Lionsgate (Obviously) Interested in More ‘Twilight’ Films
Even though author Stephenie Meyer has stated she's done with her 'Twilight' characters for now - Lionsgate is ready and waiting for a green light to make further films in the series.
After Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 grossed over $700 million worldwide (on roughly a $110 million budget) and projections for Part 2 forecasting an equally (if not more) profitable box office run, it’s no surprise to hear that Lionsgate would love to dole out even more movies in Stephenie Meyer’s world of vampires and werewolves.
Of course, at this point, Meyer has been hesitant to confirm any plans to extend the series beyond the fourth (Breaking Dawn) book but, should she decide to revisit her Twilight creations, Lionsgate is once again making it clear that they’ll be anxiously waiting in the wings to turn the would-be book into another cinematic cash grab cow.
According to THR, the official word from Lionsgate (who recently purchased Twilight studio Summit) comes from studio co-chair, Rob Friedman who wasn’t shy about the motion picture company’s interest in further Twilight projects during an analyst call:
“If she (Meyer) wishes to do it, we’ll be there to support her.”
As mentioned, Meyer hasn’t been exactly forthcoming about future plans to expand the Twilight series – especially after she scrapped a potential parallel entry, Midnight Sun, which was going to compile the events of the saga from Edward Cullen’s point of view, as opposed to Bella (for anyone unfamiliar with the books), after a large chunk of the book appeared online. Even still, an Edward-centric storyline might not have offered enough new material to warrant an entire new movie – though, that didn’t exactly stop the studio from splitting Breaking Dawn into two films (leaving Part 1 a little light on story material).
In terms of other existing materials, many fans had been hoping that Summit (at the time) would make use of Meyer’s Twilight tie-in novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which acts as a spin-off to the third book, Eclipse. However, despite offering a (comparatively) fresh storyline, Lionsgate might still be more inclined to hope for a new Meyer installment – as the Bree Tanner novella wouldn’t put the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle front and center or, subsequently, high-profile stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.
Even if Meyer is interested in penning a new Twilight book – or, at the very least, consulting on the creation of potential film sequels or a TV series, continuity star power is likely to be a problem for any future installments. It’s not only unclear whether Lionsgate could bring everyone back again, time would also be against any continuation of the Bella, Edward, Jacob storyline – since the actors (unlike two of the characters) will actually age.
At this point, there’s nothing concrete for Twilight fans to look forward to – but there’s a lot of money waiting to be made. Even though Meyer might not be anxious to get re-involved with the series right now, given a rabid fan base and extensive money-making potential, it’s hard to imagine that Twilight fans will NEVER see some type of series extension – even if Meyer isn’t entirely in the driver’s seat.
In the mean time, Lionsgate will just have to keep themselves busy with their other young adult novel series turned feature film saga, The Hunger Games.
