The latest instalment in the vampire movie series Twilight is a “deviant moral vacuum”, according to the Vatican.

In new Moon, British actor Robert Pattinson returns as the blood-sucking vampire Edward Cullence in love with the beautiful Bella Swan.

The movie has already broken box office records as the highest single-day earner after pulling in $62.2 million on its opening day.

Monsignor Franco Perazzelo, of the pontifical council of culture, said on Friday that the theme of vampires in Twilight “combines a mixture of excesses that, as ever, is aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element”.

“This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such, is something, that should be of concern,” he said.

Last month, the Vatican warned parents that Halloween was had an “undercurrent of occultism” and was “absolutely anti-Christian”.

The Vatican advised parents instead to “direct the meaning of the feast towards wholesomeness and beauty rather than terror, fear and death”.

Given the hype, the build-up, the Robert Pattinson fever and the general feeling that the world of Twilight was one that was attracting a fair bit of interest, we still didn’t expect a number like this.

For the opening day take of Twilight: new Moon has shattered single day opening records, leaving films such as The dark Knight in its wake.

Are you sat down? Twilight new Moon’s opening day take in the US alone is $72.7m. That’s over $5m more than the previous record holder, The dark Knight, which was also playing on more screens. furthermore, the opening day record has traditionally gone to a summer blockbuster, rather than a November release.

New Moon has also doubled the original Twilight’s take in the same space of time, and for sake of comparison, its opening day take was $10m more than that for Transformers 2, $13m more than Spider-Man 3 and $22m more than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Harry Potter has also had his ass spanked.

Where this leaves the full weekend gross in the US is unclear, but don’t rule off something around the $170m mark. Ron will have the full box office report, as well as his take on Twilight: new Moon, on Monday.

Valley fans line up for first ‘New Moon’ screenings

With nearly every ticket for the 25 scheduled Thursday midnight showings of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in Fresno and Clovis selling out long before the doors opened, local theater managers scrambled to add last-minute screenings to meet the demand.

It wasn’t enough to have a ticket for the latest chapter in the love story of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire beau, Edward (Robert Pattinson), based on the four-book series by Stephenie Meyer. Ticketholders began forming lines as early as 8 a.m. Thursday to get choice seats. Many fans purchased tickets when they went on sale in September.

Melissa Soriano was first in line at Regal Manchester 16, arriving at 8:30 a.m. to stake out a spot for herself and 17 friends. the 23-year-old Fresno woman, dressed in a black T-shirt adorned with Edward’s face, asked for two days off work so she could be one of the first to see the movie.

“I didn’t become a fan of the books until I saw the movie ‘Twilight’ last year,” Soriano said as she re-read “New Moon’ to pass the time.

Soriano’s group wasn’t the only one making an event of the “New Moon” opening. a survey by the online movie-ticket Web site Fandango showed 72% of ticket buyers planned to see the movie with a group of three friends or more.

The huge local turnout isn’t a complete surprise. last year, the Edwards Stadium 22 had the highest box-office totals in the country for midnight showings of the first movie in the series, “Twilight.”

The area in front of the Edwards theaters looked like a camp-out Thursday evening as moviegoers brought chairs, blankets, books and food to pass the time. Delaney Wiitala, a 16-year-old Sunnyside resident, was the first to arrive at 10 a.m.

The “Twilight” mania was repeated across the country. Fandango reported “New Moon” as the No. 1 movie for pre-sale tickets, passing such big film franchises as “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and “The dark Knight.”

“For many fans, it’s clearly the year’s most-anticipated film event,” said Fandango Chief Operating Officer Rick Butler.

More than 90% of ticket sales on MovieTickets.com were for “New Moon.” the Web site reported hundreds of sold-out screenings nationwide.

“By landing the Number 1 spot on our advance-ticket sellers list, ‘New Moon’ has broken a record that has stood unchallenged for almost five years,” said Joel Cohen, executive vice president and general manager for MovieTickets.com.

