Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008

'Twilight' moving into ‘Harry Potter’ territory

By Zap2it.com

LOS ANGELES -- With Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moving to the summer of 2009, a new release date opened up for another big screen adaptation of a publishing phenomenon, the vampire romance Twilight.

Summit Entertainment's adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best-seller will now open Nov. 21.

"When Warner Bros. decided to move Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to the summer of 2009, we saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months," says Rob Friedman, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment.

Friedman took great pains, though, not to alienate fans of a certain boy wizard, who have been quite vocal in their frustration at the Half-Blood delay.

He states, "We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible Potter franchise for 2008, rather we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer's incredible book series the film as soon possible from a programming perspective."

For some in the media, the Twilight Comic-Con panel, a boisterous affair that filled the cavernous Hall H to capacity, was a revelation. For others, those who had glanced at a bestseller list in the past two years, the session was merely a confirmation of the enormity of the Twilight fanbase.

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Lords of Dogtown), the big screen Twilight will introduce Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), an awkward 17-year-old girl who moves to a rainy town in Washington and falls in love with the utterly dream Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). She's a mortal. He's a vampire. Swooning ensues.

Twilight previously had been slated to open against 20th Century Fox's remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. In its new release slot, it will face off with the animated feature Bolt, which recently shifted from Nov. 26 to Nov. 21.