Silly me. I was thinking that this “Twilight” phenomenon was being forced down our throats and that Robert Pattinson had no business being on the cover of Vanity Fair. But after “New Moon,” the second movie in the teen-vampire series, opened Friday, it scored the third biggest weekend in U.S. box office history: $140 million. The only bigger openings were for the summertime releases “The Dark Knight” and “Spider-Man 3.”

Despite savage reviews, “New Moon” almost doubled the take of the first “Twilight,” released last year.

Thursday night at Ronnie’s, I saw hundreds of “Twlight” fans camping out for tickets to the midnight screening of “New Moon”. And they were almost all women. It tuns out that the audience for the opening weekend was 80 precent female. So the strategy of showcasing shirtless hunks–one a vampire (Pattinson), the other a werewolf (Taylor Lautner) seems to have paid off handsomely.

There’s virtually nothing in this movie for a male audience–or a highbrow one. It’s a purely a romantic soap opera, as a mopey mortal (Kristen Stewart) is torn between two supernatural suitors.

“New Moon” was directed by Chris Weitz, whose resume includes “American Pie,” “About a Boy” and “The Golden Compass.” The latter movie was supposed to be the start of a fantasy-film series, but it stalled at the box office.

There’s no chance that the “Twilight” series will stall, but Weitz won’t be part of it. He’s just announced that his next project wil be a low-budget drama about a Mexican gardener in L.A. But don’t be surprised if the character spends a lot of time with his shirt off.