Blockbuster Openings, Lackluster Box Office By Michael Cieply "What a year for movie openings. I mean, who could forget 'Twilight'? Teenagers screaming for free tickets outside the dual-theater Westwood premiere here. Mayhem in the malls. Girls thirsting for Robert Pattinson. Box-office projections growing bigger and bigger as online vendors sold out theater after theater. It was amazing. When all is said and done, maybe 24 million tickets will be sold to that movie, based on current sales. That makes it almost as big as, what? 'Patch Adams,' the No. 10 movie of 1998. Or roughly the size of 'George of the Jungle,' which placed No. 13 the year before." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Looking back, in fact, 2008 may be remembered as the year when Hollywood succeeded in redefining the Big Event." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "It’s all great fun — and, in the heat of the moment, can seem tantalizingly real. Remember the high-heeled stampede to...