Stewart as Bella and Edi Gathegi as vampire Laurent. Photo / Supplied Expand

Stewart as Bella and Edi Gathegi as vampire Laurent. Photo / Supplied

August 2009: A cinema full of American fans shrieks as a long-haired, dark-skinned, sculpted young man peels off his shirt to blot the blood from Bella's head. They stare into each other's eyes, and lean in.

"Don't do it!" cries someone in the audience.

"It's going to be so good!" whispers another. This, is Twilight mania.

Cover your ears, and cover your eyes, or the characters will bewitch you too. The fantasy vampire series is turning sensible people fanatical, one magazine cover, one billboard, and one movie trailer at a time...

This YouTube clip, posted three months ago, showed the effect the New Moon trailer had on fans when it gave American cinemagoers a taste of what was to come. Three months is a long time to wait when you're that thirsty.

It is now November 19, and 91 New Zealand cinemas are ready: New Moon has hit our isles.

There's no need for a doomsday-voice announcement. It's caused such a phenomenal amount of talk and Twitter that even those actively avoiding the craze know a bunch of pale teenagers who yearn for each other and each other's blood, have been holding the world to ransom.

The tag New Moon is tracking at 100 tweets per minute.

This was Twitter on Sunday night:

* robert pattinson, you make my heart burn. (yes, i'm watching twilight)

* Yay yummy vampires = P

* A confession of twi-hard fans, just a real sucker for anything twilight..even read 2 teen magz today..Go Jacob!

hows this for ironic i found the grey jacket that bella wears in new moon for $130, looked on ebay and same price + $15 P&H.

* Oh god, I'm actually starting to look forward to New Moon. Slightly. What has the world come to?

5 more days until New Moon. I'm soooo excited! I have never been this excited for a movie before.

* haha it's not a movie, it's a movement.haha

That's right. It is a movement.

SkyCity's chief executive Nigel Morrison says New Moon has generated more pre-sales than any film, ever. Hoyts Sylvia Park has also sold more seats to its La Premiere luxury cinemas for this film than any other film.