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UPDATES Who Should Direct 'Twilight' Sequels?
Yes, he's had tremendous success working with tweens and teens (About A Boy as director and writer, American Pie as producer and uncredited director). But Chris Weitz also did The Golden Compass (as writer and director), and my source says Summit Entertainment liked the look of that even if it didn't heat up the domestic box office (but did better overseas). I don't have official confirmation yet that this Twilight sequel offer has gone out to Weitz. But my insider says another reason it came down is because Weitz and Summit's president of production Eric Feig are longtime pals. The source tells me Weitz is "still considering" the offer to helm New Moon and possibly also Eclipse if the sequel and threequel movie adaptations of Stephenie Meyer's series of vampire books are made back-to-back. But let's also not forget Weitz's behavior on Golden Compass. On December 15, 2004, Weitz announced his resignation as director of the trilogy, citing the enormous technical challenges of the epic and later admitting he was worried about dissing by the book's fans. After another helmer came on and then walked off, Weitz returned to direct saying he'd done "a lot of growing in the interim". Despite all that, Summit seems willing to put its first valuable franchise in his hands. Not so with Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke who's off the sequel for a whole host of reasons I reported that fall under the "difficult" category. Sexism, anyone?
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um, this just sounds like a bad idea. I get that summit needs a director fast but chris weitz? seriously? he might be able to do effects but does he really get teen angst & romance. i don’t see the twilight fans taking this choice quietly or being happy with it but i could be wrong.
I don’t see how the look of Golden Compass can be siphoned off into New Moon? They should not be in the same class visually.
Is New Line’s number unlisted or something? First they hire Hardiwcke, who had to be sedated during New Line’s NATIVITY shoot and everyone there vowed to never hire her again. Now Weitz, who basically was locked out of the editing room on COMPASS because he was overwhelmed by the CG? I LOVE Summit. They need to give Tony Kaye a film next!
Come on guys, how can you just look at one film in the director’s CV. How about writing and directing About a Boy? Or producing Nick and Norah’s infinite playlist? He knows what he’s doing with teenagers. And Compass needed a lot of CG that New Moon and Eclipse wont necessarily need.
I think it’s a fine choice. Not the BEST, but it will work.
Actually, Weitz is better than I expected. I think he could do a solid job. Which is the most that can be asked I think in a rush job with weak source material.
At least they’re not offering it to Uwe Boll…but I can see Weitz being the perfect guy for this…there’s no *way* that Bigelow (or most of the others suggested by recent comments here) would be interested in this B-level franchise…
I think this is the worst idea I’ve heard so far.
I don’t think he had one single good movie as director.
Golden compass was so so, but ” About a boy” was the stupidest by far.
Now a question to Summit. Twilight was a good teen movie. Do you want to transform the rest of the books into low crap chick flicks?
I hope this is just a rumor!
B level francise r u kidding me! this movie mad 70 millon in a weekend any director would love the chance to jump on the Twilight ship. this guy seems alright I liked most of his movies, the only problem is the Twi fandom have it in there heads who should do NM and let me tell it he is not so far up the list.
It doesn’t matter who directs it. It’s going to suck anyway.
Well what I heard (cue rumor mongering) is that Chris was a disaster with TGC, having no experience with a big effects-based movie really showed, and that he was virtually locked out of the edit room as the suits took over to try and salvage something they could screen.
None of this means he’ll be a disaster on the vampire movie front and he is clearly a pretty intelligent guy, but…
Weitz sounds like a pretty good choice if he’ll take it. I loved About a Boy and Nick and Nora. I didn’t see the Golden Compass I don’t have kids. I think the reason the Golden Compass didn’t do that well here in the states was because of the grassroots efforts against it.
I’m….Not sure about him. The Golden Compass was supposedly a HORRIBLE adaptation and well, Twilight is another adaptation. I won’t judge him yet….I actually loved Twilight even WITH the cheesy special effects because the acting, intensity, and essence was all there. Twilight was preserved beautifully. Now, well, we’ll see who Summit selects. Hopefully if it is this guy, he won’t make it a movie focusing too much on special effects. -_-
Keeping New Moon alive as well as the characters is the MOST crucial part of it all. The entire story is character-driven which is one of the reasons I love the series and the first movie. Even though Kristen and Rob have unbelievable chemistry when filming, the director needs to know how to make sure they are on track because there is such a fine line between the lines coming off as obsessive, fanatical, all consuming love and cheesy, cheap, and funky.
Camera angles, too…I don’t want them to keep switching directors and have all the movies after New Moon to feel disconnected. -Sigh- Summit has a lot of work to do.
