Dec 7, 2008 - Twilight movie fans received a bit of shocking news today when Summit Entertainment announced director Catherine Hardwicke will not be returning to helm New Moon, book number two in the four-part Twilight series. Summit's hoping to get into production on New Moon early next year with an eye on releasing the film as early as the last quarter of 2009. According to a statement issued by the studio, that short turn around time is what prompted Catherine Hardwicke's decision not to sign on to direct New Moon.

To quote the company's press release: "Summit's targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, New Moon, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke's required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen. Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for New Moon."

Hardwicke told me in our exclusive interview prior to Twilight's release that contractually if Twilight made 'X' amount of money she had to be offered the job of directing the sequel first. Since she and the studio have already attempted to negotiate a deal, that undisclosed 'X' figure must have been met. Hardwicke appeared very excited to start work on the sequel when we spoke in the weeks leading up to Twilight's release, so the fact she's gone from the sequel means there's much more going on than what was revealed in Summit's statement. Keep in mind Twilight had the biggest opening weekend of any film directed by a woman.

Twilight fans are well aware of the fact New Moon will have to be a CGI-heavy film, based on the key characters introduced in Stephenie Meyer's second book of the franchise.

The special effects (including Edward's sparkling skin) in Twilight were cited in many reviews as the film's real downfall, and the crummy effects were due to the low budget Hardwicke and her team had to work with. Hardwicke has said the budget for New Moon would have to be at least double what was available for Twilight in order to get the effects right. While Summit hasn't disclosed a budget for New Moon, the fact they're hoping to rush the film into theaters in late '09 could be a problem based on the amount of special effects that will be needed if the film is to look decent.

In the press release announcing their parting, Hardwicke said, "I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct New Moon," said Hardwicke. "Directing Twilight has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel - it is a great story."

Erik Feig, Summit's President of Production, said, "Catherine did an incredible job in helping us to launch the Twilight franchise and we thank her for all of her efforts and we very much hope to work with her on future Summit projects. We as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created. We are able to pursue an aggressive time frame as we have the luxury of only adapting the novels into screenplays as opposed to having to create a storyline from scratch."

There's no word yet on who may replace Hardwicke as director.

Source: Summit Entertainment