Color me completely shocked. I actually ended up liking Twilight a lot. More than that… I loved it. Who would have thought? I’ve already outlined all the reasons why I enjoyed Twilight so much, so I won’t go into it all again.
But whether you loved or hated Twilight, there is no denying how successful it is. The film cost just over $37 million to make and has already made over $160 million world wide. You’d think that even with all of the criticism the film has received that they wouldn’t want to mess with the chemistry for the sequel. Well… they have. Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will not return for New Moon, the sequel to Twilight.
Our friends over at IESB give us this:
Summit’s targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, NEW MOON, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen. Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for NEW MOON.
They said the decision was mutual and both the studio and the director are talking very highly of each other so there really is no reason to doubt the official statement. But I doubt it.
I think this “break up” has more to do with the fact that a lot of Twilight fans and critics did not like the movie, but that’s just speculation on my part. Hardwicke is actually a very solid director with films like “Lords of Dogtown” and the brilliant “Thirteen”. Personally I would have liked to see her return for the sequel… but I don’t think this will kill or save the next film either way.
