CHICAGO – The advance ticket sales for Summit Entertainment’s “Twilight,” which hits theaters next Friday, have so impressed the studio that they are already moving forward on future adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s blockbuster series of books.
The Hollywood Reporter [17] said on Friday morning the company has hired a writer for “New Moon” and “Eclipse” (the two sequels to “Twilight”) and has moved the fourth potential film (“Breaking Dawn”) into the development pipeline.
Melissa Rosenberg – a writer and producer from Showtime’s award-winning “Dexter” – has been given the job to adapt “New Moon” and “Eclipse” with the writer undetermined for “Breaking Dawn”.
“Twilight” was written by Rosenberg and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (“Thirteen,” “Lords of Dogtown”). “Twilight” stars Kristen Stewart (“Into the Wild,” “The Messengers”) as average teenage-girl Bella Swan and relative newcomer Robert Pattinson (“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”) as vampire beau Edward Cullen.
Pattinson has already developed a screaming-girl fan base who will be happy to hear that the star has been signed for at least two more films. None of the principals have officially been signed for “Breaking Dawn”. Bella and Edward are major characters in all of the Stephenie Meyer books.
According to Fandango’s Harry Medved and as quoted by Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere, hundreds of shows of “Twilight” are already sold out. The film is outpacing “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” which opened with $42 million on Oct. 24, 2008.
In a Fandango survey this week of nearly 4,000 “Twilight” fans, 83 percent reported that they plan to see the film on opening day.
If the success of the “Twilight” soundtrack (featuring Muse, Paramore and Linkin Park) is any indication of how the film will do, Summit was wise to start development on the sequels as soon as possible. The soundtrack is the No. 1 album in the country and the first to hold that spot since Jack Johnson’s “Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies for the Film Curious George” in early 2006.
“Twilight,” which stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Ashley Green, Nikki Reed and Jackson Rathbone, opens on Nov. 21, 2008.
See our high-quality, 28-image “Twilight” slideshow. [18]Read our “Twilight” sequel story prior to opening weekend. [19]By BRIAN TALLERICO [20]
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com [20]
Links:
[1] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/users/briantt
[2] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/breaking-dawn
[3] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/brian-tallerico
[4] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/catherine-hardwicke
[5] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/dexter
[6] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/eclipse
[7] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/hollywoodchicagodotcom-content
[8] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/kristen-stewart
[9] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/lords-of-dogtown
[10] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/melissa-rosenberg
[11] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/new-moon
[12] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/robert-pattinson
[13] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/sequels
[14] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/stephenie-meyer
[15] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/thirteen
[16] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/twilight
[17] http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE4AD18D20081114
[18] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/slideshows/5603/slideshow-images-from-twilight
[19] http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/5597/twilight-sequels-moved-into-development
[20] mailto:brian@hollywoodchicago.com