The human and vampire love affair movie Twilight is now 10 years old.
The movie and cultural phenomenon was released in 2008. The movie is based off the novel by Stephenie Meyer, which was published in 2005. The movie grossed more than $392 million worldwide.
Despite some critics trashing the series for its lack of character development and Meyer’s writing style, young adult viewers flocked to theaters to watch the saga. The film starred Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as the vampire Edward Cullen.
Kelly Everett, a junior studying marketing and business analytics, was a fan of the saga.
“I went and saw every movie, usually on the premiere nights,” Everett said.
Like many teenage readers, Everett read the book when she was in middle school at age 13. She decided she wanted to read Twilight after her mother read it and told her how good it was.
Everett did not enjoy the movie as much as she did the book, but she still watched all of the movies when they came out.
“The movie I thought was good but not that great,” Everett said. “I did not enjoy Bella’s character as much, and it seemed super cheesy.”
Though she did read all of the books and went to see all of the movies, Everett was not as interested in the film adaptations.
“I wasn’t that into either the movie or book,” Everett said. “(I) just read the book because my friends were and my mom had just finished it.”
Twilight will always be one of her favorite books, and she will watch the film from time to time, Everett said, but she is not as interested as she once was.
Arienne Martin, a sophomore studying psychology, was somewhat indifferent to the film adaptation.
“I really didn’t hate the movie or love it,” Martin said. “I just thought it something to watch.”
Martin also read the book because her peers were reading it. She was curious about the story, and it had just come out when she read it, Martin said.
Alyssa Garcia, a junior studying psychology and sociology criminology, said Twilight was one of her favorite books and movies.
“I love the movie too,” Garcia said. “I watched it at least 18 times, no exaggeration.”
It took Garcia only a week or two to finish reading the first book in the saga. She also decided to read Twilight because of how popular it was within her school.
But over the years, her opinions on the movie has changed.
“The movie sucks because of the acting now that I rewatch it,” Garcia said.
Garcia likes how Meyer wrote the books, though many people did not like Meyer’s writing style. A 2006 New York Times review of Twilight referred to Meyer’s writing as “amature.”
“Everyone hated Meyer's writing, but I thought it was good,” Garcia said.
Even though there were mixed reviews for the novel, the film adaptation was a hit. The second film adaptation, the Twilight Saga’s New Moon broke box office history at the time by having the biggest midnight screening and opening day in history, grossing almost $73 million. The saga’s films continued to break box office records as new movies were released. Altogether, the film adaptations of the saga grossed more than $3.3 billion worldwide.
“(Twilight) definitely had me dreaming of my own werewolf boyfriend,” Martin said.
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