So Feig’s going to pull a Toby Emmerich and try to hire the cool kid even though he’s completely wrong for the job. Don’t get me wrong, Weitz is a good director (not great), but would be a poor fit.
HA! Uwe Boll. Wow, awesome reference! In regards to no CG effects, most of the characters are werewolves in New Moon with complete transformation and fang on fang action (brief). You have to agree the effects as well as the action were two of the weakest parts of Twilight. Why go with a director who lacks in those areas? I vote Joss Whedon. He’s got all the credentials to knock this out of the park! Plus he’s a brilliant writer that can fix the obviously rushed script that Melissa turned in for the check.
Catherine Hardwicke did like two movies before Twilight so stop saying he has no experience when she didn’t have any either.
Plus he would be really important for the special effects for the wolves. The polar bear and all the other random animals in The Golden Compass looked absolutly amazing UNLIKE those horrible/cheezy special effects in Twilight.
You fans should be happy.
Twilight was a bad movie.
Hopefully he can do a much better job with New Moon and Eclipse.
I’m still depressed that they won’t be filming the rest of the His Dark Materials trilogy. Stupid paranoid Christians.
I loved About a Boy. I say give him a shot! I am game for anyone with big movie experience right now. Someone who understand scene continuity primarily as that was severly lacking in Twilight.
If New Moon gets made into a light teenie bopper flick- I’m going to be severly dissappointed. That is not the story- that is not the SERIES at all.
I DID NOT LIKE HARWICKE’S WORK WITH TWILIGHT.
i loved about a boy and golden compass. so i’m excited!
Come on guys we have to be reasonable, Cuaron directed Harry Potter 3 after he directed ‘Y tu mamá también’, he’s a good director, so lets just hope for the best for New Moon
What??? I really hope this IS a rumor! I personally would pick someone else. I mean Weitz??? Grr.. I’m a little mad now…Please let this be a rumor!!!
I personally thought the special effects in The Golden Compass were wonderful. I also really liked the movie About A Boy and so did the critics. What we have to remember is that the Twilght hardcore fans are not going to like whoever they pick unless it’s Stephenie Meyer herself. When Rob Pattinson was cast they went psychotically angry and blogged about what a horrible choice he was. Look at him now. He did a fantastic job and now they are on his side. I don’t think Chris Weitz will actually end up directing it but I would love to see a male directors take on New Moon. We just have to remember that whoever they pick there will be a big fuss about it and eventually all the Twilight fans will come around and be supportive. They just need to get over the initial shock.
Well, just think about it this way, it could be worse. It’s not like he’s a bad director and he’s made some interesting films besides The Golden Compass. And Golden Compass gives him more of an advantage then Hardwicke had because he has experience in CGI. Her effects were horrible and looked more like something on the sci-fi channel, but I still liked the movie.
No way…He would seriously eff up Twilight. I bet he could do a good job with the special effects, but teen angst and romance? Not a chance, he’d ruin it. Crap. This sucks.
I don’t care who directs it, I just want them, whoever they are, to do a good job (which in my opinion means pretty much using the book as the script) and doesn’t trash it at all. I wasn’t too impressed with catherine’s job with twilight, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the sequels will be done better.
i really dont like the idea…..about him doing it……i dont have anything against him it just new moon and eclipse is from bellas point of view…so can a guy see that really and put all the emotions into the movies…..well i guess im sayin is i would really feel better if it was a women director….cuz then she could have had some of the same things happen to her or whatever. you know what i mean????
if he accepts, i am going to be extremely mad. i saw the golden compass and it was quite possibly the worst movie i have seen. it could have been the script, but i am a huge fan of the golden compass and the script wasn’t very far off of the book. i really hope he doesn’t accept or otherwise this is a rumor.
Okay. What! Why? I get that he’s a friend and all, but “The Golden Compass” was just okay and there is no romance in it, even in “About A Boy”. If I remember correctly. So if he does get it I hope he can get the female audience’s and fans votes, cuz he’s gonna need them.
It wasn’t the Christians who made Weitz do a crappy adaptation, Penny. (Not that the books weren’t full of plot holes and inconsistent characterizations to begin with.)
With Miano as producer? barely will make 10 million gross…
I’m happy with the choice. Golden Compass was a beautiful film and while I though Hardwicke had the right enthusiasm, honestly, she did an extremely crappy job. Weitz did a fantastic job transforming The Golden Compass into a film. I really hope he is chosen. Compared to Hardwicke? He’s perfect.
There are about a million different variables that go into the decision to hire (or not hire) a director. Most directors act like asses on set; it’s their job and it’s their perogative. Personally, I like to walk on a set and see that the director is acting like a hard-ass. It generally means the movie will be finished on time and on budget. Crews tend toward apathy and inertia after the first week, and you need a director who will crack the whip.
