The latest installment of the "Twilight" movie series opened to cheers on Friday, with hoards of devoted fans camping out for hours in order to get the best seats for sold-out showings starting as early as 12:01 a.m. local time.

Chicago's AMC River East theater featured eight midnight screenings each almost completely sold out, and according to an usher cinemagoers had already started lining up "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" by the time she started work at six.

Fans of a variety of ages waited anxiously upon pillows and blankets they brought to ease their hours sitting outside theaters, playing card games to pass the time and enjoying the opportunity to meet other die-hard fans who shared their passion.

For many, it's not just love of the series'storyline but the opening-night atmosphere itself that brings them out in the hundreds.

"It's great because you get all these fans.. it feeds off each other. It's like a community, and it's a lot of fun," Twilight fan Vanessa Shine told Xinhua on the opening night experience.

This was Shine's fourth time waiting in line for the midnight showing of Twilight, her and her friends'yearly tradition since the first film premiered in 2008.

"It's the whole experience of why you come to this and sit in line for hours, because you get so excited for the movie beforehand that when it shows up it's even bigger and better," Shine said with anticipation, three hours left to go until showtime.

The "Twilight Saga" that began with a teen romance novel has since inspired a cultural phenomenon, adults too embracing the story that pits an ordinary girl and a vampire as star-crossed lovers.

The three earlier films together already amassing more than 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in box offices throughout the world, Twilight has become one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, with the final chapter still to come in 2012.