Sparkly Vampires and the Film Industry Salient Magazine – Salient

So, were getting another Twilight book.

Long time fans will no doubt already be starting to reread the series in preparation for the new arrival.

However, as someone who has neither read the books nor seen the movies, my immediate reaction to this surprise announcement was more along the lines of another one?.

Im sure theyre perfectly fine books, but the fact that the lead actor of the films has stated that (if he wasnt working on them) he would mindlessly hate it does leave one a bit sceptical. Which brings me to my point, seeing as were getting another book, does this also mean another movie?

Hollywood has had a pretty reliable track record for turning books to movies over the years (Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent to name the obvious ones). With new material ripe for adapting, can fans expect Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart to return to their respective roles? If you were living under a rock in 2012, you may have missed the earth-shattering revelation that Stewart was supposedly cheating on Pattinson, so the odds arent looking likely.

According to an article from CNN, the new book is supposedly set from the perspective of Edward (the main sparkly bloodsucker) rather than his paramour Bellas. The book was infamously leaked in 2008 to an over-whelmingly negative response. Meyer canned the release in return, and Twi-hards thought the story was finished forever. So whats changed?

As far as Im aware, predatory relationships are still gross, so it's probably not the quality of the writing, but arguably, our desperate need for content.

With the original saga in its entirety earning an estimated 3.34 billion USD, the opportunity for box office returns seems to be obvious. But do we need another one?

The film industry seems intent on regurgitating stories that are already out there in some different format, rather than supporting and developing original content.

This is not to say that remakes arent enjoyable or that theyre poorly made. One needs only to look at films like 2019s Little Women, Joker or The Irishman (titles all based on books) to see the massive mainstream success that they can have.

If you look at some of the major films released last year, youll find that most of them were original concepts. Films like the massively successful Parasite, Marriage Story, Midsommar, and The Lighthouse garnered wide critical and audience praise, a novel turn of events in a world where popularity based titles are often favoured.

There is, however, another important trend we need to talk about when it comes to movies based on a book series though, that being Hollywoods knack for dragging the story out by splitting the final film into Part 1 and Part 2.

This craze that the film industry has been using for at least the last 20 years has affected the likes of Twilight, The Hobbit, and Harry Potter.

While this can aid in building the hype for the final chapter in the saga!, it can also leave the audience feeling alienated at the end of a half-finished story.

The last thing we need right now is a movie exec taking a look at this book and going ah yes Midnight Sun, part 1 of five (not including the prequel story well make) rather than focussing on making a project that would do justice to both the source material, and the fans themselves.

At the end of the day, all of these decisions are based on the bottom line, whats going to make the most money? Yes, these books were successfulcan we make them into movies? Yes, the movies were successful, how can we stretch it out to make MORE money.

And fair enough. Money makes the world go round. Capitalist ideals permeate through society like sunlight around the silhouette of a sparkly vampire, so why not just enjoy the film for what film was created to be, an escape from everyday life. Who knows, maybe they wont muck this one up.

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Sparkly Vampires and the Film Industry Salient Magazine - Salient

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero