‘New Moon’ Rises at Summit

The always entertaining Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood reports the unsurprising news that Summit Entertainment is already readying the sequel to Twilight.  New Moon is the second book in the quartet of Stephenie Meyer novels and introduces Jacob Black the werewolf heartthrob to complicate Bella Swan’s life.

Finke goes on to note that the unreleased soundtrack album is among the Top 5 Best-Selling Albums on Amazon and Borders’ exclusive 2009 calendar sold out its first printing in days. None of this is a surprise given the book series’ sales alone plus the reaction among the teenyboppers and their moms at Comic-Con International this summer.  Clearly, this is one hot property, the kind of phenomenon usually reserved for Elvis or boy wizards (and Twilight opens November 21, taking the spot vacated by that same boy).

She goes on to report that the film may have cost a bargain at $37 million and even if they spend an additional $30 million on promotion, it’s all at bargain prices compared with other Hollywood productions such as the $180 million spent on The Dark Knight’s production alone.  Clearly, the film will bring in oodles of cash to Summit, allowing them to fund the second film (and third and fourth) in addition to new productions.