The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Directed by	Chris Weitz
Produced by	Mark Morgan Wyck Godfrey
Written by	Melissa Rosenberg (Screenplay) Stephenie Meyer (Novel)
Starring	Kristen Stewart Taylor Lautner Robert Pattinson Ashley Greene Rachelle Lefevre Billy Burke Michael Sheen Dakota Fanning
Music by	Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography	Javier Aguirresarobe
Editing by	Peter Lambert
Distributed by	Summit Entertainment
Release date(s)	November 16, 2009 (2009-11-16) (Los Angeles Premiere) November 20, 2009
Running time	130 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50,000,000
Gross revenue	$709,711,008
Preceded by	Twilight
Followed by	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a 2009 American romantic fantasy film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2006 novel New Moon. It is the second film in The Twilight Saga film series and is the sequel to 2008's Twilight, which is also based on Meyer's previous novel. Summit Entertainment greenlit the sequel in late November 2008, following the early success of Twilight.Directed by Chris Weitz, the film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner,reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.
Melissa Rosenberg, who handed in a draft of the film script during the opening weekend of Twilight, returned as screenwriter for The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Filming began in Vancouver in late March 2009,and in Montepulciano, Italy, in late May 2009.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, in most countries, and set domestic box office records as the biggest midnight screening with $26.3 million. This led to the biggest single day domestic gross with $72.7 million.The film also opened with the third biggest domestic opening weekend ($142,839,137).The film was well received by fans, but critical reception was less favorable.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon has become the highest grossing film released by Summit Entertainment, and also the film with the widest independent release, playing in over 4,000 theaters in its theatrical run. The Twilight Saga: New Moon was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2010 through midnight release parties. The film has grossed, as of April 2010, $144,808,588 in North American DVD sales, selling more than 6,367,352 units,4 million of which were sold within its first weekend, beating Twilight's 3.8 million units sold in its first two days.

Plot

On her 18th birthday, Bella Swan wakes up from a dream in which she sees herself as an old woman. She expresses her distaste with growing older than her boyfriend Edward Cullen, a vampire who stopped aging physically at 17. Despite her lack of enthusiasm, Edward's adoptive family throws Bella a birthday party. While unwrapping a gift, Bella gets a paper cut, causing Edward's brother, Jasper, to become overwhelmed by her blood's scent and attempt to kill her. Realizing the danger that he and his family pose to Bella, Edward ends their relationship, and the Cullens leave Forks, Washington permanently.
Edward's departure leaves Bella heartbroken and depressed for months. However, when her father, Charlie, decides to send her to live with her mother in Florida, Bella agrees to spend time with her friends. After seeing a movie with Jessica, Bella sees a group of men on motorcycles. This reminds her of when Edward previously rescued her from an assault, and she sees his image warning her to stay away. Bella discovers that thrill-seeking activities evoke Edward's preserved image. She is also comforted by her deepening friendship with Jacob Black, a cheerful companion who eases her pain over losing Edward. When Jacob suddenly begins avoiding her, Bella discovers he has become a werewolf, an age-old enemy of vampires. Jacob's pack members are on constant patrol for Victoria, a vampire searching to kill Bella due to the death of her mate, leaving Jacob little time to spend with her. Alone again, Bella returns to seeking thrill-inducing activities.
Through a series of miscommunications, Edward believes Bella has killed herself. Distraught over her supposed suicide, Edward flees to Italy to provoke the Volturi, a powerful vampire coven capable of killing him, by exposing himself in the sunlight. Alice, Edward's sister, and Bella rush to Italy to save Edward, and arrive just in time to stop him. However, the Volturi determine that Bella, a human who knows that vampires exist, must either be killed or transformed into a vampire herself. Alice stops them from killing her by sharing her premonition with Aro, a Volturi elder who is able to read thoughts, in which Bella has been transformed. Returning to Forks, Edward tells Bella that he always loved her and only left to protect her. She forgives him, and the Cullens vote in favor of Bella being transformed into a vampire, to Edward's dismay. However, Jacob reminds Edward of the treaty the Cullens made with the Quileute tribe: they will not attack each other, as long as the Cullens do not bite any humans. The movie concludes with Edward telling Bella that he will change her into a vampire if she marries him first.

Cast

From left to right: Chris Weitz, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson attending a photocall for New Moon in Paris, France.

Main cast

• 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 boyfriend who abruptly leaves town to protect her.or much of the film, Edward only appears as a figment of Bella's imagination.
• 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.
• 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. Secondary cast

• 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.
• Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale, a member of the Cullen family who "feels really strongly about her hatred for Bella."
• Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale, a member of the Cullen family who thirsts for Bella's blood after she gives herself a paper cut.
• 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.
• Dakota Fanning as Jane, a guard of the Volturi who has the ability to torture people with illusions of pain.
• Anna Kendrick as Jessica Stanley, Bella's self-involved friend.
• Michael Welch as Mike Newton, Bella's friend who has a crush on her. He joins her on a date with Jacob.

