It's been ten years since Bella and Edward became a thing.

This week, on November 21, 2008 -- fans squee'd in theaters upon the release of the first "Twilight" movie.  As obsessively as fans pored over every detail of the supernatural romance, there's still much you may not know about the five-film series.

Here are the dark (and not-so-dark) secrets of how the best-selling Stephenie Meyer novels sank their fangs into the multiplex.
1. MTV Films optioned the "Twilight" books way back in 2004, but their version of the saga would have been so unlike the novels as to be nearly unrecognizable. There was talk of night-vision goggles and making Bella a cool jock instead of a shy loner and... oh, we just can't even.

2. Thankfully, when Summit Films wound up with the rights, the indie studio promised Meyer greater fidelity, even writing into its contract language that stipulated the modest length of the vampires' fangs.

3. Meyer's casting ideas for Bella and Edward were The Tudors").

4. Director Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Summit flew him to California, where his audition consisted of a love scene with Stewart, acted out on Hardwicke's own bed at her Venice home. "It was electric," Hardwicke told Entertainment Weekly. "The room shorted out, the sky opened up, and I was like, 'This is going to be good.'"

6. The first "Twilight" movie cost just $39 million to make, a budget that was sofa-cushion change for a would-be blockbuster / franchise launcher even in 2008. It earned back $193 million in North America and another $201 million overseas.
7. As Jacob, New Moon," Lautner hit the gym and added 30 pounds of muscle. Mostly in his now-iconic abs, we'd guess.

8. 2, cost a combined $230 million to make. Of that $230 million, Stewart, Pattinson, and Lautner each got $25 million, plus 7.5 percent of the gross receipts, making them (for a brief, shining moment) among the highest paid actors in Hollywood history.

10. All told, the five-movie franchise grossed $1.4 billion in North America and a total of $3.3 billion worldwide.
11. Might there be further "Twilight" movies? There might, if Meyer revisits her universe the way J.K. Rowling has with her "Harry Potter" spinoff "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

"It's a possibility," Lionsgate co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger said in September. (Lionsgate took over the franchise when it bought Summit in 2012.) "Not a certainty but it's a possibility. It's about Stephenie. If she wants to tell a story related to those characters, we're here for her."