Twilight is a 2008 American movie about vampires and romance. It was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Melissa Rosenberg. The movie is based on a 2005 book by Stephenie Meyer with the same name. It is the first movie in The Twilight Saga series. The film features Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl, and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen, a vampire. The story follows Bella and Edward’s growing relationship and how Edward and his family try to protect Bella from another group of vampires.
The movie idea was being developed for about three years by Paramount Pictures’ MTV Films. During this time, a version of the story that was very different from the book was written. Later, Summit Entertainment bought the rights to the book after the project stopped moving forward. Melissa Rosenberg wrote a new version of the story just before the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. She wanted to stay close to the book’s story. Main filming started in March 2008 and took 44 days, finishing in May. The movie was filmed in Oregon and Washington.
Twilight had its first showing at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California, on November 17, 2008. It was released in theaters in the United States on November 21, 2008, by Summit Entertainment. Even though some critics had mixed opinions about the movie, it made $412 million worldwide. The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 21, 2009, and became the most sold DVD of that year. The movie’s soundtrack was released on November 4, 2008.
Twilight was followed by four more movies: New Moon (2009), Eclipse (2010), Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011), and Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012).
Plot
Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona, to Forks, a small town on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, to live with her father, Charlie, who is the town's police chief. Her mother, Renée, is married to Phil, a minor league baseball player.
Bella meets again with Jacob Black, a Native American teenager who lives with his father, Billy, on the Quileute Indian Reservation near Forks. At school, she notices the mysterious and distant Cullen siblings. She sits next to Edward Cullen in biology class, but he appears repulsed by her.
When Bella is nearly hit by a van in the school parking lot, Edward quickly moves more than thirty feet to stand between her and the van, stopping it with only his hand. He does not explain his actions and warns her not to befriend him. Jacob tells Bella about a long-standing conflict between the Cullens and the Quileutes; the Cullens are not allowed on the reservation.
When Edward saves Bella again, this time from a gang, she researches and concludes that he is a vampire. He confirms this, explaining that he found her scent irresistible during biology class and that the Cullens only drink animal blood.
Edward and Bella fall in love, and he introduces her to his vampire family. Carlisle Cullen, the patriarch, is a doctor at the Forks Hospital. Esme is his wife, and Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie are their informally-adopted children. The family's reaction to Bella is mixed, as some Cullens worry that their secret might be discovered.
Edward and Bella's relationship is in danger when three nomadic vampires—James, Victoria, and Laurent—arrive, responsible for a series of deaths being investigated as animal attacks. James, a tracker vampire, is drawn to Bella's scent and becomes obsessed with hunting her for sport. The Cullens protect Bella from the trio. Laurent warns the Cullens about James, who tries to distract James from Bella, but James tracks her to Phoenix. She is hiding there with Jasper and Alice, and James tricks her into thinking he kidnapped her mother by luring her into her old ballet studio.
James reveals the kidnapping was a trick as he attacks Bella, infecting her with vampire venom. The Cullens arrive, kill James by decapitating and burning him, and Edward removes the venom from Bella's wrist, preventing her from becoming a vampire.
After the attack, Edward accompanies an injured Bella to prom, where he refuses her request to turn her into a vampire. They are unaware that James' mate, Victoria, is watching them, planning revenge for her lover's death.
Production
In early 2004, Greg Mooradian of Maverick Films, who was searching for young adult novels to turn into movies, received an unpublished copy of Twilight and began reading it. After reaching the part where Bella Swan is saved by Edward Cullen from a car accident, Mooradian realized how popular the book could be. He then showed the manuscript to David Gale, who was an executive vice president at Paramount Pictures’ MTV Films division, to suggest making a movie based on the novel. Gale believed the story was "perfect" for MTV’s teen audience and shared it with Karen Rosenfelt, who was then co-president of production at Paramount. Rosenfelt worked to get the rights to the novel, and MTV Films eventually bought the rights in April 2004. They hired Mark Lord to write a screenplay, which was very different from the book, focusing more on action. Lord described his idea as a vampiric version of Romeo and Juliet, but MTV Films wanted more action to appeal to male viewers. The script included changes such as Bella being a long-distance runner, using shotguns against vampires, and riding a jet ski while being chased by the FBI. Stephenie Meyer, the author, later said the script had little to do with the book, which she found concerning.
Later, after a change in leadership at Paramount, the studio’s new president, Brad Weston, believed audiences were not interested in vampire or werewolf stories, especially after a film called Cursed failed at the box office. This caused the Twilight project to be put on hold. Karen Rosenfelt, who had left Paramount, tried to make the movie by forming a partnership with Fox 2000 Pictures but was not successful. In 2006, she met with Erik Feig of Summit Entertainment, who read the book and saw its potential as a movie series. When Paramount let the rights to Twilight expire in 2007, Summit acquired them, agreeing to make a film more similar to the book than MTV Films’ version.
Before Summit had the rights, Erik Feig talked with director Catherine Hardwicke about working together. He sent her scripts, including Mark Lord’s version of Twilight, which she disliked. However, she became interested in the book after reading it and realized the script had little connection to the story. After Summit acquired the rights, Hardwicke was chosen to direct the film, and Melissa Rosenberg was hired to write the screenplay in 2007. Rosenberg created an outline by August and worked with Hardwicke to write the script the following month. She said Hardwicke helped improve the story by offering ideas and feedback. Rosenberg finished the script before the Writers Guild of America strike began in October. She had to shorten the story and combine some characters, but she emphasized that the film stayed true to the book’s characters and their emotional journeys. Hardwicke suggested using voice-over narration to show Bella’s thoughts, as the book is told from her perspective, and she designed some storyboards during pre-production.
