What was to be the fourth and final film in the commercial juggernaut of the “Twilight” series has now been reported to become two films.
Confirming previously reported rumors, Stephanie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn,” much like the final installment of the “Harry Potter” series, has been deemed too long for one film and thus will render the film adaptations a five-part series. It is not yet confirmed if “New Moon” director Chris Weitz will direct the two back-to-back feature, but it doesn’t look that way. According to the Deadline report, Summit Entertainment is looking at “high-end” directors (whether they get any, Summit doesn’t exactly pay people top dollar). Melissa Rosenberg, who has written all of the “Twilight” scripts to date, is amidst writing the final two-parter.
The novel is reportedly quite graphic and bizarre, featuring violent vampire sex scenes and subsequent graphic “unconventional” birth from protagonist Bella to a rapidly vampire/human hybrid named Rensemee. The depiction of this character will reportedly feature “Benjamin Button”-esque effects. With all of the graphic content in the original novel, we wonder if the ratings of the films will be split as well. Given the market, it is highly unlikely that they’d produce a film warranting an R rating without drastically modifying the aspects in question of the original story (a more likely scenario indeed).
Besides the obvious commercial benefits for Summit Entertainment of making one film into two, the development would likely also mandate a renegotiation with the actors, as they signed on for only four films. Leads Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will likely get to reap the benefits of vamp-crazed adolescents and demand an even greater salary (perhaps even up to eight-figures as we previously reported as well) in contractual additions (this will kill Summit though and they will likely try and jump through as many hoops as they can to lessen the blow).
If all is on track to start shooting this fall, then we suspect that we’ll probably be going through the Twilight release craze not once but twice in 2011. Oh boy. Until then, you will be able to get your fix for all your insatiable Twilight desires when the third film, “Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” is released on June 30th.