TWILIGHT WORKER: Mario Kennach with New Moon paraphenalia at the Embassy Theatre.

THE clock strikes midnight, and a fever spreads through Wellington.

Twilight fever.

Hundreds of Twi-hards are lined up at Wellington’s reading and Embassy cinema’s to watch the premiere of the second vamptastic instalment of the Twilight saga New Moon.

Fans started lining up at Reading Cinema two hours before the midnight screening, to make sure they could get a ticket in one of three theatres showing the film.

Both cinema centres said the premiere was successful, selling more than a thousand tickets combined.

Twilight fan Hinemaria Kingi, who watched the movie at the Embassy theatre, says she couldn’t contain her excitement before it,

“I’ve read the books a million times. Twilight was such a cool movie and I hope New Moon is just as good.”

The films are based on a series of four books by Stephanie Meyer. The next instalment is expected to start filming sometime next year.

In an interview on MTV, director Chris Weitz said New Moon will be different from the first movie directed by Katherine Harwicke.

It will be much more of a blockbuster film than Hardwicke’s indie take on Twilight, he said.

Reading Cinema says the film will be showing for at least four weeks. Numbers at the premiere already show it will be a popular watch.

VIDEO: Kylie Klein-Nixon. WORDS: Jess Jones.