Fans packed into area theaters for the midnight premiere of the latest installment of the Twilight Saga Thursday night.
River Cinema 15 in East Grand Forks had more than 1,300 people attend the showing of "Breaking Dawn: Part 1."
Across the river, 370 people turned out to view the premiere at Carmike 10 in Grand Forks.
"We would have liked to see more people," said a theater spokesperson. "We had over 600 for the last Harry Potter movie."
"We've been selling tickets for the movie since October 1," said River Cinema head cashier Jenna Salbeson. "We sold out yesterday afternoon."
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The theater dedicated 11 of its 15 screens to the film and had extra staff on hand to handle the crowd, she said.
Around 450 arrived at 9 p.m. to watch "Eclipse" the film preceeding "Breaking Dawn" in the Twilight series.
Carmike also began selling tickets for the midnight show last month. The film was shown on 5 of the theater's 11 screens.
The "Twilight" films follow the romance of Bella Swan (Kirsten Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). In "Breaking Dawn: Part 1," the couple marries in a long-awaited ceremony and go on their honeymoon, where Bella soon discovers she is pregnant. The baby's arrival ignites a battle between the couple and the leaders of the vampires.
Both theaters expect to be busy this weekend.
River Cinema 15 will offer 12 show times daily: noon, 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4:10 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., 6:45 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., 9:15 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. An additional show time of 11 p.m. will be available on Fridays and Saturdays only.
Carmike 10 will have eight show times: 1 p.m., 1:35 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m., 7.25 p.m., 9:50 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. A midnight showing will be available this weekend only.
