NEW MOON WAS MADE FOR THE FANS
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What was your biggest fear going into [opening] weekend?
CHRIS WEITZ: I didn’t have any particular fears. The tracking numbers were enough to indicate that I wouldn’t be letting the studio down. But if one could imagine their biggest fears, it would be complete rejection of the movie, by the fans. What I’ve realized over the last week is I won’t necessarily get good reviews for this movie. Having swallowed that, this was made for the fans, and if you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.
Did the negative reviews surprise you?
Nothing surprises me in terms of reviews. Having been a reviewer myself, there are only two ways to spin this story. You can either be the one guy who says this is a great movie, or more likely, take a more jaundiced view of the whole thing. And given the media blitz that has accompanied New Moon, it’s rather unsurprising. I do wish there was more appreciation for cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe. I think he’s a genius and I think he made something beautiful.
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THE BREAKING DAWN CHEAT SHEET
And So It Begins
Naturally, we’ve been there since day one, blowing the lid off “Breaking Dawn” mania with an exclusive Stephenie Meyer interview that had the author explaining film possibilities, the novel’s out-of-left-field plot twists, and even emotionally reacting to fans who had returned their copies to voice displeasure. Nevertheless, as Meyer went on tour with the novel and fans began to process its plot revelations, the black sheep of the “Twilight” saga seemed to begin winning over fans — and 47 percent of Twilighters recently selected it as the top movie in the franchise they want to see.
Who’s Steering the Ship?
As the fans know, every “Twilight” movie thus far has had its own distinctive director at the helm — so, for the final movie, everybody seems to have an opinion. Jamie Campbell Bower and Ashley Greene want Tim Burton, who told us the gig could be “nice.” RPattz would prefer Oscar-nominee Gus Van Sant, while many of the actors — and the fans — want Chris Weitz to be the franchise’s first two-time filmmaker. (Sorry to break the news to you folks, but the “New Moon” director hopes to be a full-time surfer by the time “Breaking Dawn” hits theaters.)
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TAYLOR DIDN’T THINK NEW MOON WOULD BE A SUCCESS?!
www.mirror.co.uk: Apparently, Lautner told werewolf co-star Alex Meraz a few weeks ago that he thought Twilight fans would just keep re-watching the original rather than come and see the latest installment.
Talking to US entertainment website Hollyscoop at the American Music Awards at the weekend, Meraz said: “Me and Taylor Lautner were eating and talking about it.
“We were like ‘We don’t know if its going to be this big,’ just because we knew Twilight fans watched it over and over again. So we’re like, ‘I don’t know if they’re gonna do that again.’ To see these numbers I am like cool, we’re alright.”
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WILL ECLIPSE BE R-RATED?
www.reelempire.com: I seriously doubt Summit Entertainment would do anything to give their third installment in their popular vampire saga title ‘Twilight: Eclipse’ an R-rating. After all, most fans of the franchise are considered ‘tweens’ thus they haven’t reached the age to legally enter an R-rated film. Star Robert Pattinson told Pop Crunch this “There’s so many more main parts, and having these huge battle sequences, I’ve never done anything like it in any of the other movies.” What’s more he thinks Eclipse really pushes the limit of the PG-13 rating and that “it would be so funny if it was R-rated.”
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TWILIGHT PUTS SUMMIT INTO THE MEGA-FRANCHISE BIZ
www.latimesblogs.latimes.com: “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” has been exploding all sorts of box office records — my colleague, Ben Fritz, says, for example, that it is the least expensive movie ever to open to more than $200 million worldwide. But the most important record that it’s on track to break is one that might give a serious new shot in the arm to everyone in the indie film world.
When you factor in the original film’s $383.8 million in worldwide grosses with the $700 million or more in worldwide grosses that “New Moon” could eventually roll up, Summit Entertainment will soon find itself having the biggest true independent film franchise in recent history. (By true independent, I’m disqualifying New Line, which made even more money with its “Lord of the Rings” franchise but wasn’t a true independent since it was already owned by Time-Warner by the time the “LOTR” series was launched.)
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So, what do you think of todays Twilight Saga news?
