Why no one bet on the success of the film “Twilight”, according to director

The end of the 2000s in cinemas was marked by the success of the so-called saga Twilightwith films inspired by the book series of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. Starring Kristen Stewart (as Bella Swan), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black), the sequence of five features made available between 2008 and 2012, grossed US$3.3 billion worldwide.

The first film, just called Twilight (2008), came out in 2008 and even with a modest budget of US$37 million, it had a box office gross of US$393.6 million. New Moon (2009) had a slightly larger investment, of US$50 million, but almost doubled the income: US$709 million. For Eclipse (2010), US$68 million were invested and the return was US$698 million. The concluding features, Breaking Dawn part 1 (2011) and Part 2 (2012), had a financial injection of US$ 110 million and US$ 120 million for revenues of US$ 712 million and US$ 829 million, respectively.

In addition to their success at the box office, the works had a great influence, especially on young audiences. They also served to launch the careers of its protagonists, with emphasis on Stewart and Pattinson — the latter, interpreter of Batman in his most recent film, released in 2022.

The most curious thing is that no one expected such a repercussion. The principal Catherine Hardwicke She was discouraged from developing the film adaptation because, according to her, all the major studios refused to work on the project.

In an interview with Watchalong podcast (via Variety), Hardwicke said that executives in the area said that it would not be able to exceed US$ 30 million in revenue. The reason for the projection — wrong, after all — would be the fact that films adapted from books popular among young female audiences do not earn as much.

“Every studio in town refused. MTV It is Paramount placed in ‘turnaround’ (when external assistance is used to make a project go into production). Everyone said we wouldn’t make it. Even when I started the job, they said, ‘You know, Four Friends and a Traveling Jeans it was a popular book for girls and it made $29 million…that’s probably all your movie could make.’”

Looking back, the filmmaker laughs at the unenthusiastic predictions.

“Of course our opening weekend was $69 million and we made $400 million total on the first movie. No one could have predicted this!”

Still no stimulus

According to Catherine Hardwickeeven when the work was already completed, the company’s executives Summit Entertainmentthe company responsible for the launch, were not excited.

“Even the day before opening weekend, like that Wednesday or Thursday before, they said, ‘If we make $30 [milhões] or something, we’ll be ecstatic’.”

Robert Pattinson’s appearance

Another point of disagreement between the director and the studio resided in Robert Pattinson. Not in his talent, but in the appearance of the actor who would give life to Edward Cullen. She revealed:

“They called me back and said, ‘Do you think you can make this guy look good?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do. Did you see his cheekbones? We’re going to work on his hair and everything, and he’s going to start working out and he’s going to look great.’ But they didn’t believe it at first. He had come to the studio with a stained shirt or something. Typical of Rob.”