The Twilight Saga: New Moon

In Forks, Washington, on Bella Swan's eighteenth birthday, she awakens from a dream in which she is an old woman and Edward Cullen, her immortal vampire boyfriend, is forever young. Edward's family hosts a birthday reception for Bella at their home. After she receives a paper cut and is almost attacked by a bloodthirsty Jasper Cullen, Edward realizes he has put her life in danger by putting her amidst vampires. After rumors start spreading of Carlisle's age and appearance, he ends their relationship and the Cullens leave town. Bella is left severely depressed and isolates herself for months, during which she has night terrors, enough to push her father, Charlie, to his breaking point where he considered relocating Bella to her mother's place. She accepts a ride from a biker and the dangerous encounter reminds her of a near-assault where Edward rescued her. She realizes that dangerous activities cause her to hallucinate his image. Her Quileute friend Jacob Black supports her during her slump. While attending a movie with Bella, Jacob abruptly shows signs of pain and leaves. He cuts his long hair and now exhibits the same Quileute tattoo as leader Sam and the other tribe members. He revealed that he knew the Cullens were vampires and inexplicably tells Bella to stay away. When Bella hikes to the meadow that she and Edward often visit, she is confronted by Laurent seeking to avenge the Cullens' past killing of James. A wolf pack saves her, killing Laurent, and Bella discovers that Jacob and the other tribe members are werewolves, with Jacob only recently gaining this shapeshifting ability. Their age-old enemies are vampires, though a treaty exists between the Cullens and the tribe. Edward believes that Bella has killed herself after his clairvoyant adoptive sister Alice has a vision of her jumping off a seaside cliff and when he phones her house, Jacob answers saying her father is out preparing a funeral. Distraught, Edward travels to Italy to ask the vampire council, the Volturi, to end his life. When they refuse, he plans to force their hand by exposing himself as a vampire to humans during a large festival. Alice and Bella arrive in time to prevent Edward from doing so. Overjoyed that Bella is alive, he confesses that he left Forks to protect her but promises never to leave her again. Edward defends Bella from the Volturi, who do not allow humans to know about their vampire society. As the Volturi are about to kill Edward, Bella asks that they kill her instead. Impressed by a human's willingness to sacrifice her life for a vampire's, they allow her the choice to be transformed into a vampire instead of dying, convinced when Alice shares a future vision of Bella as a vampire. After returning to Forks, Bella asks the Cullens to vote on her becoming a vampire. Despite Edward's protestations, everyone except Rosalie votes yes. Charlie is upset with her but allows Edward to be with her and grounds her for leaving with no explanation. Bella tells Edward she wants him to be the one to turn her into a vampire. Jacob confronts the pair, reminding Edward that the years-old treaty with Quileute will be broken if any Cullen bites a human, but Bella tells him it is her choice, not the Cullens'. Edward agrees to let her transform into a vampire only if she will marry him, leading to the next movie. ==Cast==

• Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl who falls into a deep depression after her true love, Edward Cullen, leaves her. Her friendship with Jacob Black is expanded as she realizes that he can mend the hole left open by Edward. • Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, Bella's vampire boyfriend who abruptly leaves town to protect her. • Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black, a cheerful companion who eases Bella's pain over losing Edward. He reveals to Bella that he is part of a pack of werewolves whose main goal is to protect her from the vampires Laurent and Victoria. • Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen, a member of the Cullen family who can see "subjective" visions of the future and who develops a deep friendship with Bella • Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria Sutherland, a ruthless vampire who wants to avenge her lover, James This would be her final appearance as the character before being replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard in the next installment a year later. • 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 • Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale, a member of the Cullen family • Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen, a member of the Cullen family who is physically the strongest vampire of the family. • Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale, a member of the Cullen family who thirsts for Bella's blood after she receives a paper cut. He has the ability to manipulate emotions. • Anna Kendrick as Jessica Stanley, Bella's self-involved friend • 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 • Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen, Carlisle's wife and the mother figure of the Cullen family • Edi Gathegi as Laurent Da Revin, a vampire who wants to kill Bella, because he thirsts for her blood • Noot Seear as Heidi, who leads the tourists into the Volturi's chamber and urges them to stay together while Demetri leads Bella, Alice and Edward in the opposite direction. Heidi's special ability is to make herself attractive to other people, regardless of species or gender. • Michael Welch as Mike Newton, Bella's friend who has a crush on her. He joins her on a date with Jacob. • Chaske Spencer as Sam Uley, Alpha of the Wolf Pack • Tyson Houseman as Quil Ateara • Kiowa Gordon as Embry Call • Alex Meraz as Paul Lahote • Bronson Pelletier as Jared Cameron • Graham Greene as Harry Clearwater, a Quileute elder and Charlie's friend • Gil Birmingham as Billy Black, a Quileute elder and Jacob's physically disabled father • Christian Serratos as Angela Weber, Bella's shy but caring friend • Justin Chon as Eric Yorkie, Bella's friend and Angela's boyfriend • Tinsel Korey as Emily Young, Sam's imprinted fiancée whom he once hurt unintentionally • Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, a Volturi elder who is very strict about vampire laws • Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus, a Volturi elder who has the gift of seeing the relationship connections between people • Justine Wachsberger as Gianna, Volturi's human secretary • Cameron Bright as Alec, Jane's brother who has the ability to cut off senses • Charlie Bewley as Demetri, a Volturi guard who is a gifted tracker • Daniel Cudmore as Felix, a Volturi guard who has supreme strength ==Production==