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 The Twilight Saga: 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 The Twilight Saga: New Moon during Twilight's opening weekend in November 2008.

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.

Chris Weitz, director of The Twilight Saga: New Moo

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 About a Boy, had been hired to direct The Twilight Saga: 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 The Twilight Saga: 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."

[edit] Filming and post-production

Pre-production for The Twilight Saga: 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.^{[citation needed]} Almost 80% of the visual effects created for the film were done by an Indian firm, Prime Focus.

Music

Main article: New Moon (soundtrack)

The score for The Twilight Saga: 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.

Marketing

The first promotional poster from The Twilight Saga: 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 The Twilight Saga: 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.

Release

Many theater showings sold out as early as two months prior to The Twilight Saga: 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. The Twilight Saga: New Moon accounted for 86 percent of Fandango's online ticket sales the weekend before the film was released. Morning ticket sales for The Twilight Saga: New Moon on its day of release are estimated to total $13.9 million.

Box office

The Twilight Saga: 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 theaters.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 The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the third highest opening weekend in domestic history with $142,839,137, behind The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3. The Twilight Saga: New Moon also has the sixth highest worldwide opening weekend with $274.9 million total. With an estimated budget of just under $50 million, it is the least expensive movie to ever open to more than $200 million worldwide.Over Thanksgiving weekend, the film grossed $42.5 million, and including Wednesday and Thursday ticket sales, grossed $66 million. It has earned $230.7 million in total since opening last week, 22% more than the previous installment grossed in its entire theatrical run. Internationally, the film grossed roughly $85 million over the weekend, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $473.7 million in ten days.In its third weekend New Moon grossed $15.7 million in the domestic market and another $40.7 million internationally, for a worldwide gross of $570.1 million. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped down to #4 with an estimated $10 million, bringing its domestic total to an estimated $270 million. "New Moon" has so far made $296,623,634 in the U.S. and Canada with an additional $413,087,374 in foreign markets for a worldwide total of $709,711,008 as of April 1.

Critical reception

Reviews for the film have been generally negative. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 28% of 203 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.6 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "The Twilight Saga's second installment may satisfy hardcore fans of the series, but outsiders are likely to be turned off by its slow pace, relentlessly downcast tone, and excessive length."Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 38%, based on a sample of 39 reviews. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 44 based on 32 reviews.
Robert Ignizio of the Cleveland Scene described The Twilight Saga: 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, "[E]xpect 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 The Twilight Saga: New Moon with a C- and called it a "plodding, achingly slow, 130-minute chapter in the saga". Mark Sells from The Oregon Herald gave the film 1 1/2 stars out of 5, and suggested that "the magic will have to remain in the minds of the readers as this translation fails to inspire or connect beyond the pages."

Home media

The Twilight Saga: New Moon was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2010 through midnight release parties.Special features include audio commentary by director Chris Weitz and editor Peter Lambert, a behind the scenes documentary, and music videos. The DVD is set for a release of March 22, 2010 in the UK. Unlike the DVD and Blu-ray release, the Ultimate Fan Edition of the New Moon DVD includes a 7-minute first look at the upcoming sequel to New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It was released April 14, 2010 in Australia and New Zealand. Within its first weekend of release in the United States, the DVD sold over 4 million units, beating Twilight's 3.8 million units sold in its first two days.Within the first month of its release on DVD, the film grossed $144,808,588 in North American DVD sales, selling more than 6,367,352 units.

Awards and nominations

2009: ShoWest Fan Choice Award
Golden Raspberry Awards
2010: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay - Melissa Rosenberg (nominated)
2010: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel (nominated)
2010: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor - Robert Pattinson (nominated)
2010: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple - Kristen Stewart and either Robert Pattinson or Taylor Lautner (nominated)
Empire Awards
2010: Empire Award for Best Actor - Robert Pattinson (nominated)
2010: Empire Award for Best Newcomer - Anna Kendrick also for Up in the Air (nominated)
BAFTA Awards
2010: BAFTA Award for Rising Star - Kristen Stewart
National Movie Awards
2010: National Movie Award for Best Fantasy Film
2010: National Movie Award for Best Performance - Robert Pattinson
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
2010: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favourite Movie (nominated)
2010: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Cutest Couple - Jacob Black and Bella Swan
2010: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Cutest Couple - Edward Cullen and Bella Swan (nominated)
2010: Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favourite Movie Actor - Taylor Lautner mtv movies awards 2010 nominees