Could Taylor Lautner have surpassed Robert Pattinson in popularity overnight? if you caught Lautner on Today and Live with Regis and Kelly this morning, you might think so. he was greeted by louder screams than Pattinson, both in the Plaza, where Today made Lautner sign autographs before Matt Lauer got him to admit only that he was blushing when Taylor Swift gave him a shout-out on Saturday Night Live, and in Live’s studio. I suppose Team Edward could argue that Today simply figured out a better place to put their microphones this a.m., and that the audience fed off of Regis Philbin’s clear bias: “You see, I would always rather be a werewolf than a vampire. Love the werewolf. The full moon comes out, and all of the sudden your clothes pop off, and there you are, baby.”

Pattinson, however, proved he’s still The Man during a pre-taped interview with Ellen DeGeneres that aired today. he had to wait more than a minute for the screams to die down. this was Pattinson at his most relaxed, sharing stories about crazy fans: A woman handed her baby to a production assistant on the set of the first film so it could be taken to the cast and photographed with them; A woman at a signing asked him what she could do to capture his attention and, since he was bored, he suggested she take off her clothes — which she began doing until security escorted her out. he shot down a press report that quoted him saying he was proud of his abs. It’s something he would never say…until he saw New Moon on the big screen. “That’s the first time I’ve ever been proud of my physical appearance in my entire life,” he admitted. he laughed when Ellen showed baby pictures (blond!) and shots from his early modeling days. (”I didn’t realize you could show that one on daytime TV,” he said of an artistic crotch shot.) he also told Ellen that he wants a house in L.A., but isn’t sure how you look for one in a secret location when the paparazzi follows you. she offered to house hunt for him, and meant it. she should definitely film that escapade.

With the Twilight trio’s TV tour coming to an end, which has been your favorite appearance? A refresher:

Taylor Lautner crowned ‘Late Night Motorcycle Racing Champion of all Time’
Robert Pattinson morning TV roundup: Educating Regis, addressing rumors and regret on ‘Today’
Robert Pattinson to need even more security following Letterman appearance
Kristen Stewart on Fallon: ‘Jimmy! move out of the way so we can see Kristen!’
New Moon morning TV roundup: Kellan Lutz won’t take his shirt off for $5,000
Taylor Lautner talks Team Taylor panties with Jay Leno
Kristen Stewart: ‘I think it’s weird that we have underwear with Taylor’s face on it’

Twilight fans (and a few disgruntled looking boyfriends) lined up for hours Thursday to get the best view of Jacob’s new smokin’ hot chest and Edward’s hauntingly beautiful face.

Unlike previous midnight shows at the bad Axe Theatre, all who lined up were guaranteed a seat. Today’s early morning showing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon was the first time the theater has sold advance tickets, said mark Rolfe, theater owner.

“It went well,” Rolfe said. “I think we’ll do this again.”

The movie will remain at the theater for at least two weeks, Rolfe said, with show times this weekend at 4 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The schedule will change for Thanksgiving, so Rolfe asks that people visit badaxetheatre.com for the most up-to-date information. Rolfe said 268 tickets were sold for the midnight screening, and they sold out last Thursday. he said the tickets were on sale for about three weeks, and subscribers to his website’s e-mail list got early notice of the advanced sales.

As people arrived at the theater, they received a numbered chip from concessionist Anna Slavin, who explained the line rules to everyone. while people were required to wait at the theater, the chip allowed them freedom to move about without losing their place in line.

The first person in line, Taylor Krohn, 15, of Elkton, arrived at 3:20 p.m. Thursday. There were about 100 people in line by 8 p.m., and the block in front of the theater continued to fill with fans until just after 11 p.m., when moviegoers were let in the door.

Five hours before the movie was scheduled to begin, about a dozen die-hard fans had hunkered down with blankets and iPods, chatting excitedly and trying to keep warm.

“We wanted to see it real bad,” said Rebecca Schember, 15, of Elkton, who was the second person to arrive and waited in line with Taylor, her cousin.

“It looks awesome,” Taylor said.

“We planned this out a month ahead of time,” Rebecca responded.

Rebecca’s mom, Gail Schember, had the third space in line, but wasn’t planning to see the movie. She was holding the space for her other daughter, Isabella, who had an afterschool commitment.

“When Isabella gets here, I’ve got to get them some pizza … I still don’t know why I’m doing this,” Schember said with a laugh.

“Oh, you love us,” Taylor said.

“I know I love you, and you owe me,” Schember joked.

New Moon is rated PG-13 for mild violence, and it has a run time of 130 minutes.