In a box-office story about the Twilight avalanche, N.Y. Times reporter Brooks Barnes notes that “experts” are saying the film “could struggle with what movie executives call playability, or the ability to maintain box-office heat after the core fan base has moved on.”

Summit distribution chief Richard Fay is then quoted saying that “he hope[s] strong word-of-mouth among mothers will keep ticket sales solid.”

Mothers? Guys of all ages can go to this thing and learn (i.e., remind themselves) how to act with their girlfriends and wives in a way that will most likely lead to some action. This is not a painful-to-sit-through, young-girls-only movie. It goes down fairly easily, plus it’s a major phenomenon that anyone who fancies himself to be any kind of cultural pulse-taker is absolutely required to see.