And if studio execs can’t handle a director who puts up a fight to protect their “vision” for the film, well, those studio execs should find less challenging lines of work. I repeatedly worked with some huge assholes because at the end of the day, they delivered well-executed movies. Just because I wanted to have them killed doesn’t mean you don’t hire them again.
I haven’t seen the movie, and I haven’t worked with Hardwicke. If the movie sucks, and that’s why they’re replacing her, fine. But if its because they don’t like her personally, or because she cried on the set, well, then, that’s just tough luck for Hardwicke and bad karma for the franchise and the studio execs. I’ve seen male directors weep hysterically on set. I also had a female producer once who drove her fellow “artists” literally to the verge of nervous breakdowns. She went wild, threatening lawsuits and stalking people for years after the film wrapped. She won an Oscar a few years back.
In short, Hollywood is not for the faint of heart. It is not for normal, boring, well-adjusted, happy people.
When I produced my first movie, a mentor warned me about my friendship with the director. She said, “If you’re still friends after the movie wraps, that means that neither of you did your jobs right.” And she was right, because I haven’t spoken to that asshole in 15 years.
hmmmm I don’t know. I did like about a boy.
My biggest fear is that New Moon will be turned into some cheesball movie like “The Covenant” with LAME music in it like Korn and Evensence,BARF,PLEASE don’t let this happen.
I still think Guillermo Del Turo would be Very interesting..after all,New Moon is a bit darker.
About a Boy and American Pie are good for those kinds of films, but the Golden C. sort of sucked. Continuity just being one major problem. How does a name like his go to the TOP of the list for a home run like this series? Just the fact he was worked with Summit???
Why would they hire the director of the worst book-to-film adaptation of all time? I think this is a bad move. There are tons of lists online of suggested directors, all of whom sound better than him, maybe they should take a look at some.
I liked both Golden Compass and About a Boy but I honestly don’t think that Weitz would be the best person for New Moon. I also agree with some of you that Hardwicke could have done a better job.
I think Renny Harlin (The Covenant)or maybe Katja von Garnier (Blood and Chocolate)
OMG!!! if they make a other movie of twilight i am going to freak because i <3 <3 <3 twilight and robert pettinson / edward cullen !!!!!<3
please make a other movie from: Rachel <3
Lets just give him a chance and see how it comes out.
I just hope they use real wolves.
I want to know what Stephenie feels about all of this.
AND i heard that Breaking Dawn might not be made.
WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT OF MAKING THE FILMS IF THEY NEVER MAKE THE ONE THAT IS THE FINALE OF THE WHOLE STORY OF EDWARD AND BELLA?(Breakind Dawn) Eclipse woud be a real weird place to just leave it at. Just cause i dont think Rob and Kristen has signed on to do B.D.
But maybe I’m just getting ahead of myself but I still think it would be weird to not make the last book into a film and Complete the whole story.
About a Boy was a rather good movie so on that alone, I am going to support Weitz for his future directorial efforts
On another subject, I do hope Guillermo Del Turo won’t screw up The Hobbits with the too many weird creatures as seen in Hellboy 2. I was a fan of the 1st and many of his previous efforts but he lost me on HB2.
What was missing was a real plot in HB2 due to the director focusing too much on the creatures features.
“About A Boy” was absolutely brilliant. Like, it was funny and well-made and heartrending at the same time. If Summit decides to go with Chris Weitz, I’ll be okay with that. I’ll still be doubtful at first, of course, but if he shows and proves himself, I won’t raise my Twilight-tween-girl horns in anger.
It could be worse, guys.
To “Retired”.. good insights. Frankly we know their all SOB’s in this business, “normal” people soon get out or go into other fields & all the crazies are left. Working at the financing end of this business I can see that.
This is all good and said about this and that director, etc. Maybe if Summit clear 300M world wide they would consider getting a director off the “A” list instead of the “B”.
But does any one here know if Summit is willing to sink real money into this franchise i.e.(good director with a vision, a decent script writer-who can transform those cheesy books into something worth while, good sFX, etc.)
Especially the FX, my kid tells me that the second book is all about giant Werewolves…and in this last book, the character Bella gets pregnate and the baby inside of her has to eat its way out of her stomach and the boyfriend vampire ends up chewing it out of her.. (seriously have you all read these “books” ?? they are ghastly, bloody and you’d better get someone who can carry off the special effects of the thing.
Love story? hardly!
Bring in the director from Alien 1 more likely for this.
Any one out their who can offer a sound speculation on that?
Also, heard rumor’s of possible cast changes (but not Pattinson obviously). Which may be a good thing, I thought he had 0 chemistry with the girl.
