The Twilight Saga is a series of
romance fantasy films from
Summit Entertainment based on the four
Twilight series novels by the American author
Stephenie Meyer, starring
Kristen Stewart,
Robert Pattinson, and
Taylor Lautner. The series has grossed over $1 billion in worldwide receipts, when not adjusted for inflation, and consists, to date (2009), of two motion pictures. The first installment
Twilight was released on November 21, 2008
, and the second installment,
The Twilight Saga: New Moon followed on November 20, 2009, breaking box office records as the biggest midnight screening and opening day in history, when it grossed an estimated $72.7 million in its first day of release.
The series was in development since 2004 at
Paramount Pictures, during which time a
screen adaptation of
Twilight which differed significantly from the novel was written.
Three years later,
Summit Entertainment acquired the rights to the film. After
Twilight grossed $35.7 million on its opening day,
Summit announced they would begin production on
New Moon; this after they had acquired the rights to the remaining novels earlier that same month.
The third installment,
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is scheduled for release on June 30,
2010 and is the first
Twilight film scheduled to be released in
IMAX, and a two-part adaptation of
Breaking Dawn is projected to begin shooting in the fall of 2010.