The filmmakers aimed to make a movie as close to the book as possible. Producer Greg Mooradian said, "We are making a different piece of art, but we want to be very faithful to the book." Stephenie Meyer was involved in the production, visiting the set and giving feedback on the script and early film versions. Meyer said the filmmakers listened to her ideas and kept most of her suggestions. She insisted on keeping a famous line from the book about "the lion and the lamb" unchanged, even though it was popular on tattoos. Meyer also created a list of changes that could not be made, such as giving vampires fangs or killing characters who survive in the book. Critics later said the film was very faithful to the book, with only a few differences.
Some scenes from the book were not included in the movie, such as a biology class where Bella does blood typing. Hardwicke explained that the story needed to be shorter, so they avoided repeating the same settings. Some scenes were moved to make them more visually interesting, like changing where Bella reveals she knows Edward is a vampire. A scene with a biology field trip was added to explain how Edward saved Bella from a van. The villains were introduced earlier in the movie than in the book. Rosenberg said the original story delayed the villains until near the end, but the film showed them sooner to build tension.
Release
On November 21, 2008, Twilight earned over $7 million from midnight showings alone. The film ranked fifth on Fandango’s list of top advance ticket sales, with only its sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) selling more tickets before release. It made $35.7 million on its opening day. During its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film earned $69.6 million across 3,419 theaters, averaging $20,368 per theater. In total, Twilight earned $192,769,854 in the United States and Canada and $214,417,861 internationally, for a worldwide total of $407,187,715. Its opening weekend gross was the highest ever for a film directed by a woman, beating Deep Impact (1998).
According to 223 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 48% rating and a weighted average score of 5.4/10. The site’s summary states, “Twilight loses some of its strength when adapted for the big screen, but it will satisfy fans and may not interest others.” On Metacritic, it has a score of 56 based on 38 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences gave it an average grade of “A−” on a scale from A+ to F.
New York Press critic Armond White called Twilight “a genuine pop classic” and praised director Catherine Hardwicke for adapting Stephenie Meyer’s book series into a “Brontë-esque vision.” Roger Ebert gave it two-and-a-half stars out of four, noting that the audience was “rapt with attention” during a sneak preview. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Twilight is “unabashedly a romance” and captures “the magic of meeting that one special person.” USA Today gave it two out of four stars, saying the film was “unintentionally funny and quickly forgettable” compared to Meyer’s novel. Entertainment Weekly gave it a “B” rating, praising Hardwicke’s direction as creating a “cloudburst mood piece” with “stormy skies” and “understated visual effects.”
Kristen Stewart’s performance as Bella received mixed reviews. USA Today’s Claudia Puig called her acting “wooden” and her expressions “blank,” while Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman praised her as “the ideal casting choice” for portraying Bella’s emotions. Roger Ebert said Robert Pattinson was “well-chosen” for Edward, and The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis called him “capable and exotically beautiful.” Both Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob, were nominated for Best Male Breakthrough Performance at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards; Pattinson won.
In 2025, Twilight was one of the films selected for The New York Times’ “Readers’ Choice” list of “The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century,” finishing at number 311. The film was released on DVD in North America on March 21, 2009, with midnight release parties, and sold over 3 million units on its first day. It was released in the UK on April 6, 2009. Bonus features included extended or deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes interviews, and commentary by Hardwicke, Stewart, and Pattinson. The Blu-ray version was released in select locations on March 21, 2009, and became widely available on May 5, 2009. As of July 2012, the film had sold 11,242,519 units, earning $201,190,019.
The film and the next two Twilight Saga movies were re-released as a triple feature with extended cuts on January 13, 2015. Twilight was released on 4K Blu-ray on October 23, 2018. A trivia video game based on the film was released alongside the second movie.
Since its release, Twilight has received many nominations and awards. In 2009, Carter Burwell was nominated for Film Composer of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association. Robert Pattinson won Bravo TV’s A-List Award for A-List Breakout and the MTV Movie Award for Male Breakthrough Performance. The film won awards for Best Movie, Best Female Performance (Kristen Stewart), Best Kiss (Stewart and Pattinson), and Best Fight (Pattinson and Cam Gigandet). Christian Serratos won a Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress. At the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, the film and its cast received 12 nominations, winning nine. At the 2009 Scream Awards, the film won four of nine nominations. It also won two ALMA Awards for makeup and hairstyling and the Public Choice Award at the World Soundtrack Awards. Catherine Hardwicke received a Young Hollywood Award for directing. The film was nominated for Best Fantasy Film at the 35th Saturn Awards and for two Grammy Awards.
In 2015, Lionsgate released an extended edition of Twilight that was over 4 minutes longer than the original. This version included scenes previously released as “Deleted Scenes” on earlier DVD editions.
Sequel
In February 2008, MTV reported that Summit Entertainment planned to make a series of at least three movies based on Meyer's books. By October 2008, the studio had bought the rights to New Moon, the second book in the series. On November 22, 2008, the studio officially announced their plan to make a movie based on the book. Because Catherine Hardwicke needed more time to prepare than Summit's schedule allowed for the sequel, Chris Weitz was chosen to direct the film in December 2008.