Yes we put a sparkling vampire on the front page of HorrorBid, what of it! :-) It looks like the The Twilight Saga franchise is taking a leaf out of Harry Potter’s book and splitting into two films. Variety is reporting that studio Summit Entertainment is considering splitting the fourth and last installment of the franchise, Breaking Dawn, into two movies – much like the Harry Potter franchise is doing with its last film, Deathly Hallows....

Follow up:

The issue falls down to if they should condense the 756 page novel into a single film or break it into two parts. The two parts would be shot back to back and not in a single shoot before two seperate edits.

The one confirmed part is that Melissa Rosenberg (who has penned all the screenplays) will also write the final script.However, problems arise after that:

"...multiple sources said the company wants to go the two-film route, which means reopening negotiations and securing approval from the author. It also means making new deals with a principal cast that is only locked up for four films. If "Breaking Dawn" becomes two pictures, all of the key cast members will get fat raises, and the three principals -- Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner -- could land paydays in the eight-figure range..."

Some issues this raises for Summit are that they need to re-open negotiations with the source books’ author, Stephanie Meyer, as well as with the cast who are currently only locked down for four flicks. With the amount of money New Moon has made so far – $473 million worldwide and counting – I don’t think the hurdle of the stars demanding huge salaries is that big of a deal: cut them their fat checks, as the series has already proven to be an absolute cash-cow. Summit Execs aren’t commenting at this time, but just note this: Variety says the primary cast – Stewart, Pattinson and Taylor Lautner – could end up landing 8-figure salaries!



Another bit of trouble with Weitz is the fact he wants to make his next film a smaller one, entitled The Gardener, also at Summit. With the “go go go!” mentality of shooting the Twilight franchise (they already finished shooting the third before the second was released!), I think Summit will want Weitz to postpone The Gardener to work on Breaking Dawn, so the studio can have the film in the can ASAP (unsurprisingly they haven’t closed the deal on The Gardener yet).

Personally, I see breaking the last Twilight film into two parts as nothing more than trying to milk as much money out of the franchise as possible. Of course, the movie business IS a business, but I must admit I don’t like that they’re dragging this thing out. I like the first Twilight, I didn’t really care for the second (you had to be a fan of the book, I felt) and am not really excited to see anymore. It may work fine for the last Harry Potter (I’ve heard the last book is pretty “heavy,” warranting a split for the movie), but in this case, beyond money, there’s no reason to do it IMO.

I just KNOW I’m going to get berated by Twilight fans saying the fourth book is deep enough to warrant two movies… Sigh…

Do you think Breaking Dawn should be split into two movies or do you agree it’s just the studio [milking the franchise for all it’s worth? Any fans of the books out there think a split is warranted? Do you think New Moon director, Chris Weitz, should return to direct after not directing Eclipse?

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is set to hit theaters just next summer, on June 30th, 2010. There’s no release date been set for Breaking Dawn as of yet.