikipedia or some things are going to leave you a little confused.
As a middle story (like The Empire Strikes Back) it leaves a few threads to be tantalisingly picked up on in the next film.
The last line of the film is clever as it pushes all the buttons of the audience …all at once.
My basic take is that this is essentially another reasonably well made fantasy film – a franchise like Star Wars or Harry Potter but moulded especially for teenage girls.
But despite the lack of genuine magic, there is no doubt that it will dominate the box office this month and make those publishers and executives who originally turned it down continue to tear their hair out.
By the way, it is worth noting that Summit and MTV have been smart in allowing the above trailer to have an embed code.
This means it can be posted to any blog or website, which is a change from the ‘exclusive’ trailers that only show on Yahoo.
In those cases they may get some money to be exclusively shown on one site (even though they usually end up bootlegged on YouTube anyway) but surely the idea is to get as many views as possible all over the web.
In essence, it is better to have the viral nature of the Internet (and legions of Twilight fans) working for and not against you.
New Moon is out at cinemas on November 20th and has already inspired some fans to go a bit crazy.
When