'Twilight' Poised to Thrive in Tough Times

Movie Ticket Sales

So it seems, even though Americans are cutting back on eating out and traveling, movie ticket sales are expected to continue on their upward trajectory.

"Regardless of the recession that we're obviously in now, the box office is booming as people still want to escape and have fun at the multiplexes," said BoxOfficeGuru analyst Gitesh Pandya. "The right movies will always sell. In fact, I see last weekend's Top 2 movies grossing more than the entire Top 20 from a year ago, which shows that people are still opening their wallets and heading to the box office."

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"We're coming out of the highest-grossing fall since 2003," said Gray, who predicts a solid holiday season box office. "It's a 21 percent improvement over 2007, which means, yes, people are still going to the movies. This season is off to a good start with 'Madagascar' and 'Quantum' and 'Twilight' is expected to do a lot better than anyone would have thought six months ago."

But will "Twilight" best "Madagascar 2" and "Quantum" at the box office? BoxOfficeGuru chief Pandya, for one, is optimistic. "'Twilight' has become a huge event movie for teenage girls and young women and has the potential to reach beyond that audience too," said Pandya. "Advance tickets are selling better than the new James Bond film and I'm expecting a huge opening next weekend."

The fact that the film's soundtrack topped the Billboard record sales chart with $165,000 in its first week also proves promising for the film's success.

"It's not that unusual for a movie soundtrack to be No. 1," said Blender magazine editor in chief Joe Levy. "What is unusual is for a soundtrack to open at No. 1 two weeks before the movie even comes out."

"Usually people hear the music when they watch the film, then go buy a soundtrack because they like a song or two. Here, the super-eager fans bought the soundtrack because of the brand. They've already gotten their tickets, they've already gotten their T-shirts? What's left? The soundtrack," he said.