The Twilight Saga: New Moon, commonly referred to as
New Moon, is a 2009 American romance fantasy-
vampire film based on
Stephenie Meyer's 2006 novel
New Moon. It is the second film in
The Twilight Saga film series and is the sequel to 2008's
Twilight, which is also based on Meyer's
previous novel.
Summit Entertainment greenlit the sequel in late November 2008, following the early success of
Twilight.
Directed by
Chris Weitz, the film stars
Kristen Stewart,
Robert Pattinson, and
Taylor Lautner,
reprising their roles as
Bella Swan,
Edward Cullen, and
Jacob Black, respectively.
Melissa Rosenberg, who handed in a draft of the film script during the opening weekend of
Twilight, returned as screenwriter for
New Moon as well.
Filming began in
Vancouver in late March 2009,
and in
Montepulciano, Italy in late May 2009.
The film was released on November 20, 2009 in most countries, and set domestic box office records as the biggest midnight screening, grossing $26.3 million, which was superseded by its sequel,
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. This led to the highest single day,
domestic gross on an opening day, with $72.7 million.
Furthermore,
New Moon opened with the
third highest domestic opening weekend grossing a total of $142,839,137.
The film also became the highest grossing film released by Summit Entertainment, and was the widest independent release, playing in over 4,100 theaters in its theatrical run, until it was surpassed by
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2010 through midnight release parties.
As of April 2010, $144,808,588 in North American DVD sales, selling more than 6,367,352 units,
4 million of which were sold within its first weekend, beating
Twilight's 3.8 million units sold in its first two days.
The film was well received by fans,
but critical reception was less favorable.
