Summit Replaces Hardwicke on New Moon. Who Should Get the Job?
Summit and Twilight: Was a Bigger Budget Needed?
"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" (2010)
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
Twilight
So what's the deal? Is Summit Entertainment one of the big studios now? Should we consider them such, or are they still an indie production company? The truth is slightly murky at this point, with the studio still straddling the line between the two and existing in the realm of being something of a MINI-MAJOR. For the past few years it has thoroughly outperformed the indie houses and smaller studios, while pulling in half of the total gross of the smallest major studio. But that could change any minute now.
Summit isn't a studio with an impressive list of films under its belt. While it sports a host of higher profile films, its one saving grace is a small property it picked up and continues to churn out that you know best as Twilight. Flush with cash from their license to print money, they've been investing in more lucrative, somewhat midrange ventures that they hope will pay off. Trouble is, they keep stumbling. While the Twilight films bring in big bucks at the box office, on DVD, and in merchandising, the critical reception has bottomed out, hinting that the franchise will have an extremely short shelf life as the girls who love it now will soon outgrow it. Meanwhile, the studio can't seem to find another hit. This year alone they have two stinkers in the poorly conceived Furry Vengeance and the film with one of the worst endings ever, Remember Me. Neither performed admirably, and while their third film, The Ghost Writer, received tons of critical praise, backlash against director Roman Polanski kept people away.
All told, with a third of the year down, Summit is only accounting for 1.7% of the total box office and is 10th in a 12-horse race. Of course, all that is about to change. With a summertime release of the third Twilight film, Eclipse, there's a good chance repeat business could make this a bigger hit than the last one, even though the third book is notoriously the worst, loathed even by many fans, and Twilight fever seems to be cooling. Even the rage against it seems to be waning, as those angry over glittery vampires lose interest in the joke and move on. Whether or not this breaks any of the previous box-office totals is immaterial; the film will still make a ton of money and shoot Summit once again up the chart to its safe place in the middle of the list.
But can it go over the top? Can a strong box-office take from Eclipse work in tandem with other feminine counterprogrammed films like the saccharine Letters to Juliet (which will play very well to older female audiences) and the younger, hipper Step Up 3D to ultimately break out and push Summit into the top six? Can it muscle its way past struggling studios like Universal that look to have very weak summer lineups? Can Summit finally earn its place at the table and lure some very attractive film projects, taking risks where other studios won't?
Or will they continue to have a year like they're having, and find themselves duking it out for a strong showing in the middle? Personally, I like Summit. I like what they appear to be doing. And I'd love to see another major studio rise to prominence, especially as we watch studios like Miramax, MGM, and the Weinstein Company fade away. Keep an eye on Summit this summer. They might surprise us all and prove to be the little studio that could.
For one, Eclipse is widely regarded by critics and fans as the best book in the Twilight series. Eclipse has the best (most defined) character arcs, clear human-level scope, regular well-needed humor, tense romance, and great action paced throughout the book. Twilight fans sites find that the book is the favorite of the series among approx. 2/3 of readers. Eclipse will definitely be a winner for Summit; preview fans were incredibly enthusiastic, more so than the first two films.
(An aside: Breaking Dawn, the last of the series, is the most controversial book among fans as Bella begins to realize her full potential as a vampire, and the romance is downplayed after the first act; there is an oddly adult infant character introduced which could be problematic, although if Condon simply drops much of the "oddly adult" parts, it should film well. The scope is truly epic, and should really be a great finale. But again, due to the maturing lead role, many fans, especially those in the target demo, have some real problems with the Breaking Dawn).
"Can Summit finally earn its place at the table?" is an important question. I see their real problem as two fold.
First, they need to step up, set aside the odd, indie plots they've championed thus far (other than Twilight), like Remember Me. Star Pattinson wanted to make it, but that should not have been good enough to green light it. It is difficult to tell a good story with mainstream appeal, at low cost. But it can be done... if you have the right talent.
Which is the second problem. Summit has a real anti-social take on hiring and firing. Examples?
Director Catherine Hardwicke sends Twilight into the stratosphere, providing the money to make the studio into a major... and they fire her. Now she's got Red Riding Hood, a genius film, the hottest thing for young women in development since Twilight, in pre-production at Warner Bros.
When key villain Rachelle Lefevre tries to get a boost to her salary, they fire her, publish acrimonious scheduling insults, and re-cast, causing a major continuity lapse for Eclipse, the one real problem the film has. And it was totally avoidable, if they'd been willing to bargain and adjust rather than just trumpet how "right" they were in firing this lowly actress, who still gets adoring fans swamping her every appearance. How about Bryce Dallas Howard, her replacement? Zero. Nada. No interest whatsoever. She is the girl pretending to be Rachelle/Victoria. Fail. Want proof? Just look at the character's Barbie doll -- a dead ringer for Lefevre.
The Cullen family supporting cast asks for salary upgrades to $1 mil per film, quite modest given their widespread appeal -- Been to Harold Square lately? Any youth-oriented awards shows? -- and that they are likely to be close to the billion dollar range for each of Breaking Dawn. So what does Summit do? It runs a high-profile, public screed against the Cullen actors like it's the Teamsters going on strike. They make it very clear that they intend to fire one or more of them because they are being "greedy" and ruining the entire production.
What?!? Just look at the fan boards now. They aren't arguing about Team Edward or Team Jacob, they are fighting over what is an appropriate percentage of gross for integral supporting cast members. What fun. Fans are comparing Summit to the Volturi, the arch villains of the series, drawing parallels between their motives and approaches. Which are actually quite accurate. Has Summit even read the Twilight books?
And "integral" is the key word there. In the minds of fans, the Cullen family is a big deal, and huge part of the appeal, more like Disney's "rag-tag" supporting characters in their princess films, than the brief roles in a typical drama. Not so many lines, but essential in the books and in the expectations of the fans.
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via RobPattzNews
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