In a move that everyone saw coming, Summit Entertainment has officially announced that Stephanie Meyer’s fourth book, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, will be made in two installments.
According the Summit Entertainment’s press release, Oscar winner Bill Condon will be directing both films with cast members Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson,Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz all returning to their roles for both films. No word yet on whether or not Dakota Fanning or Michael Sheen will reprise their roles, but they are expected to return.
Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is currently hard at work making Meyer’s 756-page opus into two screenplays. Despite the graphic nature of the sex and childbirth scenes in the novel, both films are expected to have a PG-13 rating. Fans now can only speculate on where and how Rosenberg will split the book up into two separate films.
Shooting of the fourth and fifth films is planned to start late this fall with both films shooting simultaneously. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 will be released theatrically November 18, 2011. Part 2’s release date has yet to be announced.
In any case, the third film in the franchise, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, has its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 24 at the Nokia Theatre and will be released into theaters June 30.