Stephenie released Eclipse on August 7, 2007 with 150,000 copies flying off the shelves the first day alone. The book hit #1 on both Wall Street Journal and USA Today's lists. Catherine Hardwicke, director of Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, was chosen to direct the first movie in The Twilight Saga, and the casting calls began. On November 16, 2007, the first character for the film version of Twilight was chosen with Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, and on December 11, they finally found the chemistry they were looking for in the Edward/Bella relationship, with Robert Pattinson earning the role of Edward Cullen. By February 19, 2008, all of the Cullen coven had been chosen and shooting was ready to begin.
Stephenie Meyer was astonished by the young pair they had chosen to fill the shoes of the lovers from her dream, saying, "Suffice it to say, [Robert Pattinson] really nailed it. He’s not playing a version of Edward, he’s playing Edward. There is still quite a difference between Rob’s Edward and the Edward in my head, but there are moments when they look eerily similar. I’m still not sure how he does it, but I’m glad he can. As for emotions, I think he does a great job. Of course, a lot of the credit for this goes to Kristen as well. She contributes the other half of that Bella-Edward vibe so amazingly well. I’ve been on set through three movies now, and I still thank my lucky stars every day that she signed on to this franchise."
The Movie Saga
Excited fans were buzzing with anticipation to see Meyer's words from Twilight turned into a live action, more so after Breaking Dawn's release on August 2, 2008, and the release date for the movie was moved up, originally set for December 12, 2008 and moved up to November 21, 2008. While all of this was going on, Midnight Sun, a book that Stephenie had been working on in the Saga but had not completed, was leaked and on August 28, 2008, she was forced to acknowledge that leak. The day after Twilight was released it was announced that a New Moon movie was on the way, fans were ecstatic. December 13, Chris Weitz was announced as director for New Moon while fans were growing concerned that Taylor Lautner would not be allowed to return as Jacob Black for said movie. Luckily on January 7, 2009, fans' fears were relinquished when Lautner's position was confirmed by all the hard work he had done to pursue this more mature and buff Jacob, and March 16, 2009, shooting for the movie began.
Fans couldn't get enough with Stephenie Meyer's books flying off the shelves and the anticipation was building for another movie. Summit Entertainment obviously realized what they had stumbled upon and, after Twilight, had signed on for movies two and three. They released the Twilight DVD on March 21, 2009 and one month later they had found their director for Eclipse, David Slade. Eclipse began shooting August 18, 2009, shortly followed by the release of New Moon on November 20, 2009. Eclipse will be released June 30, 2010 with only one change in cast mates, Rachelle Lefevre was replace by Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria due to conflicts in Lefevre's schedule.
Midnight Sun and What's Ahead
Fans really just can't get enough with plenty of petitions going around for Meyer complete Midnight Sun, which Meyer says is Edward's version of Twilight but she's made it clear that, at this point in time, that's not a project she's looking to take on. She had this to say about it, "I am not working on Midnight Sun now, I don't have a plan for when I'll get to it; I don't know now what the right time for it will be. First, Midnight Sun is not finished and locked in a safe, waiting for me to be done angsting over the leak. If it were done, I would be throwing it on the bookstore shelves myself... Second, I am not upset about the leak, I haven't been for a long time... Third and most important, I am not trying to punish anyone, not the persons who leaked it, not the people who read the leak, nobody... I'll get back to Midnight Sun when the story is compelling to me again... I need to be alone with a story to write, and Midnight Sun feels really crowded, if you know what I mean."
One comment Meyer made that may give fans hope to hold on for a continuation in The Twilight Saga, when asked what profession she could see for Bella, had she ended up going to college. Meyer responded, "I always imagined that Bella would someday teach. She really admired that one part of Renee’s personality—Renee may be dippy, but she’s a great teacher and the kids love her—and I saw her taking her love of books in that direction. She would have taught older students, though. High school or college. Maybe she still will—in night school." Not a promise, by any means, but at least you know that she is still very interested in these characters.
Breaking Dawn
The next thing everyone is wondering about is Breaking Dawn and whether or not it will be turned into a movie like its three predecessors. When asked the question Stephenie Meyer responded, "At this point in time, we’re in talks. I would love to see [Breaking Dawn] made if it could be made well. It’s a little bit trickier than the others." With the way the book is written, being divided into Book One: Bella and Book Two: Jacob, it's understandable why Meyer would recommend that Breaking Dawn be broken down into two movies. There is so much that happens in the last book of The Twilight Saga, it seems it would be impossible to compact that into one movie without seriously taking away from the finale to a series that fans don't want to end.
I only see two ways for Breaking Dawn to go, two movies, or no movie at all. Obviously, it seems it would be a ludicrous idea for Summit Entertainment not to pick up the fourth movie in the series, but with each film, it's getting more complicated to work around everyone's schedules. Without this last film, fans would surely feel neglected due to a serious lack of closure for the on-screen run of The Twilight Saga. I feel like Summit Entertainment will follow through with the series to its completion and give fans what they're asking for, they're just building the suspense until everything is finalized.
