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"And so [I] bid a fond farewell to Vancouver," tweets The Twilight Saga: New Moon star Michael Sheen. "Its been epic, lush, choc and sound as a pound." He is headed off to London after the close of filming for his portion of the much-anticipated sequel to Twilight. Having begun filming only a week ago in Vancouver, Sheen's short stint in British Columbia involved the production of very important scenes for the film.
Catherine Hardwicke's 2008 film Twilight, the first of the series, took 50 days or so to produce, and Chris Weitz has been on the case with The Twilight Saga: New Moon since early March. With filming wrapping up in Vancouver, and with the crew and some of the cast off to Italy at the end of the month to resume filming some of the final sequences of the movie, it appears that Weitz will have spent a little more time filming The Twilight Saga: New Moon than did his predecessor.
Rightfully so, some say. While Twilight's run-time was right around two hours, fans contend that its successor should be longer. With many crucial scenes from the book expected on-screen, say they, two hours is simply not enough.
So, how long should The Twilight Saga: New Moon's run time be?
[ Warning: The following discussion contains spoilers about New Moon ]
Basically, there are a few essential "legs" to the film - that is, there are blocks of several related scenes that can be identified and clustered for the sake of discussion. For instance, in the first place we have the scenes leading up to the "break up" between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. Beginning with Bella's Gram dream, a little catch-up time with Bella and Edward, then on to Bella's (erm, eventful) birthday party, and, finally, the next few days of confusion and separation between the two, the events leading up to and including the "break up" scene are fairly fluid and consecutive, and can thusly be lumped into a sect (for purposes of discussion, at least). In order to effectively and sufficiently bring these portions of the film to life in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, a decent amount of time will need to be devoted to this sect.
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The same can be said for other portions of the film. The next sect, if you will, might be the transition between comatose and bereft Bella to the Bella which seeks out Jacob Black to assist her in hallucination-conjuring. Several events will need to occur in this set of sequences as well - months passing by like rain, Bella becoming ostracized from her cluster of friends at Forks High School, an attempt at re-kindled friendship with Jessica Stanley, and, finally, the re-introduction (in a way) of the character Edward after a run-in with alleyway trouble. These scenes serve the greater purpose of viewing Bella in transition, in slight measure, between the girl that Sam Uley scrapes off of the muddy floor to the Bella that wants to re-ignite the flames of engine into beater motorcycles (and needs friend Jacob Black to assist). Though fairly short, by comparison to the grand scheme of the story's entirity, these scenes are the sort that can't be swept by in haste with the production of this film.
Of course, there are many more of these segments. Within the relationship of Bella and Jacob, there are several points in the story arc as well. One point might be the blossoming of that friendship (against the backdrop of anticipation on Bella's part), while the next might be the climax of that relationship in the New Moon story and the character development we should see with the La Push gang. A third might be the separatism that ensues between the two, with Bella having to resort to her own adventures (sans Jacob), and finding herself in deep water (pun intended), as a result. Over all, these portions should, arguably, take up the bulk of the film, and the interactions between Bella and Jacob should likely take up most of the film's run-time.
On to the return of Alice, the quest to Italy, the march through Volterra, and the trip home we will go. While the pace of these portions should be rapid, as the tick-tock of the clock is vital to the story, this does not necessarily mean that it won't take a while to accomplish what needs to be done in these scenes.
Translation: no part of the New Moon story is quick. With each set of sequences comes great detail and delicate balancing. If each one identified here was given half an hour, the film would need to be four and a half hours long! So, the question is, how long should these portions be (should there be a compromise?), and how long should the over-all run time for The Twilight Saga: New Moon be as a consequence? What do you think? Comment below and let us know!
