The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Official Trailer - The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Production

Development
In early November 2008, Summit announced that they had obtained the rights to the remaining books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series: New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. On November 22, 2008, one day after the theatrical release of Twilight, Summit confirmed that they would begin working on New Moon. "I don't think any other author has had a more positive experience with the makers of her movie adaptation than I have had with Summit Entertainment," said Meyer. Melissa Rosenberg had been working on adapting the novel prior to Twilight's release and handed in the draft for New Moon during Twilight's opening weekend in November 2008.
In early December 2008, it was announced that Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke would not be returning to direct the sequel. Hardwicke cited time restrictions as the reason behind her leaving the project. On December 13, 2008, it was announced that Chris Weitz, director of The Golden Compass and co-director of American Pie, had been hired to direct New Moon.

Casting
Due to major physical changes that occur in the character of Jacob Black between Twilight and New Moon, Weitz considered replacing Taylor Lautner in the sequel with an actor who could more accurately portray "the new, larger Jacob Black." In an attempt to keep the role, Lautner weight-trained extensively and gained approximately 30 pounds. In January 2009, Weitz and Summit Entertainment announced that Lautner would continue to play the role of Jacob in New Moon. In an interview, fellow cast member Kristen Stewart talked about Lautner's transformation saying, "He's an entirely different person physically."
In late March 2009, Summit Entertainment released a list of the actors who would be portraying the "wolf pack" alongside Lautner. The casting for the rest of the Quileute tribe was headed by casting director Rene Haynes, who has worked on films with large American Indian casts, such as Dances with Wolves and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. A casting call was also held in Vancouver in February 2009, specifically asking for "any first nations/aboriginal actors and actresses between the ages of 15 and 25".
Talking about the casting of Michael Sheen as Aro, director Chris Weitz claims to have "'aggressively' pursued the actor", and describes the character as "on the surface, a very gracious and friendly vampire, but beneath that he is a tremendous threat."

Filming and post-production
Pre-production for New Moon started in December 2008. Filming was scheduled to begin on March 23, 2009 in Vancouver, but began a few days early. David Thompson Secondary School served as the location for the high school scenes in the movie. Filming in Montepulciano, Italy occurred in late May 2009 and ended on the 29th.

Music The score for New Moon was composed by Alexandre Desplat while the rest of the soundtrack was chosen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, who also produced the Twilight soundtrack. The New Moon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album was released on October 16, 2009 by Patsavas' Chop Shop label, in conjunction with Atlantic Records. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and climbed to number one a week later after selling 153,000 copies in its first full week of release.

Cast

The Cullens and the Swans

• Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl who has fallen in love with Edward Cullen, a vampire. She is heartbroken when Edward abruptly leaves her, but is raised out of her depression through her friendship with family friend Jacob Black.
• Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, Bella's vampire love who abruptly leaves town to protect her. For much of the film, Edward only appears as a figment of Bella's imagination.
• Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen, a member of the Cullen family who can see "subjective" visions of the future and who becomes best friends with Bella. Greene explained that she would like to boost her strength and stamina for the sequel and said, "Compared to the first film it's a much larger part for me."
• Billy Burke as Charlie Swan, Bella's father and Forks' Chief of Police.
• Peter Facinelli as Carlisle Cullen, leader and father figure of the Cullen family.
• Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen, Carlisle's wife and the mother figure of the Cullen family.
• Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen, a member of the Cullen family. In an interview, Lutz said, "I've talked to the producers, and they say I have a lot of funny lines."
• Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale, a member of the Cullen family who "feels really strongly about her hatred for Bella." Reed, a brunette, stated that she will not dye her hair blonde to film the sequel. "It took 36 hours initially to make me blonde, and every other day, I was bleaching my head and my skin," recalled Reed. "This time around, we are testing out different wigs and stuff."
• Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale, a member of the Cullen family who thirsts for Bella's blood after she gives herself a paper cut. This particular scene is Rathbone's favorite, and he stated that he is "very excited to film." Jasper also has the ability to sense and control the emotions of others.

• Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, Bella's old childhood friend and a member of the Quileute tribe. He becomes close to Bella after Edward leaves, and transforms into a werewolf. Lautner says of the role, "Jacob transforms mid-story—in the first half, he's Twilight Jacob. I'm wearing a wig. My character's very clumsy, outgoing, and friendly. When he transforms into a werewolf, he becomes something very different."
• Chaske Spencer as Sam Uley, the leader of a werewolf pack that protects humans against predatory vampires.
• Tinsel Korey as Emily Young, Sam's fiancee and a mother figure to the wolf pack.
• Tyson Houseman as Quil Ateara, one of Jacob's best friends.
• Alex Meraz as Paul, a volatile member of the wolf pack.
• Kiowa Gordon as Embry Call, one of Jacob's best friends. Gordon describes the character as "Jake's right hand man, tall, skinny, shy and the fourth to turn into a werewolf."
• Bronson Pelletier as Jared, the joker of the wolf pack.
• Graham Greene as Harry Clearwater, a Quileute elder and friend of Bella's father, Charlie.
• Gil Birmingham as Billy Black, Jacob's father and a Quileute chief.

• Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria, a vampire who wants to kill Bella to avenge her lover, James.
• Edi Gathegi as Laurent, a vampire who also tries to kill Bella.

