New Moon Movie Production
From LoveToKnow Movies
With the insane popularity of Twilight it's no wonder that many are wondering about the New Moon movie production.
Twilight Mania
Twilight seems to be the tween and teen answer to Hannah Montana. Okay, not just like Hannah, but certainly like all the hype that surrounds Miley Cyrus and her alter ego and it is definitely just as, if not more, popular. There is just something about these vampire romance books by Stephanie Meyer that really struck a chord with the tween and teenage demographic. With the success of the Twilight movie, it isn't a surprise that Summit Entertainment signed on for a three film deal.
New Moon Production
The studio was hoping, along with droves of fans, that New Moon would be ready for release in November of 2009. The company hit a few snags in pre-production and now, rumor has it, New Moon may not be ready until the beginning of 2010. Production began toward the end of March 2009. The studio remains optimistic though and initial promotional posters have a release date of November 20, 2009.
New Moon Movie Production Problems
A few major problems have plagued New Moon, though at this point, it seems like everything has been settled. Here's the rundown:
Directorial Issues
After the release of Twilight grumblings began that director Catherine Hardwicke and Summit Entertainment were at odds with one another. Rumors began circulating that the studio let her go because she was too "difficult" to work with and not at all pleasurable to work with on the set. Hardwicke's reps say that this is absolutely not the case and it is the production schedule (filming is set to be complete in 12 weeks) that Hardwicke had an issue with, claiming it to be too "aggressive". Hardwicke's reps went on to further state that she would love to direct the film, but only if she could make it better than Twilight. This was the reason Hardwicke and Summit parted ways.
Summit then signed on director Chris Weitz for New Moon.
Script Issues
Given the tight time frame in which studio exec's wanted to wrap the film, they were also having issues with original script writer Melissa Rosenberg. Apparently, they weren't happy with the fact that the working script was coming slowly and were worried that it wouldn't be done by the time production was to begin in March. A couple of weeks after this news leaked, the studio seemed to have a working script and released a statement saying they were very happy with Rosenberg.
Casting Issues
In this sequel, Kristin Stewart's character Bella, develops a relationship with Taylor Lautner's character, Jacob. Casting director's didn't think that there would be enough on-screen chemistry between the two and certainly nothing like the chemistry between Bella and Edward Cullen (Rob Pattinson). For most of pre-production, they were considering letting Taylor Lautner go, further stating that it was difficult to find Native American actors to fill the roles of his werewolf clan. In the end, casting decided it was a good idea to keep Lautner on as Jacob.
Budget Issues
As far as films go, Twilight had a relatively low budget of $35 million. It has since grossed over $140 million, so the movie executives believed that the success of the sequels was a sure thing and upped the budget for New Moon to $50 million. The budget is a concern because the film is being shot on location not only in Vancouver, but also in Italy. They also plan on including more computer graphics as well as having added a few well-known actors to the cast. All of this amounts to more money. Not to mention the anticipation of the lead actors of Twilight asking for a raise.
Filming Underway
Given all of the New Moon movie production issues, filming is underway and so far, there have been no delays as the film is still tentatively set for release on November 20, 2009.
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