Summit Entertainment has formerly announced that the second half of Breaking Dawn will see its release on November 16, 2012. Twi-hards should bear in mind that they will have to wait an entire year to see how the saga will end on the big screen – the first half of Breaking Dawn arrives on November 18, 2011. Is this the right call? Considering that New Moon, which also opened in November, is the most profitable in the series, bypassing the summer blockbuster season could allow the supernatural romance to have a financial windfall. This summer’s Eclipse has made $645 million worldwide against strong competition (New Moon “eclipsed” that number with $709 million worldwide). Without the bombardment of new releases in the weeks after its release – the first half of Breaking Dawn will go up against a sequel to Happy Feet as well as a Shawn Levy comedy starring Hugh Jackman – both halves could make $750-800 million each. Maybe more.
Currently, the second half of Breaking Dawn is scheduled to open up against Pixar’s Monsters Inc. 2.
Switching gears, Deadline is reporting that Twilight Saga producer Temple Hill and partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey have obtained the rights to another branded property, one that doesn’t include vampires or werewolves. It involves and elephant named Babar. You may recall the books or even the animated series based off the character. The plan is to make appealing family films around Babar, full of lessons learned that will be fun and educational for children. With more than 30,000 Babar publications in 19 languages in existence, it shouldn’t be hard to find a story or two or three to bring to big screen. Look for Babar to mix live-action with CG ala Alvin and the Chipmunks.
