(Image Source: Summit Entertainment)

BY CHARESSE JAMES AND JENNIFER LONG

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN



Which team are you on?

“Team Edward? I am so team Edward. Or Team Jacob? I love them all. I can’t decide. And fans across the globe are eager to sink their teeth into the latest of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn.” (Video: NBC)

Breaking Dawn: Part 1 premiered Thursday night and immediately raked in $30 million at the box office. ABC reports the movie had dominated ticket sales long before its premiere.

“For the past six weeks, the film... has been the No. 1 ticket seller on Fandango.com. And just this week alone, it has accounted for 94% of all of their online ticket sales.”

So, the ticket sales are solid, how do critics feel? The Twilight Saga has gotten its fair share of flack in the past, but with a new, Oscar- winning director at the helm, are critics finally impressed?

According to RottenTomatoes -- no. The movie has only a 26 percent approval rating from critics, according to the aggregator.

Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers offers some critical insight into what made the movie so bad.

PETER TRAVERS: “What was this movie like? It sucked! It is the worst Twilight movie so far and for me that’s really saying something because, No. 1, this is the first one that is directed by someone who is really good, William Condon... So why is he doing this is it a pay check thing for him? I don’t know what it is.”

Condon won an Oscar in 1999 for his screenplay, Gods and Monsters, and was nominated for two more Oscars for directing Chicago and scripting Dreamgirls. Critics at The New York Times says Condon’s mark exists in Breaking Down--it’s just... subtle.

“He resurrects the awkward teenage yearning that enlivened the first “Twilight” movie … Mostly, he brings Bella toward her happily-ever-after by giving this movie over to her, her dreams and her desires...”

But fans need not worry about the critics -- there’s still more Twilight to come. Breaking Dawn Part 2 premieres next fall.