Absolutley horrible choice. If the “friend card” played any real role in this decision, then this is just further proof that Hollywood is still a “boy’s club.”
I don’t think it will matter who directs New Moon if Summit is not willing to fund it properly. After all the talk about how Twilight’s success proves that Hollywood has been marketing to the wrong audience, Summit still does not seem willing to invest in that knowledge. From what I have read they are more interested in cashing in as quickly as possible. This is unfair to the fans as well as the talent…
amen to that@Gwenivere. Sometimes, you gotta let the production people do their job. No one can predict what will happen.
Honestly, I am not C.W.s biggest fan. The films he’s directed are okay at best and I just don’t know that I can be excited about him directing N.M.?!
Ultimately though, I have total faith in Rob and Kristen’s chemistry and connection to carry the film. That is one thing I can bet on for N.M.
Its bad though because Golden Compass had heaps of special effects. IMagine what special effects and the amount of special effects he would use maybe because of that. With Twilight they had like no special effects cause it was all like stunts and other stuff.
ok someone mentioned that they hope in new moon they utilize real wolves… i’m pretty sure the wolves are supposed to be the size of a horse so good luck with that. On golden compass, the production budget was 180 mil-granted there was a shit load more of cg, I do think that the cg and sfx were done quite well. That leads me to think he’d be a decent choice based on that fact alone, esp when compared to hardwicke. That indie spin she tries to pull on her films annoys the hell out me, Twilight while obv. not a traditional story- didn’t need to have that type of appeal.
Excuse me, I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion and all, but Catherine did a great job with the special effects on the budget she was restricted to – they couldnt afford CG work. I personally think that Catherine and her team were very creative – I mean, the Magic Carpet – AWESOME!! And the wire work, and everything!
How is a man supposed to prortay ACCURATELY the things an eighteen year old girl is going through when her heart breaks?? He can’t.
Weitz is a TWEEN/TEEN director. These movies are aimed at YOUNG ADULTS. The difference is huge. There is so much of a difference between the early, awkward years of adolescence and the borders of adulthood. Can Weitz capture that based on his past work?
No.
I say, that if we, as the fans, rebel against this quickly enough, we can stop Summit from making this mistake. One reason Catherine isn’t supposed to be doing it is because she wants to take more time in preproduction – this would mean that the movie would be BETTER. They’re supposed to start filming in March – it’s December now. What’s a couple of extra months when the finished product will be all the more better for it? And, as stated by someone else, changing directors will make the feeling of the movie disappear. I know there’s meant to be a lot of action with the werewolves in NM but my feeling is that a male director would focus mainly on that, and not give anything to the heartbreak and devastation in Bella’s life, and then the joy that Jacob brings back to it.
I would much rather wait, what, two more months? to see an incredible movie with the same feeling brought to it by Catherine and her team, than see a half-hearted rush job with great CG work, but not much else. Has anyone asked Stephenie Meyer what she thinks of this?? They’re HER books. She should get to help decide who she wants.
I would start a website to petition Summit to get Catherine Hardwicke back on board but I dont know how. I think somebody should, who has the connections to make it legal and get to the right people. Even if the people at Summit saw something unofficial with the thousands of names of loyal fans I’m sure would gladly be all for this cause, they can’t just ignore it. They’d never make another movie again.
The fans, myself included, will not stand for this.
If he gave up in the middle of golden compass just because he feared fan backlash from the book lovers… He’s never gonna make it under the pressure of The Twilight Saga fandom! If Twilight fans even think for a second that he is veering off the right coarse with the story from the books, the backlash he (and Summit) will experience will be beyond anything worse than a slow and torturous death. The twilight fan communities are TIGHT no matter what site they belong to, they all work together and they’re not afraid to join forces when something isn’t right.
So whoever the new director is, they better do a dang good job.
I personally think it should be a woman directing! WOMEN MADE THE STORY A SUCCESS! ie Stephenie, Catherine, Melissa, Female fans everywhere young and old! IT BELONGS TO THEM!!! (a man just isn’t gonna get it! they’re wired too differently!)
WHAT THE FUCK?
I read that trilogy, then saw the movie, and was SOOOOO disappointed with how it turned out. I think he did a horrible job with it. FUCK I mean Twilight was good enough to see more than once, but it wasn’t totally great. If THIS guy directs the next two, why bother even going to see them!? They’ll probably turn out complete SHIT! UCH I am so mad right now. Summit doesn’t seem to be able to make good decisions.
