$70.55 million for Twilight’s opening weekend. Fans, look what you’ve done to film director Catherine Hardwicke.
“It’s pretty crazy,” she said. “It’s pretty cool. When I think that we’re going to be bigger than the biggest [James] Bond opening weekend? That blows my mind!”
Sure, everybody already expects the film—which, as you may already know, is an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novel—to make it big in the tills. Throw in a dedicated fan base, a (probably) similarly dedicated detractor base and a lot of hype, and you have something that will attract a lot of attention. But it seems that the film’s producers, cast and crew didn’t expect the enormity of its success.
“A week ago, when I was talking to the people at Summit, they were like, ‘If we make into the 30s [millions] opening weekend, we’re really happy,’” Hardwicke revealed. “Well, we made that in the first night! Then, the 40s would be great, the 50s would be great. The 60s—unbelievable!”
Sure, it was also buoyed by loyal fans watching the film more than once—admit it, how many of you saw Robert Pattinson save Kristen Stewart twice, or thrice, or more?—but the record also marks a personal best for Hardwicke. With Twilight’s spectacular performance, she passed Deep Impact director Mimi Leder as the female director with the biggest opening weekend in history.
“It’s so cool,” she said. “What I hope it means is—that almost every time I talk to the fans there are some [women] who want to be directors and want to be writers—this will encourage people to say, ‘Hey man, if she can do it, I can do it.’”
It is far from over, however. New Moon, the second film in the series, is already shuttling through the ranks. Both Stewart and Pattinson are reportedly getting a $12 million salary for the film, a really big jump from the $2 million they got for Twilight. It seems that, with a second film, it’s not just you fans who will be happy.
-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: MTV News, Chicago Sun-Times
(Image courtesy of Getty Images)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
