Twilight hops back

Now that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has moved out of the November 21st release date slot, and Disney's 3D CG-animated Bolt quickly moved to fill the date, there is still room in the fall schedule. The feeling is that Bolt wont do the kinds of numbers that Potter would so why not fill the space with a similar audience kind of film, like Twilight?

Originally slated for release on December 12th, the film has now been moved up three weeks to open on November 21st, the week before Thanksgiving. The move is a smart one, Twilight consists of much of the same fanbase as the Potter books (ie. millions of young girls) and the December 12th weekend isn't renowned as a particularly profitable one.

Summit CEO Rob Friedman said "When Warner Bros. decided to move 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' to the summer of 2009, we saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months. We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible Potter franchise for 2008, rather we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer's incredible book series the film as soon possible from a programming perspective."