If Golden Compass fans made him wet his pants, just wait until Twilight fans rip him a new one before the ink is even dry. I say he passes for his own mental welfare. I was hoping for someone more interesting like NIki Caro, whose Whale Rider had many similar themes to Twilight and she made her low budget movie look like a million bucks. And since Summit seems to have no inclination to actually make the special effects nonlaughable, yeah…at least Niki knows how to do things on the cheap and still make them look good. No offense to Chris W cause I love About A Boy, but Golden Compass was a hot mess.
What an anti-climatic ending to the director’s search. Here I thought Summit was gonna pick someone kick butt female to take over for Catherine like Mira Nair or Niki Caro, and we’re stuck with the dude who had chicks at band camp put flutes where the sun don’t shine. Sigh, Summit is retarded. I wish they weren’t the studio doing this franchise cause honestly, they are trying to do it completely low rent and on the cheap, and it shows. Twilight looked like it was given 15 bucks to do all the special effects. Poor Edward and Bella looked like muppets running up the hill for crap’s sake and Edward jumping at times was straight Lee Majors/million dollar man circa 1977 in terms of special fx. Summit is LAME and they are ruining a sure thing!
I loved “retired”’s comments. I think I need to go work in hollywood. being a fan of this book series has made me go insane. i worked harder on a premiere party than I have on anything else in my life.
I think after reading everything about Summit’s decision that moving in another direction for a director is probably the right choice.
I do however have major concerns about their ability to put their money where their mouth is. They have got to give whoever is the director enough money to do this thing justice.
“Professor Von Nostrum is right, these aren’t just little love stories, there is some seriously wild stuff happening as the story continues and the director has to have some balls to pull it all off.
I do think Catherine did her very best with what she had for a budget and brought the right feel to the project.
There were simple things that they could have done to make the effects work on the low budget though.
For example, I watch Smallville and you never see Clarke run, you just see the papers fly when he has left. They could have done that sort of thing.
When Edward gets out of the car at the Cullen house and runs around to open the door for Bella, that seen is just laughable! (mind you I am a huge twilight fan) This could have easily been improved by having a close up shot with Bella seeing him get out of the car and then he instantly is opening her door on the other side.
I am no expert, but there are simple things like this that could have given the film more respect.
People keep mentioning that twilight is teen focused, but the book actually covers very mature, deep emotions and relationships for all age groups. I think the movies should just keep continue getting deeper, more raw and intense, and adult like. Remember Harry Potter…1st movie was very child-like, then it evolved into adult, mature film. The book is very intense, and that should be portrayed on film! it’s not a lovey dovery HS book, and thus, shouldn’t be made into one. Golden compass, about a boy, etc were good. As long as the director is passionate about the books to keep it’s integrity and be able to convey it’s emotions and relationships on scream and not be afraid to get deep and raw, then it will be great!
It just makes me sad. Twilight is about a girl’s obsession. Catherine understood that. I trust the wolves under her, far more than a man. We never have been able to escape Hollywood’s testosterone driven fantasy visuals, in movie after movie, male animation. I so wanted to have a female, and an female ARTIST’S vision, of Bella and the wolves.
NOO!! Unless we want some poorly done up to make the saga a dirty teen joke! I have seen american pie, and well it was full of induindos.
From what I heard of “The Golden Compass”, it completely bombed. I would rather have Hardwicke, than this jack off!!!
What is Summit thinking??? Oh, please, please let this be a rumor! I think Catherine respected the characters in the Twilight series (whatever her other flaws, she did a good job with this subject matter) and if Summit doesn’t find someone else who respects the characters, it will ruin the movies.
Has Weitz even read the books? I SERIOUSLY doubt it. I don’t think anyone can direct this movie (or act in it for that matter) without reading the books and understanding the tone. I agree that the books should get darker and deeper (New Moon had me depressed sometimes), but American Pie, The Golden Compass, even About a Boy are artistically FAR, FAR away from the correct direction this series should take. Summit is just cheap – they don’t want to pay a lot of money to get another decent director and that’s a HUGE mistake.
Summit probably things the fangirls will see the movie no matter how crappy it is and they are dead wrong. I don’t want to see my beloved New Moon effed up. Again, please, please let this be a rumor!
NO!!!!!!! Arg, I hated the Golden Compass. It was so stupid… And Chris Weitz just doesn’t seem mature enough to handle the Twilighters… And does he even no anything about teen romance?
Weitz has alot of potential here. “Twilight” was a disaster. Maybe not financially, but as a movie, it was about as bad as it gets. There was really no chemistry, no angst, and the climax/denouement was literally all contained to within about 5 minutes. Hardwicke needed to be fired for such terrible work.
