OK, no more "New Moon" talk for a while; it seems to be making a few of us a little cranky. And while that might suit the topic -- has there ever been a crankier heroine than Kristin Stewart's Bella? is anyone other than me getting cranky as they try to figure out where Jacob's shorts go when he turns into a wolf? -- I'd rather keep things moving along here at Popcorn & Prejudice, where we've given this movie quite enough space. So, onward. As I browse the news this morning, I found myself fascinated by the headline "Chef Paula Deen accidentally hit by charity ham" and had to read to find out in that Ms. Deen is quite all right, and that I envy the AP writer who got to use the phrase "errant swine." (Did anyone else hear Ms. Deen's appearance on the NPR show "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" a while ago? It left me laughing hysterically and longing to try a bacon-wrapped deep-fried macaroni and cheese ball, or a Krispy Kreme doughnut burger. Here's the link to the interview. No, this has absolutely nothing to do with movies, but some smart person should put her in one -- the lady's very, very funny. Listen to it; you'll feel better.)

But I digress. There's a good read this morning in the Hollywood Reporter, in which we can learn how a few filmmakers this season have been dealing with tight budgets (haven't we all?). Lee Daniels had to abandon plans for an animated sequence in "Precious" for lack of funds, creating the film's compelling fantasy sequences instead. Jim Sheridan, for "Brothers" (opening here Dec. 4) had to shoot war scenes in New Mexico instead of Afghanistan, and had to coax Tobey Maguire to forego Christmas feasting in order to lose weight in a hurry -- there wasn't time to suspend production while he dropped 20 pounds. Tom Hooper paid extras with fish and chips and used inflatable dummies to beef up the crowd in the football-stadium scenes in "">The Damned United." And Tom Ford, who in his spare time is a well-known fashion designer, used furniture from his own house to create his main character's posh 1962 home in "A Single Man" (opening Dec. 25). And he rewrote one scene to take place in a near-empty parking lot rather than on a highway, thus eliminating the need for street closures and multiple vintage cars.

But not everyone adapts easily to budget constraints. Mira Nair, according to this story, threatened a hunger strike when she was told she couldn't fly a replica of Amelia Earhart's plane from Canada to Africa in "Amelia." (She won the argument, but was given strict time constraints.) Maybe she should have held out for a better screenplay instead.

A crowd, just post fish-and-chips? Michael Sheen in "The Damned United" (which is, by the way, a very fine movie). Photo courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

Well, bite me. That little vampire movie grossed more than $140 million over the weekend, making it the biggest opening of the year and the third biggest of all time (behind the other two movies named in this blog's title -- both of which, it should be pointed out, opened in the busy summer season). "New Moon" also racked up the biggest opening day in movie history (Friday alone made an estimated $72.7 million, compared to $67.2 million earned by "The Dark Knight"), and more than doubled the opening-weekend totals for its 2008 predecessor "Twilight." Variety reports this morning that all of this is shaking up the movie industry, which has long believed that big-box-office movies have to be aimed at fanboys or families, not young women. (Hey, don't they remember "Titanic"?) 50 percent of the women attending "New Moon," the story points out, were under 21.

As we ponder the fact that "Eclipse," the third "Twilight" movie, will open during the peak of the summer movie season next year, and wonder whether Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will spend the rest of their careers trying vainly to prove that there's more to them than moody sparkle-skinned vampire, surly girl-in-crisis, and cheery teen werewolf respectively, let me ask this: Did you go this weekend? I went Wednesday (to the premiere screening) and noted that Team Jacob screamed much more loudly than Team Edward, and that, in a move that should warm the hearts of studio executives, a huge roar of approval was given to the Summit Entertainment logo at the beginning of the movie. But I wasn't at the multiplexes this weekend. Any good "New Moon" stories out there?

Run, Bella, run! But why do you look like you're holding your shirt together? (Photo by Kimberley French, courtesy of Summit Entertainment.)

Well, this arrived just in time to make me feel bad about consuming that enormous bag of popcorn at "New Moon" the other night. (Hey, it was my dinner.) But seriously, was anyone out there thinking that movie popcorn was nutritious? I eat it all the time, under no illusions -- though I do pretend that not adding the scary "buttery" topping makes it, if not good, at least not as bad as it might be. And I'm wondering when the nutritionist quoted in the story last went to a movie theater, if she thinks that the popcorn counter and the candy counter are two different places.

While we're talking about movie food on this rainy Friday, here's a question: Anyone tried the new chicken nuggets at Pacific Place? I saw a sign advertising them the other day, but didn't have nerve to try them; nor have I sampled the egg rolls at the Meridian. Neither seem like they would go well with popcorn. (Little-known fact, shared with me by several Pacific Place employees: You can carry in your own food -- but only if it's from one of the Pacific Place restaurants.)

And finally, on this black-and-white day, here's a black-and-white clip that's sure to cheer. It's Ginger Rogers singing "Let Yourself Go," a 1936 song I was happy to hear just yesterday on the soundtrack to Richard Linklater's charming new film "Me and Orson Welles" (opening in Seattle Dec. 11). The song, irresistibly catchy, was written by Irving Berlin for "Follow the Fleet," from which this clip was taken. Watch it and smile, and have a nice weekend.

