« Friday Estimates by Klady | Main | MCN Exclusive - Che' Video Clip »
December 13, 2008
Weitz To Vamp for Summit, Now Official
Release after the jump...
CHRIS WEITZ TO DIRECT
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT’S NEW MOON
Los Angeles, CA December 13, 2008 – Summit Entertainment announced today that filmmaker Chris Weitz has been hired to direct the second film in the studio’s TWILIGHT film franchise. The film, NEW MOON, is based on the second book in author Stephenie Meyer’s blockbuster book series. The announcement was made by Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production.
Weitz, an Acadamy Award®-nominated writer, director and producer, has a proven track record working with a broad range of material dealing with youth-oriented characters, fantasy and action. As such, he has the potential to bring alive in NEW MOON the dimensions and depth that fans will demand in the next installment.
Feig stated, “We love Stephenie Meyer's fantastic TWILIGHT series. Thinking long and hard about how to turn NEW MOON into the amazing movie we know it will be, and working with Stephenie Meyer to find the right candidate, we are thrilled to announce Chris Weitz as director of the film. Chris very much understands the world of NEW MOON and has the skill set required to bring the book to glorious life as a movie. We think he will be an excellent steward of Stephenie Meyer's vision.”
“I am honored to have been entrusted with shepherding NEW MOON from the page to the screen,” said Weitz. “The extraordinary world that Stephenie has created has millions of fans, and it will be my duty to protect on their behalf the characters, themes and story they love. This is not a task to be taken lightly, and I will put every effort into realizing a beautiful film to stand alongside a beautiful book.”
Weitz previously penned ABOUT A BOY, which led to an Academy Award Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2002, and adapted and directed THE GOLDEN COMPASS (2007), which was nominated for two Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Additionally, Weitz co-wrote the 1998 animated film ANTZ and went on to produce the major box office success AMERICAN PIE and executive produced the film’s two theatrical sequels. Weitz also produced IN GOOD COMPANY starring Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace and executive produced AMERICAN DREAMZ starring Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore.
In NEW MOON, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black. Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested. Production on NEW MOON is scheduled to begin in the coming months and the studio is planning to release the film towards the end of 2009 or early 2010.
Feig will oversee NEW MOON for the studio along with Summit Entertainment’s Director of Production Gillian Bohrer.
Weitz is represented by WMA and by Alex Kohner of Morris, Yorn, Barnes & Levine.
About the TWILIGHT film series
The TWILIGHT film series stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart and tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together…even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires.
The action-packed, modern day vampire love story and blockbuster success the first film in the series entitled TWILIGHT was released in theatres on November 21st grossing $69.6 million domestically during its first weekend. To date the film has grossed over $142 million domestically.
About Summit Entertainment LLC
Summit Entertainment is a worldwide theatrical motion picture development, financing, production and distribution studio. The studio handles all aspects of marketing and distribution for both its own internally developed motion pictures as well as acquired pictures. Summit Entertainment, LLC also represents international sales for both its own slate and third party product. Summit Entertainment, LLC plans to release 10 to 12 films annually.
Posted by dpoland at December 13, 2008 12:32 PM
Comments
There's going to be some sexist comments about this, but it's BS. Weitz is a great choice, though I thought Hardwicke was fine for Twilight, the sequels will benefit from Weitz's FX movie experience.
Posted by: martin ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 13, 2008 03:55 PM
Does anyone else think it's ironic that the director of American Pie, a movie that is explicitly about losing one's virginity at any cost, is making a high profile Mormon-themed movie that is (metaphorically) about abstinence?
I really wish Weitz would go back to making low budget comedies. I don't think he's meant for high profile movies like this and Golden Compass. Especially when you consider how bad these movies are, it's not gonna net him anything but $.
Posted by: a_loco at December 13, 2008 05:17 PM
Are we all forgetting that the source material for Twilight is awful and the film that was made was was merely bad? Or that i's going to top off a good bit under 200 million (which I admit is still great for the money they put in). It's not like someone taking over the Batman franchise. Twilight is not press release worthy.
Posted by: sloanish at December 13, 2008 07:37 PM
Weitz also produced IN GOOD COMPANY starring Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace"
Ouch to Scarlett Johansson.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at December 13, 2008 08:30 PM
hey sloanish, a mob of thirteen-year-old girls might beat you to death for that sentiment
Posted by: leahnz at December 13, 2008 08:44 PM
One of the saddest cinematic casualties in forever was the fumbling of the first film in the HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy. Those three books are better than all the HARRY POTTER books in the world and actually are about something so much more tascinating and thought-provoking. Maybe in 50 years someone can mount a decent adaptation.
Posted by: EOTW at December 13, 2008 10:43 PM
Hey is Weitz the Zach Quinto-looking motherfucker from CHUCK AND BUCK? If so, he was a pretty convincing douche in that.
But, yeah, seems they're going as generic and mass-audience action as possible with this sequel; Did I see on TV that they also canned the Jacob kid?
It just really seems that between Meyer and Hardwicke and Bella, the success of the first film and book was that it was basically 100% chick-centric, reading and playing like some smart-gawky chick's lovelorn diary; Bringing in a journeyman-ish director, punching up the FX, and switching up the cast seems like a calculated ploy to bring in a male/action crowd that isn't going to come; Why would they suddenly show up in droves for PART 2 of a chick-lit series when they didn't see or care about the first one? What, because CHRIS WEITZ'S name is attached? WHO CARES?
Posted by: LexG at December 14, 2008 12:14 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)