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Comments
I would say as long as it needs to be, but that is unrealistic. I think two and a half to three hrs is good. The fans of Twilight would sit for 4 hrs and enjoy every minute of it though :)
I agree. 2.5 to 3 hours - Twilight seemed too short to me. I wanted to see Bella and Edward's relationship blossom. It was too quick from first kiss to the ballett studio scene!
yess 2.5 to 3 hrs it cannot be 2 hrs like twilight and yeah i agree we didnt have tomuch edwarda nd bellas relation in twilight in the book thy had more fun together .. so new moon has to be longer i dont really care how much times the jacob bella takes but im worried about whne alice comes back and when edward and bella return from italy thats the best part f the book the reconection of their relation so that has to be longer for sureeeee i can only hope
i don't care how long it is as long as they don't cut as much as they did with twilight. It was dissapointed to see how much they cut with the first.
as long as it takes! really! but 3 hours seems fair! the movies needs to give time to bella, to show us the fans/audience what she went through, the most darkest months of her life. We need to feel the way she felt, as sick as she was, we need to feel the pain! We also need to feel anxious and worry about her, like her dad & Jacob felt about her. We want drama! we want action! and most of all we need to cry! lol at the end we need to soo relieve that she's back with Edward. we need to see how that relationship bloosom, something that wasnt shown in Twilight the movie.
i wouldn't care if the movie was 4hrs long. i would sit there and watch as long as it's just like the book.the longer the better!
thank you for finally considering my e-mail! i thought u had forgotten :)
There are quite a bit of essential parts of the book that needs to be in the movie, they will have to down size it. In turn will cut out good parts. They will have to save the three hour movie for Breaking Dawn. Breaking Dawn has important parts also yet not as important to the story line as in New Moon. I would watch three hour movies on all of them... But that probably won't be the case. My real concern is that they are going to leave out the discusion they have when she wakes up from the trip and thinks she is dead. Along with the proposal scene...
I would love for the movie to be 4 and a half hours long. Hey if they can make Lord of the Rings a long movie why not make this one long. I would rather sit and watch New Moon for four hours than any thing else. I have to say the end of the book, where Edward comes back is the best part of the book. I would love to see more Edward and Bella. I just love to see them two together. Stay true to the book. If you want the fans to keep coming back for more. And if you want the fans to be happy with the movie, then Please stay true to the book, and make the movie as much like the book as you can. I am sure I am not alone when I say that the movie could be as long as it has to be, as long as the movie stays on the right track with the book. I feel it is respecting Stephine when you make the movie a copy of the book. She worked hard on the Twilight books. She should be proud of the movie as well... Thanks again Stephine.... You are a wonderful writer...
i would watch new moon if it was 4 hours and had everything in it! and a lot of fans would agree with me. In twilight too many good scenes were cut out due to time and the was one of the only complaints from my friends and even saying the would love it more if it was longer with the scenes included
I believe the movie needs to be at least 2-1/2 hours long in order to not lose valuable tension between the characters.
Well they rushed through the Edward/Bella romance, so no need to linger on the the Jacob/Bella just hanging around and being buddies stuff - and if they do, it's going to unhinge any balance with Twilight.
So - cut a lot of Jacob/Bella, give us plenty of angsty Bella, angsty Edward, the things spoken of but not seen so much in the book. They have to do this to address the problems with Twilight, for Twilight is very flawed on the romance delivery.
So I say, 1 hour of the first section with Edward around and leaving, Bella freaking.
20mins of Bella coming out of the zombie stage and hanging with Jacob.
1 hour wolves and Italy, and E/B romance.
10mins extra time for just some Rob Pattinson shots:)
I am currently reading the Twilight book after seeing the movie (like a 100x)and I feel alot of scenes between Edward and Bela were left out, which is exaclty what twilight fans want most to see. In New Moon I would cut shorter the interaction between Jake and Bela (as it feels like a betrayal)and spend more time with getting back to Edward, Bela and Voltera. I think every twighlighter is eager to see the vampire world in detail.
I would agree the movies needs to be at least 2 1/2hrs long as there is so much to cover in this book. I was really disappointed with what they did with the James/Victoria/Laurent characters in Twilight. I hated how they skipped over the deep love that Bella and Edward have with just a few short minutes.. I have this image of what New Moon should be and really hope they don't spoil it for all us die hard Twilight fans.
