Breaking: Catherine Hardwicke Will Not Direct New Moon

Well, we kind of saw it coming. The Twilight Movie crew has been cagey in interviews about who will be behind the next movie, and ironically the huge box office results turned out to be bad news for director Catherine Hardwicke. The fans may have been happy, but the critics were not, and thus Hardwicke will be replaced for the big-budget sequel to Twilight. Reuters reports that–

Hardwicke had until recently been thought a candidate to direct the sequel, titled “New Moon,” but word began to circulate in the industry that her relationship with series producer Summit Entertainment has not always been smooth.
On Sunday, Summit confirmed that Hardwicke would not direct the film, saying in a statement that its plans to release the film in late 2009 or early 2010 did not mesh with Hardwicke’s required prep time.
The picture, whose start date has not yet been set, will nontheless reunite writer Melissa Rosenberg and actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. Summit has not named a new director, but it is likely to want to move relatively quickly on the sequel after the original earned nearly $139 million in three weeks of release.
Hardwicke had initially been considered a bold choice for “Twilight.” She made her name with indie breakout “Thirteen” and also directed the period religious tale “The Nativity Story.” The combination proved winning, though, as the midrange-budgeted “Twilight” became one of the fall’s biggest hits.

So is this good news or bad news for the series? As we mentioned recently, there are several other female directors that would be perfect for the New Moon movie .

{democracy:4}

See also...

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Alice's Limber Legs
Ok, this seems a bit unfair for Catherine. The director is always the one who takes the most crap, but all of the problems with Twilight were mostly due to the small budget. Catherine wanted to do so much more, but couldn't. I was really hoping she would get to stay around and prove herself with a bigger budget, b/c I personally loved the cinematography. She showed the scenery and didn't just focus on Rob Pattinson's face, which I was actually afraid would happen (sorry Team Edward-ers, but there is more to the movie than a pretty face!)

Like with Harry Potter, there are so many different directors and they all direct and cut a different way and the movies are good, but not cohesive. I think it was incredibly dumb to let Catherine go. She has a passion for the books, the next director may not give two shits about the books and only care about he/she's claim to fame.

bella425edward4445
sorry cathrine that u r not directing new moon u will be missed as the director :(

Tarynbeth Pilutti
I am personally glad that Catherine is not directing New Moon. It was very scattered and did not make much sense to someone who had not read the books. It almost turned me off to twilight. The only thing that made me change my mind is that I read the Harry Potter books and the movies didn't do them justice. I thought I would give twilight the benefit of the doubt and read the books. Of course they were incredible, but you cannot tell that from just watching the movie Twilight. Too much important detail was left out and she seems like she has ADD or something, with the way the movie was directed.

Small budget or not, she could have done a better job. Stephanie Meyer will make sure that New Moon follows the books, so that is not something that people should be worried about.