This is slightly old news (it happened while I was away on vacation), but a reader brought this to my attention this week so I thought I'd post it. As I posted a few months ago, the long-awaited DVD release of John Huston's beautiful final film "The Dead" was announced last summer for November 3. Sadly (and inexplicably), Lionsgate managed to botch the release, putting out a version of the film that was missing about ten minutes from the early scenes. They quickly recalled the product, leaving many puzzled. I talked to a Lionsgate staffer this week and she gave me the following statement:

It has come to our attention that due to a technical malfunction, the initial DVD shipment of John Huston's THE DEAD contained an incomplete version of the film. We deeply apologize to all our consumers for this unfortunate error and want to offer them an opportunity to replace their current copies with the complete version as soon as it is available to ship the week of November 23rd. We regret this inconvenience, as Lionsgate is committed to providing our consumers the highest quality home entertainment experience.

All consumers who purchased a copy and wish to receive the new complete version should do one of the following:

EMAIL lionsgatecs@orderassistance.com with their address and a scan/attachment of their receipt
FAX (310) 222-5562 with their address and copy of their receipt
MAIL their receipt along with a note including their address to: 20102 S Vermont Ave Torrance, CA 90502

Or please call (800) 650-7099 directly if you have any further questions

She said that correct versions of the DVD will be available in stores or for online purchase starting November 23. If you buy (or rent) a copy, be sure to check the running time: Huston's version is 83 minutes. And yes, this exquisite film is worth the trouble.

So, I'm sitting watching "New Moon" at Cinerama last night, and the girls of Team Jacob have finally stopped screaming everytime the kid comes on screen, and we're watching the ill-fated movie date-and-a-half (what else do you call a date that involves three people?) between Bella, Mike and Jacob, and I'm thinking, wow, that theater looks familiar. Indeed it was: The Ridge, my neighborhood moviehouse in Vancouver, B.C., where I grew up and where "New Moon" was shot. (The first "Twilight" movie was primarily filmed in Oregon; the second two in Vancouver B.C. Yes, it's supposed to be Forks, Washington, but the filmmakers didn't shoot there.) The Ridge, which has been around forever, has a distinctively skinny lobby with a staircase on one side, on which Jacob and Bella sit. I think I've sat there too, and maybe even on a date, though not with a werewolf.

If you grew up in Vancouver, you see a lot of familiar sights on screen, as so many movies and TV shows shoot there. And you're often amused by geography: Vancouver is usually passing for some other city (often Seattle), and you see funny stuff like Al Pacino, in "88 Minutes," driving down the Seattle viaduct and, immediately afterwards, arriving at the University of British Columbia campus.

Ever been surprised by an oh-so-familiar location in a movie? Do share.

Let's briefly interrupt the all-"New Moon"-all-the-time-ishness of this week for something completely different. Today I saw Wes Anderson's delightful new stop-motion-animation film, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," based on the children's book by Roald Dahl. It's funny, sweet and wonderfully creative -- and you get a sense of how creative it is by watching this brief featurette about the making of the film. I was surprised to see how teeny the animal figures actually are (stitching those little costumes must have been a chore), and that Anderson had his cast record their voice tracks outdoors at a farm, rather than in a studio. "Fantastic Mr. Fox" opens in multiple Seattle theaters Wednesday, Nov. 25. It's a treat.

This morning I heard from the nice people at Fandango, who told me that "New Moon" recently became their biggest advance seller ever, moving more early tickets than "Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "The Dark Knight," or any "Harry Potter" movie. So, who's buying all these tickets? Do teenage girls really have that much money? How many closeted Twilight Moms are out there? Let's take a poll:

Feel free to add comments explaining your choice. Me, I'm going to the premiere screening tonight, because it's my job. (Would I go if it wasn't my job? Umm . .. probably not. Certainly not opening weekend, anyway.) If you're coming, look for me; I'll be the one without a "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward" T-shirt, and an amused yet vaguely frightened expression, kind of like the one Bella gets when she's hanging out with the Cullens. I'm expecting a sort of "Rocky Horror"-like atmosphere, with a lot of teens yelling "Bite me!" at the screen. Wish me luck.

Doesn't anybody ever smile in this movie? Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner doing that moony thing in "New Moon" (Photo credit: Kimberley French, courtesy of Summit Entertainment)

Yes, my friends, it's "New Moon" week, and every other item in my email box has something to do with The Movie Everyone Is Asking Me If I've Seen Yet. (Answer: no, tomorrow night, along with about a thousand screaming teenagers. I'm scared.) Here's just a sampling of today's "Twilight"-themed potpourri.

-- From MovieTickets.com: 2,150 screenings of "New Moon" have already sold out (and, in an item last week, "New Moon" advance tickets were selling four times faster than "Twilight" tickets last year).

-- From Moviefone: a list of the 10 greatest screen vampires, in which Robert "The Hair Is 75 Percent Of My Performance" Pattinson ranks only at #6. (The winner? Bela Lugosi, but of course.)

-- From a random publicist: an announcement of the available-for-interviews-ness of a university professor who seems to spend an awful lot of time thinking about "Twilight," and who notes that the Stephenie Meyer books are "a gateway drug" that drive teens to better literature. Let's hope.

-- From another random publicist: the announcement that some university researchers who've spent an awful lot of time thinking about "Twilight" have concluded that the books have an abstinence message. No kidding.

Me, I'm reading "New Moon" (well, "barrelling through" might be a better description) and bracing myself for tomorrow night's decibel level. And wondering whether the 15-year-old me would be on Team Edward or Team Jacob. (Probably Edward, despite the unfortunate glitter-skin thing.)

Edward, Bella, Jacob, and Jacob's biceps in a still from "New Moon." So, whose hair is the prettiest? (Photo by Kimberley French, courtesy of Summit Entertainment)

Update: I just spoke to my editor, the brilliant and always well-coiffed Lynn Jacobson, about upcoming holiday movies, and she observed that "Hugh Grant is the Edward, and George Clooney is the Jacob." "New Moon" for grownups, people. I have nothing more to add.