romance of the decade

Rating: 8/10 (5 March 2009)

Twilight is a film worth seeing. Then, "seeing again" to appreciate what has been created. Reading through some of the comments/reviews for this film, I feel it it being unfairly compared to movies such as the Harry Potter series and Dark Knight. Keep in mind: Twilight's production budget was a paltry $37 million dollars. Is that enough to launch the film franchise of the most beloved book series since Harry Potter? Especially if the studio behind it, Summit Entertainment, wants to convert audiences who have never read Meyer's books? True, the U.S. economy is currently in a crunch. But Summit reportedly wrangled more than $1 billion in financing in April 2007, thanks to Merrill Lynch (who could have used some of that cash a few weeks ago).
To date, Twilight box office stats are 168 million gross. That is 5X the investment. Big budget films such as "Dark Knight" (155 million) grossed 533 million at the box office. Only a 3X margin. Yet people insist on comparing Twilight to the big budget films of 2008.
I expect Summit Entertainment will invest much more in the squeal now that they understand that they really blew it on this one in that with a strong budget, this movie could have out performed Titanic. To Summit Entertainment, I say "pull your head out" and don't make this mistake for the sequel.
The Robert Pattinson/Kristen Stewart matchup is magic.