“About a Boy”, on the other hand, was a fantastic movie, with great characters and a lot of subtlety. These books aren’t so much about the action/plots as they are about the characters and the choices they make. I think Weitz can do a good job focusing on this. Count me in.
and the saga continues…First of all Golden Compass was a completely different monster altogether. It had no base fans really except the hope of the much younger base that would drag their parents to see it. Twilight is much different. You already have a best seller and one of the best fan bases you can hope for ie hormonal teenage girls who will spend their own pocket money to go see it three times like Titanic. However who in the world knew Titanic would drive teenagers in the masses and that they would be responsible for such booming ticket sales? They should have figured it out than that teenage girls are looking to be swept away in love and that means bucks in the pockets of executives but Summit didn’t take that seriously in the first place and now we have a controversary at hand. Had they taken the fan base and novels more seriously in the first place we wouldn’t be having this discussion. They would have churned out a better movie and things would be set for the sequel. I think Summit just realized after it opened that they have a winner and who needs the first director now after that seeing how see didn’t direct a good movie and automatically blamed the budget. Is the budget responsible for poor camera angles too? I just hope they make the next movies in this series better no matter who directs the fan base deserves more indepth character development. They underestimated their audience. If Weitz takes it on he’ll already have the fan base to shoot ticket sales it won’t be another Golden Compass that no one was really interested in anyway.
WHY are people still talking about this movie being marketed only to teenagers. At my midnight screening, there were 2 girls in the entire sold out show who were under 20. They don’t need to hire someone who is solely good for marketing to teens. This isn’t HSM4. The film needs to have a very mature look about it. And I don’t care if they had to prop Catherine Hardwicke up in a straight jacket to get through Twilight-it worked, the film is doing very well, why fix what isn’t broken. But hey, as long as we insist on bringing in a MALE director, let’s just go ahead and toss a wad of cash at James Cameron. He’s pretty good with the blockbuster romances.
So because they fired a female director and maybe won’t hire a female director to replace her, that’s sexism? Gimme a break. How narrow-minded can you get? Yeah, only a female director can make a movie teen girls would like. Oh wait, one of the biggest male-centric directors of all-time made Titanic. Stop courting controversy.
this is the biggest load of malarky ive heard in a LONG time! he gave up on the damn movie series for the golden compass because of technical difficulties??? i dont want a loser directing this great book series. if hes worried about the fans for the golden compass, he better watch out for us twilighters… we are a force to be reckoned with. and i dont like quiters. he did a horrendous job directing the golden compass. it was crap. not good at all. a HUGE disappointment. and if he accepts summits offer, he better freaking be ready to deal with everything that is tied with that. fans everywhere will be enraged. trust me… hes NOT the guy for the job…. at all. keep considering chris-boy. but be prepared.
bad director, anyone. it has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman and more to do with the fact that she is just not good at her chosen profession.
I’m not happy with this either… I mean I could see New Moon as a sucess cuz “Golden Compass” was a good sucess or so I’ve heard (i’ve never seen it). And they had Nicole Kidman in it so obviously he could pick some great actors for “New Moon” and “Eclipse” but I just don’t like Chris Weitz…I didn’t like Catherine Hardwicke either actually… Just because she forgot a lot of stuff for Twilight and none of my favorite quotes were in it and she did not protray romance well! Anyway, Chris Weitz? Isn’t he anti-christian? Wouldn’t he make the movie some religous thing to turn us agains God?
It’d be MESSED UP dude! MESSED UP!
Alfonso Cuaron! Alfonso Cuaron! Alsfonso Cuaron!!!
I also wanted to say that I don’t like Summit, and I never did… I never liked Catherine Hardwicke either (she messed up Twilight! No swooning romance! No experience with movie I’ve heard of! No exp with CGI) I already gave my opionion about Chris Weitz…
I personally would NEED TO HAVE James Cammeron do New Moon (he did TITANIC) and we all know Titanic was the sweetest and most romantic and sadest movie ever!!!
So PLEASE!!! No to Christ Weitz!!! YES to James Cammeron (the dude who did TITANIC)!!!!
Let’s just put it at this: I refuse to see New Moon, if Chris Weitz directs this movie. I know, it sounds so harsh and I can’t believe I’ve even said it myself but seriously? What the hell are Summit thinking?! I 100% agree with summersprite4, I would much rather wait 2/3 more months for the movie to come out … just to see a good adaptation of my favourite book series. Summit, you are making a BAD choice! Bring Catherine back! I doubt this man has even read the books and he expects us to trust him with New Moon? NO! NO WAY!
I really hope this is a rumor! I personally would pick someone else. I mean Weitz isn’t probably the best….
Hmmm, a male director. This may be interesting.
