Hollywood is on Team Edward: vampires brought in $7 billion in the last 2 yrs (or have they?)

Well suck me sideways. I knew the vampire phenomenon was big, but I never did the math. Since the first Twilight film hit theaters two years ago, vampire shows and movies have done $7 billion in business, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But is the math misleading?

Here's how THR breaks it down:

• $3 billion - Film
• $1.6 billion - Publishing
• $600 million - Merchandising
• $1.2 billion - TV/DVD
• $600 million - Other

However, the numbers included in the text of the report don't add up. Here are the numbers I pulled from the article.

• $2 billion - Twilight series box office and video sales
• $350 million - Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and The Vampire's Assistant
• $400 million - True Blood (HBO) and The Vampire Diaries (CW) ad and video sales
• $50 million - Twilight Soundtracks (5+ million in sales)
• $1.6 billion - Vampire book sales (120 mil at $13 a book; Twilight 100 mil, Southern Vampire 8 mil, others 12 mil)
• $500 million - Twilight merchandise
• $100 million - Halloween vampire costumes
• $200 million - Vampire-based video games like Castlevania

The $7 billion number is a stretch from what I tally, which is only about $5.2 billion. 

I some few issues as well. Adding in video game sales like Castlevania isn't exactly relevant. Yes, they are based on vampires, but Castlevania has consistently been a top selling video game series since 1986. 

I wish THR broke the numbers down more accurately. From what I gather, the only way to reach $7 billion is to add in what Twilight: Breaking Dawn will make when it comes out, which THR estimates at another $1.7 billion, and to factor in future DVD and ad sales for TV series like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries. So really, Hollywood MAY make $7 billion from vampires, but it isn't quite there yet. Still, $4-5 billion ain't a bad start.