MARYSVILLE — Marysville fans of “The Twilight Saga” began lining up for the latest installment in the series at 1:30 p.m. the day before its premiere at the Marysville Regal Cinemas, which showed all three films in the series June 29-30.
At 6:30 p.m. June 29, the Marysville theater screened the original “Twilight,” followed by “New Moon” at 9 p.m, and at 12:01 a.m. June 30, the theater debuted “Eclipse,” the newest movie based on the novels by Stephenie Meyer. The line at the Marysville theater stretched into the street and included plenty of members of both “Team Edward” and “Team Jacob.”
Karla Willard was introduced to the series by her sister, Lisa Anderson, but while Anderson and Willard’s daughter, Jordan, became fans of the brooding vampire Edward, Karla switched her allegiance from Edward to the rugged werewolf Jacob midway through the series.
“My daughter and I read the books within a week,” Karla Willard said, while she and Jordan were waiting in line June 29. “It’s a fairy tale romance. Jacob is this dark, mysterious, handsome underdog,” she laughed at her own pun. “He’s the best friend who’s always there for Bella.”
“Plus, Jacob got so much hotter between the first and second movies,” said Sue McGowan, a “Team Jacob” friend of the Willards and Anderson, who waited in line alongside them to watch all three movies together. “I wasn’t sure about him at first, but with the short hair? Holy cow. I raced home from a camping trip for this,” she laughed.
“Edward is more romantic,” Anderson said, before joking, “My husband needs to be more like him. There’s something about him that’s so sexy and appealing. I’m not sure I should be saying that, though, since he’s so young,” she laughed.
Karla Willard prepared for the extended moviegoing experience by wearing comfortable shoes and sweats, and bringing both blankets and a pack of Red Bull to keep her going. She and her sister agreed that “Eclipse,” like the previous two movies in the series, remained both faithful to the source material and relatively easy to follow for those who have never read the books.
“I’ll probably go see it again a few times before it comes out on DVD,” Anderson said. “I’m still an Edward fan through and through, but after seeing this film, Jacob has definitely gone up in my rankings. Edward is still the bad boy who’s more fun because you’re supposed to stay away from him, though. I love the way he treats Bella.”
“Vampires are way better than werewolves,” Jordan Willard said.
“I dreamt of Jacob that night,” said Karla Willard, who pitched “The Twilight Saga” to newcomers as a similar experience to “The Lord of the Rings” and the Harry Potter series. “With Harry Potter, I thought it just be something that my daughter watched, but I got sucked into it too.”
“It gets to where you’ve got to see what happens next,” Anderson said.
“Everybody loves a fairy tale,” Karla Willard said.