Let me be honest here: I love Catherine and Melissa. True fans, with real passion for the series. But all the personal stuff aside, I really am glad that Catherine is off the job. I was really freaking out over how she would mess NM up, cos really, Twilight was a BAD movie. The effects were bad, the pacing was bad, some of the acting was bad and the writing was horrendous (cough*Melissa*cough). I can only imagine what her rush job is going to be like on screen *shudder*……….
Oh, and I can stew over Summit and their apparent lack of respect for the fandom. I mean really! All they seem to care about is crapping out as many movies as they can, as fast as they possibly can. It doesnt seem to matter to them how sh*tty these rush jobs are going to be.
*sigh* Stephenie Meyer AND all Twilighters deserve more respect! We’re not going to eat up just cos it sez “New Moon”. They had ONE chance with Twilight and they screw THIS movie up the same way, then New Moon will FAIL.
Lets give this guy a chance. It cant get any worse.
Let’s stop making this about gender, PLEASE!! Catherine turned out a poor movie. It fed the fans regardless, but that won’t hold up for further movies. Many people went to feed their need to see the characters brought to life.
We don’t need a boat load of CGI, but we need a director who can handle all of these elements including romance, action, and drama. I vote for Joss Whedon because he is very experienced with all of these elements and put out a critically acclaimed movie called Serenity. It wasn’t a subject matter that was widely appreciated, but as a well crafted movie, it worked. THAT’S WHAT WE NEED HERE! All the problems that Twilight had, Joss could fix easily.
It doesn’t matter that he’s a man, it matters that he’s capable!!!
I read that Summit is aiming for a November 20, 2009 release date for New Moon which seems to me like they’re just trying to cash in on the franchise as quickly as possible regardless of the quality of the movie. Also, I read that their intended budget for the second movie is $50 million. This is more than Twilight’s $37 million budget but it is still not very large. Chris Weitz might have done a good job with The Golden Compass’s special effects, but he also had a $180 million budget. Could he pull it off with so much less money. I don’t understand Summit at all. So far, Twilight has grossed over $140 million, so why are they putting so little money into the sequel? It just seems to me like they’re not taking the franchise seriously. They’re just trying to crank out the movies as fast as they can while not pouring too much money into it. It doesn’t seem like they’re interested in improving the quality of the movies at all. While I really loved Twilight, many of the critics commented on the poor effects (especially the sparkling), so Summit should at least attempt to make them better.
Give us a good director and keep the original actors. Taylor Lautner is Jacob!
Quite frankly, I don’t think Summit gives a damn about the stories. They have found a golden egg that they had to pay pennies for. It is a studio’s dream to have a low-budget film go big.
And lets be honest, Twilight was not a good movie. Yes, it satisfied fans, myself included, but the script was poor, the editing sloppy at times, the pacing slow, the special effects laughable, and they left out a number of key plot points that are going to be difficult to weave in later on.
But the point is, despite being a disappointment, it still racked in the money. What does this tell Summit? Obviously, that they can rush these movies, pay-out a relatively small sum for this potentially huge franchise and make more than they ever dreamed off of fans who will see the movies despite all of this. Where is their motivation to change?
As far as the director goes, I have nothing against Chris Weitz. I think he has made some good films in the past. However, being a female director myself, it was refreshing to see how well this film did when directed by Catherine. And while it may not be a great film, Catherine works in an industry that is incredibly difficult to break into for anyone, let alone a woman. And she broke records. Bravo.
And looking out in the audience opening night at least 95% were women. It makes sense to have a woman direct this film. And there are plenty of excellent female directors out there.
That aside, whoever ends up directing this has a lot of catch-up work to do. Best of luck.
If Summit was going to fire someone I wish it was Melissa. The dialogue was cut down soap opera style. I used to have 10 to 20 high school kids at my house every Thurs. night to watch The OC and I enjoyed the show, but hated how stuff was left unsaid from week to week. Even more annoying in a movie.
A lot of what I liked about the movie was the indie feel. I agree the effects could have been done better, but the tone was right and that
was more important to the story. Three of my friends, all women in their 50’s who didn’t read the books saw it and loved it. Two went back for a second viewing – go figure – for all it’s flaws Catherine got that part right.
I was hoping to see what Catherine could do with a better budget and a star who wasn’t limited to 5 hour work days. She did a great job with the casting and dealing with the the rabid fanbase. Summit better be careful. Twilighters are a tight group. If the first trailer hadn’t captured the look/feel of the book Summit might not have even gotten their 37Mil back. Plus on his website it sounds like they might have trouble getting Carter Burwell back to score without Catherine. Will they have to get a new love theme for the next movie? Now that would suck!
i agree, twilight was good but not overly impressive
i just hope that the next movie brings it up a notch because the books are truely AMAZING!