Development In early November 2008, Summit Entertainment obtained the film adaptation rights to the remaining novels in the Twilight book 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 New Moon. Author Stephenie Meyer said, "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." 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 had been hired to direct New Moon. Weitz released a statement shortly after the announcement, assuring fans that he would "protect on their behalf the characters, [the] themes and story they love." He continued by saying, "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." Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg had been working on adapting the novel prior to Twilights release and handed in the draft for New Moon during Twilights opening weekend in November 2008, Rosenberg spent the months of June through October 2008 alternating between writing for the Showtime television series Dexter and writing New Moon on weekends. 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 sequel. Singer Taylor Swift, a fan of Twilight, requested a cameo appearance in the film, but Wetiz declined as he felt it would be too distracting. 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 Native American 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". Filming Pre-production for New Moon began in December 2008. Principal photography was scheduled to begin on March 23, 2009, in Vancouver, but began a few days early. Weitz envisioned a warm color palette for the sequel, contrary to the first film in the series, whose blue tones were prevalent. His intention resulted in golden tones, a change that was inspired by Italian paintings, and ultimately served as the basis for the crew's collaborative work. The use of film, rather than digital, cameras added to the "old-fashioned" nature of the production. One member involved in the decision process pointed out that Vancouver had been scouted as a potential setting for Twilight, and it was only because the U.S. dollar had, at that time, dropped below the Canadian dollar that Oregon drew Twilight principal photography to Portland and its surrounding areas. Vancouver was chosen because it allowed a higher production value, while the surrounding areas contained beautiful forests and gray weather. With this decision, however, came the issue of reconstructing key sets that were used in the first film. For the exterior of Forks High School, crew members were able to find a parking lot, but the school's steps needed to be filmed with a greenscreen backing to match those that were originally presented in Twilight. David Thompson Secondary School would then be able to serve as the interior for the high school scenes. The Cullen house was one of the major "match" assignments, mainly because of the Portland area location's unique design. The production team was able to rearrange the exterior of the house to match that in the first movie. Using the Quileute country in Washington as a basis, the production team decided to place Jacob's house on the edges of the territory, rather than in the community, because of Jacob's attachment to the wolves. Principal photography concluded with the scenes that were filmed in this area from May 25 through the 29. For the face-off between the Volturi and Edward, the idea was to have a bigger "bang", rather than just the paralysis of Edward. Initially what was a huge battle with vampires being thrown everywhere turned into a one-on-one fight between Felix and Edward, after receiving a stamp of approval from Meyer. MacLeod enlisted Tippett Studio to create the computer-generated wolves, while Prime Focus of Vancouver handled the effects of the vampires. They also were able to reflect leadership and human muscle size by adjusting certain features of the wolves, such as their fat and height. The wolf work included shooting "plates", or photographic imagery into which CGI creations are integrated. Since the book described the wolves as being as big as horses, full-scale aluminum and board wolf cutouts were used as a visual reference for both actors and crew members. A muscle system, which gave the appearance of muscles firing and flexing, contributed to this model. From there, the initial fur layout went to painters who were responsible for its color and groom. while the rest of the soundtrack was chosen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, who also produced the Twilight soundtrack. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on October 16, 2009, by Patsavas's Chop Shop label, in conjunction with Atlantic Records. and climbed to number one a week later after selling 153,000 copies in its first full week of release. Notable tracks from the album include "Meet Me on the Equinox", by Death Cab for Cutie, which was written specifically for the film and which debuted September 13, 2009 during the MTV Video Music Awards. ==Distribution==

