Summit Entertainment wasted little time green-lighting a Twilight sequel. This morning the studio issued a press release stating as much, no doubt based on the record braking $35.7 million Twilight scared up at the box office with Thursday midnight and Friday ticket receipts. This beats the non-sequel record held by Iron Man at $35.2 million.
Twilight stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, playing Edward the vampire and Bella the human, and screenplay scribe Melissa Rosenberg are already on board for the now greenlit second film, New Moon, and the third presuming it happens. There are four Twilight books from author Stephenie Meyer thus far.
With New Moon being rushed into production it remains unclear whether Summit will bring back Catherine Hardwicke to direct. With no deal in place and likely a much larger budget to work with, Summit may opt to seek out a more seasoned director to reach the large, fertile mainstream audience needed to lift Twilight to even grander box office returns.
Though critics have been critical of Twilight the film, its clear moviegoers have voted with their wallet that they want to see the entire series unfold on the big screen. Additional casting and director announcements should be made sooner rather than later.