• Michael Sheen as Aro, the leader of an ancient Italian vampire coven known as the Volturi.
• Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, one of the leaders of the Volturi and a key character in the plot of the film.
• Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus, one of the leaders of the Volturi.
• Dakota Fanning as Jane, a guard of the Volturi who has the ability to torture people with illusions of pain.
• Cameron Bright as Alec, Jane's brother.
• Charlie Bewley as Demetri, a member of the Volturi. When asked about the character, Bewley said, "He has unparalleled tracking abilities together with insane strength, speed and classiness".
• Daniel Cudmore as Felix, a Volturi enforcer.
• Noot Seear as Heidi, a vampire who brings humans to the Volturi to eat.
• Justine Wachsberger as Gianna, a human who works for the Volturi.

• Anna Kendrick as Jessica Stanley, Bella's self-involved friend.
• Justin Chon as Eric Yorkie, Bella's friend.
• Christian Serratos as Angela Weber, Bella's friend.
• Michael Welch as Mike Newton, Bella's friend who has a crush on her. He joins her on a date with Jacob.

Marketing

The first promotional poster from New Moon was released on May 19, 2009. On May 31, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner revealed the film's first trailer at the MTV Movie Awards. Following the release of the trailer, two scenes from the film were presented at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. A 14-second preview of the second trailer was released online on August 12, 2009, and the full-length trailer was featured before theater showings of the film Bandslam. The film's third trailer was shown at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, 2009. Spike TV also aired a new trailer at the 2009 Scream Awards on October 27,2009.
American Idol finalist Allison Iraheta hosted an 8-minute block prior to the showing of New Moon in 1,200 theaters across the United States, where she talked about her upcoming album and played some tracks, including "Friday I'll Be Over U", "Pieces", and "Trouble Is". In addition, prior to the film's release, author Stephenie Meyer made an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote the film.
Sequel
Summit greenlit a film adaptation of Eclipse, the third novel in the Twilight series, in February 2009. The film is tentatively scheduled for release on June 30, 2010. It was announced that Chris Weitz will not be directing the third film. Instead, Eclipse will be directed by David Slade.

Release

Many theater showings sold out as early as two months prior to New Moon's release date. The film set records for advance ticket sales, causing some theaters to add additional showings. The film is also the biggest advanced ticket seller on Fandango, surpassing Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. New Moon accounted for 86 percent of Fandango's online ticket sales the weekend before the film was released. Morning ticket sales for New Moon on its day of release are estimated to total $13.9 million.

Box office
New Moon set records as the biggest midnight opening in domestic (United States and Canada) box office history, grossing an estimated $26.3 million in 3,514 theatres. The record was previously held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which grossed $22.2 million domestically during its midnight premiere. The film grossed $72.7 million on its opening day domestically, becoming the biggest single-day opening in domestic history, beating The Dark Knight's $67.2 million. This opening strongly contributed to another record: the first time that the top ten films at the domestic box office had a combined gross of over $100 million in a single day. The opening weekend of New Moon is the third highest opening weekend in domestic history with $142,839,137, and the sixth highest worldwide opening weekend with US$274.9 million total. The current worldwide gross stands at an estimated $311.1 million heading into the four day holiday weekend. With an estimated budget of just under $50 million, New Moon is the least expensive movie to ever open to more than $200 million worldwide.

Critical reception
Based on 176 reviews collected by the film aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, New Moon has received a "Rotten" rating of 30%, with a weighted average score of 4.7 out of 10. Robert Ignizio of the Cleveland Scene described New Moon as an "entertaining fantasy", and noted that it "has a stronger visual look than Twilight and does a better job with its action scenes while still keeping the focus on the central love triangle." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film two and half stars out of four, praised Kristen Stewart's performance in the film and wrote, "Despite melodrama that, at times, is enough to induce diabetes, there's enough wolf whistle in this sexy, scary romp to please anyone." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave the film a "B" grading and said, "the movie looks tremendous, the dialogue works, there are numerous well placed jokes, the acting is on point."
Time Out New York gave the film 3 stars out of 5, calling it "acceptable escapism for those old enough to see it yet still young enough to shriek at undead dreamboats." Jordan Mintzer from Variety stated, "Stewart is the heart and soul of the film", and added that she "gives both weight and depth to dialogue...that would sound like typical chick-lit blather in the mouth of a less engaging actress, and she makes Bella's psychological wounds seem like the real deal."
Mick Lasalle from the San Francisco Chronicle responded with a more mixed review, stating, "Expect this film to satisfy its fans. Everybody else, get ready for a bizarre soap opera/pageant, consisting of a succession of static scenes with characters loping into the frame to announce exactly what they're thinking." Digital Spy gave the film 2 stars out of 5, praising Kristen Stewart for "carrying the film on her shoulders and, once again, bringing plenty of soul to a character who might otherwise come across as self-indulgent", but was critical of its lack of action, ultimately calling it "a draining experience". Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of 4 and said that it "takes the tepid achievement of Twilight, guts it, and leaves it for undead." Richard Roeper graded New Moon with a C- and called it a "plodding, achingly slow, 130-minute chapter in the saga".

Home media
Weitz says the New Moon DVD will include commentary with himself, Stewart, Pattinson, and Lautner, and about 20 minutes of deleted material.