This is it.
For years, people across the globe have waited for tonight. Hearts will be broken and tears will be shed.
At 10 p.m., a new era will begin as vampires and werewolves take the big screen for the final time when “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2” enters theaters.
Many fans have had this day marked on their calendars for months as the world’s best vampire couple will show off its new baby.
The “Twilight” craze may be a little outdated, though.
The first book reached its height of popularity in 2005 when it was released. Even the last book, “Breaking Dawn,” was published four years ago, making it about time for the movie series to catch up.
A lot changed since 2008. The series’ original fans are no longer preteens, which raises the question: How many loyal fans will pay the overpriced movie theater fee to see the blockbuster, and how many will wait in line for the premiere of the fifth “Twilight” movie to appear on the big screen?
In Los Angeles, people pitched tents to wait all week. The enthusiasm may not be quite as high in Gainesville.
Younger generations know nothing of the thrilling books that first grabbed fans’ attentions. The “Twilight” series thrived in a time when people were depressed about the final “Harry Potter” release. Middle schoolers now know “Twilight” as a movie series rather than the romance novels that made the name famous.
Even more than books, “Twilight” became a cultural revolution several years ago.
Twi-hards were a large following that proudly proclaimed “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.” Years ago, I even splurged to buy a T-shirt that had my favorite vampire’s face on it with my babysitting money. “Twilight” had a cult-like following that people seemed to latch on to. But as trends come and go, so has the age of “Twilight.”
The band of followers has shrank for some time. As the books become a faint memory and people watch the first movies again, they remember only the terrible acting instead of the clenching plot they originally fell in love with.
What each book added to the exciting lives of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, the movies sucked the life out of.
Last year, the fourth movie in the “Twilight” series hit theaters on Nov. 17. The final book, “Breaking Dawn,” was divided into two movies. The 10 p.m. release of part two marks the end of a series many people followed since the beginning, and once people invest themselves in something, they will more than likely see it finished.
There has always been a fascination with the unknown.
“Twilight” brought vampires and werewolves to light and fashioned them into real people. They weren’t just Halloween costumes, and it made vampires into something more than Count Dracula. Stephenie Meyer, the author of the “Twilight” series, took her audience into a new realm of imagination.
But sadly, the movies have failed to catch the magic that lived between the pages of the books.
The first movie, which premiered in 2008, gave obsessed fans what they wanted: a real Cullen family and pack of werewolves to admire.
But underneath the fake sparkly skin, those who had no interest in the books found even less thrill in the movies. Bella’s quiet demeanor that the books suggest took a wrong turn into Kristen Stewart’s coldness.
Regardless of the years that passed, many fans still remember the weeks they could not put a “Twilight” book down or eagerly anticipated the arrival of the next one.
These memories alone will bring many former fans, including myself, to see the culmination of the best vampire love story there ever was.
Abby Wolz is a health sciences freshman at UF. Her column appears on Thursdays. You can contact her via opinions@alligator.org.