Twilight was good cause it showed people who hadn’t read the books the basicis. But in my opinion They need to a find a director to turn New Moon into something more exciting then the book was. New Moon has a lot of chapters in the middle where relatively nothing happens and they need to make sure they can make a movie that will keep people who arn’t fans of the book interested. They need to cut out some of the really boring chapters and add some scenes that wernt in the book. Like show the Wolf pack trying to catch Victoria and they need to show Laurent getting ripped to shreds by them after he try’s to kill Bella. You add alot of that to the middle and you could pottentially have a much better movie then Twilight was.
What everyone seems to be missing is that Catherine Hardwicke is not the only one to blame for the critical missing elements of Twilight the movie. Melissa Rosenberg wrote the screenplay in the very rushed sense. I have read the script, Catherine directed it as written. I admit, editing, camera work etc…horrible. But the love story was not in the script to begin with. Melissa is the one who chose to leave out the important dialogue and lose the bond that Edward and Bella have.
I believe blame should be shared. Catherine and Melissa both should be replaced, not just Catherine.
Unfortunately, it looks as though Melissa has already turned in the New Moon script. Let’s hope, this time she did her homework and actually read the books. She admitted with Twilight she only read book 1, so that may be the reason she didn’t develop the characters properly. She also needs to do her homework to see what the fans were disappointed with so she can rectify the mistakes and not make them again.
We’ll just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best because the “machine” can’t be stopped now.
Chris Weitz is an excellent choice for this franchise. The books, as beloved as they are, need skillful adaptation in order to be cinematic, and Weitz is an intellectually brilliant writer whose adaptation of “The Golden Compass” was outstanding – even if it was changed in the final film version. Stephenie Meyer’s writing is very intimate, exactly like reading a teenage girl’s journal, and it’s fair to guess that she never wrote the books with the big screen in mind. “Twilight” is watchable primarily because of the excellent performances of Robert Pattinson (in a role that could have been embarrassingly cheesy) and Kristen Stewart (who brought more intelligence and strength to her character than is written in the books), as well as the changes that were made to make the book work for film. Meyer’s most glaring weaknesses as a writer are uneven pacing, lack of conflict, and repetitive dialogue. The film “Twilight” attempted to address these issues – for example, by introducing the evil vampires earlier, building the sense of danger for Bella, and changing some of the book’s dialogue. More could have been done to improve “Twilight” as a film, and I think that Weitz would definitely address the flaws in “New Moon” and “Eclipse” and transform them into films superior to their source material. There’s no denying that these two films will require a lot more special effects, and whether “The Golden Compass” was difficult for Weitz or not, he has acquired more than enough experience in that area.
No way. I’ve watched the golden compass and sure it might be okay and all but i got bored with it about 30minutes in. I’m a Twilight fanatic so if this much anticipated movie sucks I’m going to have a personal vandetta with Chris Weitz. Ugh how could summit do this to us fans?!
I apologize if this idea has already been floated out there, but is it possible that if indeed Chris Weitz secures the “New Moon” job that his involvement will not have been as rushed and hurried as it seems on the surface? If the rumors are true, and he is close with the top brass at Summit, and if the rumors are also true that Catherine Hardwicke was difficult as far back as during principal photography last year for “Twilight” then is it possible that knowing they had a franchise to finish Summit approached Chris Weitz some time ago as a “Plan B”? Quite frankly, it would seem the prudent thing to do if you thought your director was problematical, and you had at least the option to buy the rights to 3 more books. Might CW have been tentatively preparing for “New Moon” for a lot longer than last week?
According to one studio exec: “You’d have to have a very high standard for art, hate the movie business, and hate *money to walk off this sequel.” So with Weitz, they get the hack they wanted! The movie is doomed, indeed, to not satisfy any “standard for art.” Mabye it’s a good thing Taylor Lautner will be able to skip out on this dud. (Although the obvious move would be to have Taylor play Jacob pre-werewolf and Steven Strait play Jacob post-werewolf. But, personally, I don’t want either of those stellar actors sullied by Weitz. They should play brothers in a Catherine Hardwicke movie.)
Steven Strait is a perfect suggestion and yes, with a dose of willing suspension of disbelief I also agree that Taylor Lautner could be morphed into Steven Strait. I don’t think Weitz is a bad choice.
I guess having him for a direct New Moon wouldn’t be so bad.Anywho I can’t wait!For it to come out!
P.S C.Hardwicke did a great job on Twilight!
idk i really want the direcotr who directed twiliiect to direct new moon. im a little worried how it will turn out
I’m a devoted twilight fan, and I really don’t mind who does the directing, as long as they do the film !!
But Twilight the movie had missed loads of bits out of it from the books and it wasn’t the same..