The Twilight Saga (film series)
The Twilight Saga is a series of five romance fantasy films from Summit Entertainment based on the four novels by American author Stephenie Meyer. The films star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner. The series has grossed over $3.3 billion in worldwide receipts and consists, to date, of five motion pictures. The first installment, Twilight, was released on November 21, 2008. The second installment, New Moon, followed on November 20, 2009, breaking box office records as the biggest midnight screening and opening day in history, grossing an estimated $72.7 million. The third installment, Eclipse, was released on June 30, 2010, and was the first Twilight film to be released in IMAX.
The series was in development since 2004 at Paramount Pictures, during which time a screen adaptation of Twilight that differed significantly from the novel was written. Three years later, Summit Entertainment acquired the rights to the film. After Twilight grossed $35.7 million on its opening day, Summit Entertainment announced they would begin production on New Moon; they had acquired the rights to the remaining novels earlier that same month. A two-part adaptation of Breaking Dawn began shooting in November 2010 with November 18, 2011, and November 16, 2012, release dates.
Twilight was in development for approximately three years at Paramount Pictures's MTV Films, during which time a screen adaptation differing significantly from the novel was written. For example, the script transformed Bella into a star athlete. Stephenie Meyer stated that there was some debate in allowing the movie to be made because of the negative or positive outcome of the movie compared to the book, '"They could have put that [earlier] movie out, called it something else, and no one would have known it was Twilight!" The idea of seeing a scene converted correctly, specifically the meadow scene, convinced Meyer to sell the rights. In seeing the script, she was frightened that she had made the wrong decision. When Summit Entertainment reinvented itself as a full-service studio in April 2007, it successfully acquired the rights to the novel. Erik Feig, President of Production at Summit Entertainment, guaranteed a close adaptation to the book. The company perceived the film as an opportunity to launch a franchise based on the success of Meyer's book and its sequels. Meyer felt that Summit was open to letting her be a part of the film. Catherine Hardwicke was hired to direct the film, and soon afterward, Melissa Rosenberg was selected to be the film's structural base as the writer of the film.
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