Chicago Area Local News

ORLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) ― Move over Harry Potter! A new craze is gripping frenzied fans. The widely popular "Twilight" series of books is coming to life on the big screen. The movie's lead actor Robert Pattinson is out promoting the film in Orland Park.

Tickets for an appearance by "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson at the Orland Square Mall went on sale more than eight hours early and were gone within an hour, and some fans said they felt cheated.

Pattinson is the star of a movie adaptation of the popular saga Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, and a heartthrob for thousands of fans.

Tickets for his Orland Square Mall autograph session had been scheduled to go on sale at 7:15 a.m., but so many people came ahead of time that organizers decided to begin ticket sales by 11 p.m. Tuesday night. By midnight, they were all gone.

A scheduled appearance in San Francisco was canceled after hundreds of fans stormed a mall there.

CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports that organizers say they learned from the San Francisco event and worked with mall management to make sure the same thing didn't happen here at Orland Square Mall.

Five hundred Twilight tour packages were supposed to go on sale this morning, but by midnight, more that 500 people had lined up outside the mall, so organizers of tonight's event went ahead and sold the packages to the first 500 people for safety reasons.

As you can imagine, that left hundreds of disappointed fans without a chance to meet the Robert Pattinson.

"I feel cheated," said Ashley Sullivan, who drove in from St. Louis. "They said, 'Sorry, that's too bad, you're not going to get anything. We've been giving 10 percent off coupons for your purchase today only.' I'm like, 'OK, that's useless.'"

Sullivan said the management of the store Hot Topics, where Pattinson is to appear, told her they gave out the bands on Tuesday night after a crowd of about a thousand swamped the mall.

Another woman told CBS 2 she drove from Fort Wayne, Ind., only to find out she could not get a ticket. She said the rules for getting tickets indicated that nobody would be allowed to stand in line overnight, and claimed that she and several others who came from farther distances missed out on tickets even though they followed the rules.

The Orland Park Police Department has geared up for the actor's appearance. A crowd of 300 assembled in front of the mall around 6:15 a.m., but police asked them to leave on threat of arrest. Yet, by 7:15 a.m., another crowd had assembled.

In addition to the police presence, the mall's own security force is said to be ''totally ready'' for the expected hordes of tween and teen girls, who make up the bulk of fans for the Twilight saga of books.

On Monday, a Pattinson appearance in San Francisco got crazy when an expected 300-500 attendees swelled to more than 3,000. Things got out of control — during one of many disputes about places in line, one girl was seriously injured and others were trampled, but did not require hospitalization — and Pattinson's appearance was canceled.

However, a similar appearance in Seattle came off without incident — ''and that's what we expect here,'' said a Chicago representative for Summit Entertainment, the studio distributing ''Twilight.''

Those who were lucky enough to get a Twilight package were thrilled.

"He's a celebrity and this could be the only time that someone could meet him before he gets really, really big," said Megan Kesterson of Greenfield, Indiana.

"I love Robert Pattinson. He's beautiful and he's funny and awesome," said Heather Boyd of Kentucky.

Pattinson recently told CBS 2's Bill Zwecker there was pressure to deliver when bringing the popular vampire character to life.

"When you're actually doing the job, it's like, just shut it all off," he said. "It's impossible; I mean, if you're thinking about that, you're doing the job wrong."

He seems reluctant to take up the mantle of celebrity his role as the handsome vampire Edward Cullen is sure to bring, once the film opens Nov. 21. In an interview with the Sun-Times on Sunday in Los Angeles, Pattinson said, ''That whole thing about being a star or being a celebrity makes me uncomfortable. I love acting, but the rest of it can be bit unnerving.

Since he co-starred in a couple of ''Harry Potter'' films, Pattinson said he looked to Daniel Radcliffe as the role model for dealing with success.

''Daniel's handled it all so beautifully. And he's had to deal with far more stuff than I likely ever will.''

However, that could change if, as predicted, the ''Twilight'' film spawns another franchise, which Hollywood hopes will be a ''Harry Potter'' for girls.

Pattinson is scheduled to sign autographs at the Hot Topics store in the Orland Square Mall, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday. That will be followed by a Q&A session in the mall's main atrium, beginning at 7:30 and expected to last about a half-hour.

CBS 2's Mai Martinez, Bill Zwecker and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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