Modesto theater to run full 'Twilight' saga for fans

The love saga of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan comes to a conclusion today as "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" opens in movie theaters.

Locally, movie theaters are showing the presumed final chapter in the vampire love story starting at 10 p.m. The four-book, five-movie tale has captured the imagination of preteens and older people, particularly women, since the original "Twilight" introduced readers to vampire Edward and teenager Bella.

In Los Angeles, people have been camping out all week in anticipation of tonight's première to see what Variety terms "Bella reborn as a bloodthirsty, butt-kicking vampire mama."

Locally, heavy crowds are expected.

Modesto's Brenden Theatres will be all "Breaking Dawn," all night, manager Sal Trujillo said.

"We're still running regular movies up until about 9:30," he said. "After that, it's 'Twilight' central."

For true die-hards — called Twihards in the "Twilight" world — the adventure begins, literally, at 12:30 p.m. Brenden is showing all five movies back to back.

"They're literally watching every single movie up until the very end," Trujillo said. The $17 ticket has been surprisingly popular, and he expects thousands of attendees — mostly female — for the final film.

"The response has actually been a lot better than previous films, I think because it's the last film," Trujillo said. "Everyone's really excited about it."

Kim Higgins-French of Oakdale shares that excitement. She will join six friends for a girls night out at the 10 p.m. show at the Galaxy Theatres in Riverbank. They've been attending movies together for several years.

With both series, Higgins-French said, "I just love the imagination of it all."

When the original "Twilight" came out, Higgins-French said, she was skeptical. "I kind of thought it was silly," she said. But some of her students — she teaches ninth- to 12th-grade special education — were reading it and it piqued her interest.

"I like that the vampires are the good people," she said. "I got into it."

She said she has some students, now seniors, who were freshmen when the first movies were released.

"Every year, we'd say, 'It's November, the new movie's coming out,' " Higgins-French said. "We have a lot of fun talking about it."

Breaking News Editor Patty Guerra can be reached at pguerra@modbee.com or (209) 578-2343.