Marketing In February 2009 it was announced that the franchise would take the name The Twilight Saga with the book's title separated by a colon, though the title that appears on-screen is simply New Moon. The first promotional poster 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 film in over 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 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 advance ticket seller on Fandango, surpassing Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. New Moon accounted for 86 percent of Fandango's online ticket sales the weekend before the film was released, Special features include an audio commentary by director Chris Weitz and editor Peter Lambert, a behind-the-scenes documentary, and music videos. Within its first weekend of release in the U.S., the film sold over 4 million units, beating Twilight's 3.8 million units sold in its first two days. In North American DVD sales, the film has currently grossed $185,166,822 and has sold more than 8,864,541 units. ==Reception==

Box office 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. but surpassed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which made $43.5 million in 2011. 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. The record was later broken in 2011 by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which made $91.1 million. and also is the tenth-highest worldwide opening weekend with $274.9 million total. At the time of its release, the film achieved the highest weekend debut in November, breaking Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's record ($102.7 million) until The Hunger Games: Catching Fire surpassed it with $158.1 million. With an estimated budget of just under $50 million, it is the least expensive movie to ever open to more than $200 million worldwide. On 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 film 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 10 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 $296,623,634. Critical response On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes 28% of 228 critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.7/10. 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." On Metacritic,it has a weighted average rating of 44 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Robert Ignizio of the Cleveland Scene described the film 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-a-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 4 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." British film critic Mark Kermode gave the film a positive review, saying, "After an initial 20-minute dip, when I thought, 'This is actually going to be two hours of mopey-mopey,' I thought it found its feet." He also excused the film's characterization of Taylor Lautner's character, saying, "The sight of the buff, young guys running through the forest with their tops off was slightly smirk-inducing. But it's fine. They know what their target audience is." 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 New Moon with a C− and called it a "plodding, achingly slow, 130-minute chapter in the saga". Accolades Since its release, New Moon has received several nominations and awards. In March 2010, the film received the ShoWest Fandango Fan Choice Award for 2009's Best Movie. At the 2010 Empire Awards, Pattinson was nominated for Best Actor and Anna Kendrick was nominated for Best Newcomer, the film won the award for Best Fantasy Film, while Pattinson won an award for Best Performance. At the 2010 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, the film was nominated for Best Movie, but lost to Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Lautner won an award for Favorite Movie Actor, and Jacob and Bella, who were also nominated alongside Edward and Bella, won an award for Best Couple. At the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, Pattinson, who was nominated alongside Stewart and Lautner, won the award for Global Superstar; the Best Male Performance award was also given to Pattinson, who was, again, nominated against Lautner. Stewart and Pattinson won the award for Best Kiss, while New Moon won the award for Best Movie. For the 2010 Teen Choice Awards, held on August 8, the film and its actors were given a combined total of ten nominations, eight of which the film won, and three separate awards going to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. In addition, the film was nominated for Best Horror Film and Taylor Lautner was nominated for Best Performance by a Younger Actor at the 36th Saturn Awards, but lost to Drag Me to Hell and Saoirse Ronan, respectively. Lautner was also nominated for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Actor at the 2010 Young Artist Awards. However, it was nominated for four Razzies: Worst Supporting Actor (Robert Pattinson), Worst Screen Couple (Kristen Stewart and either Taylor Lautner or Robert Pattinson), Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel, and Worst Screenplay. ==Sequel==

In February 2009, Summit Entertainment scheduled a film adaptation of Eclipse, the third novel in the Twilight series, for release on June 30, 2010. Weitz would not be able to direct the third film of The Twilight Saga as it would be filming while New Moon would be in post-production. David Slade was therefore confirmed as the director of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on April 22, 2009. ==See also==