19 Jun 2012 23:01:36
Bloody-disgusting.com claimed Lionsgate and its subsidiary Summit wanted to make more money from the series, which has made more than $2.5bn (£1.6m) at the global box office. "They'll deny it, right here, right now. We'll get plenty of eggs in our face. Still, the fact will remain: it's true," promised the site, which has a strong track record of producing genuine exclusives. "In fact, they're already discussing it internally. It will happen."
Lionsgate told Deadline it has no plans to reboot the series unless Stephenie Meyer, who wrote the teen romance novels on which the films are based, gave such a move her blessing.
"We are not remaking Twilight," a spokesman said. "We will happily support Stephenie Meyer if she decides to proceed in any way. But this will be the last one unless that should change."
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Lionsgate is making such an effort to deny it has plans for future Twilight films. When the studio bought Summit, which launched the series, in January for more than $400m (£255m), its chief executive went on record to suggest it wanted to continue the series.
"I'm anticipating Breaking Dawn Part 2 being $700m-plus in worldwide box office," Jon Feltheimer told the LA Times. "It's hard for me to imagine a movie that does $700m-plus doesn't have ongoing value. It's an amazing franchise that they have done a great job of maintaining with absolutely no deterioration. So the simple answer is: 'Boy I hope so.'"
Meyer has also said she would not mind seeing a reboot, perhaps on the small screen as Lionsgate has a successful TV arm. The LA Times reported earlier this year that future instalments might head in that direction.
Four Twilight films have been released by Summit, with the fifth, Breaking Dawn Part 2, due to arrive in cinemas in November. All have been poorly received by critics, with the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw describing the first Breaking Dawn as "yet another fantastically trying drama on the now very boring subject of wolves v vampires and the consequent crisis of identity". He added: "The vampire drama of Twilight is all about the romantic agony of eternity, and this franchise feels like it's going on for ever."
