Tagged: Twilight

Hardwicke out, Weitz in for Twilight sequel

Despite turning an underdog movie into a box office cause celeb, director Catherine Hardwicke will not return to direct New Moon, Summit Entertainment’s sequel to Twilight, also based on the Stephanie Meyer novel of the same name. In Hardwicke’s place is a more recognizable name, perhaps… but also perhaps not for good reasons.

Chris Weitz, the newly-dubbed director for New Moon, is best known for starting the craze known as American Pie. His other work includes About A Boy and Golden Compass. Given that Twilight made its mark without sex, violence or notable foul language, Weitz’ resume may not inspire much confidence.

Still, he has been given the blessing of author Meyers, which may be worth something; let’s just hope New Moon doesn’t turn into a romp about a bunch of vamps and humans peeping on others having sex and throwing wild parties hoping to get laid, since that’s pretty much what American Pie was all about. I think the guy down the street who sells horse supplies might have inspired more confidence in me; but only time will tell.

Four Christmases rallies to beat Twilight, Bolt

The holiday-themed comedy Four Christmases started out somewhat weak against box office holdovers Twilight and Bolt, but by the end of the weekend, it was the newcomer at the top of the holiday heap. Four Christmases, which cost $80 million to make, dragged in $31.6 million over the three-day weekend and $46.7 million over the five-day weekend including Thanksgiving.

By comparison, Twilight faded two third place, losing ground not only to Four Christmases, but also to Bolt. Twilight grossed $26.3 million over the three-day weekend, compared to $26.5 million for Bolt, as part of a photo-finish for second place. Even so, Twilight stands out as the big winner, grossing $119 million over its first 10 days of release, against a $37 million production budget.

The money-making vampire romance is still hot enough to make mechanics forget about coilovers and contemplate taking their girlfriends out for a movie and a meal.

James Bond added $19.5 million to its US take, good enough to secure fourth place, but Australia managed only fifth place with $14.8 million, with Madagascar 2 breathing down its neck with $14.5 million. Transporter 3 debuted in seventh place with a $12.3 million bow, and nothing else came close.

The Thankful Dead

Romantic vampires are all the rage right now. Not only has HBO found a hit in Alan Ball’s adaptation of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse supernatural mystery novels, True Blood, but the big-screen adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s four-book epic, Twilight, which is the first of the four installments, was dominant at the box office both last weekend and heading into the Thanksgiving holiday.

Twilight grossed just under $70 million in domestic box office over its first three days, despite a lack of established stars and a modest $37 million budget. On Thanksgiving Thursday, the movie started strong, with $8 million, enough to keep it ahead of all comers.

Quantum of Solace, the strong new Bond thriller with a bulky $200 million budget, dropped to third place on Thanksgiving, behind Four Christmases. The critically-acclaimed Australia opened in seventh place over the weekend and keeps fading. Considering Twilight is a no-sex, no-violence, no stars wunderkind, it is certainly the surprise of the Thanksgiving box office. Hollywood could probably use a memory upgrade to keep in mind the lessons learned here.