So Michael Sheen has just earned £5 million for a week's work, so even if he was doing 16-hour days, that's £44,642 an hour. Credit crunch is passing him by then.
I say let it be as long as it has to be to get everything in, i hope they don't leave anything out.
if l can sit through 3 hours of Australia l can centerainly sit through 3 or more hours of New Moon, which would have to make Eclipse a little longer and Breaking Dawm may have to be a 2 part movie in order to get everything in and l dont see how they can leave anything out .
I would sit and watch that movie if it was seven hours long. I hope they just make it as real and as true to the book as possible, for the millions of fans, time is not a problem.
As long as it's good and true, I don't really care how long it is.
Of course it would be beyond amazing if it'd last up to 3hrs or something. Anything to disappear in the world Stephanie Meyer created. I'm absolutely hooked! Perhaps like LOTR a directors cut???
What I do hope is that they don't cut in Bella/Jacob-time of give us extra Edward-time. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the visions of him, just no extra scenes or something like that. But the audience should, like Bella, feel deprived of the one essantial thing in her/our lives. It would make the reunion the best ever!
And then we're all set for Eclipse with lots and lots of Edward (I hope!)
btw: Happy birthday Robert!
No short-cuts, this time, please. Let the actors do what they are paid to do....elicit emotions from their audience! That's what Stephenie did in her books, and though not EVERY detail is necessary, most are pertinent and should be given their due attention regardless of time constraints.
What ever they do in the actual film - whatever they leave out - give to us on a 4 CD set. I would have to say that things like Catherine Hardwicke's Vampire Kiss Montage on the Target version Twilight CD helped satisfy tremendously.
4.5 hours is a long time to sit in a theater so they wont do that, but going with the consensus, I think 3.15 hours would be more than acceptable! I hate when they compare this saga to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but if they MUST compare, each of those movies were lengthy and the audience sucked it up! There are millions of Twilight fans, new and old and we would ALL be MORE THAN WILLING to sit through a LONGER movie if it stayed in line with the book!!!!!
I think the could just montage the passing of the months of zombie Bella....We NEED to see the Bella/Jacob relationship and believe it has transaction or Eclipse won't be set up.....What is with Edward/Jacob in Eclipse (and that book is about them more than Bella) if New Moon doesn't set it up? W/O this set up the end of New Dawn (writers note: you have to get the cheesey wording of Edward to Jacob in the clearning EXACT for us to understand the depth these characters went to in growing).
BTW I hated the kissing montage on the DVD. I am not a prude...but none of that would have added to the movie.
Happy Birthday Rob! You are the sexiest man alive! Party hard, and don't give in till you get what you want!
I think 3:15 is more than enough time to develop it, but if it was longer I'd definitely love it! Can't wait!!! Oh and Happy Birthday Rob!!! :)
You forgot the most essential scene of all...Edward and Bella in Bella's bedroom. If that first kiss after they reconcile doesn't make us want to pass out with joy, the movie is a total loss.
I'll watch the movie if it 7 hours long as long as important parts are left in. I think it important to see Jacob and Bella together alot to understand how deep their relationship goes. I wish Chris Weitz good luck! Every Twilight fan has already made the movie in there head when reading the books. That's alot to live up to!
I really could care less if it was 5 hours or more.... Not like thats going to happen..... But it should be at least 4 hrs. Ohh imagine how long Breaking Dawn is going 2 be if they don't break it into 2 movies. D: :D
I don't care how long will this movie be.If it'll take 4 hours I'll watch and enjoy every second of it!!! And happy birthday dear Robert!!!xxx
3 hours makes a good movie, some might say this is too long, but it has been done,so if need be, do it. The things I missed most out of Twilight was the closeness of Bella and Alice,and you only saw one kissing scene, in the book Edward and Bella had much more touching, eye contact,small kisses etc. I missed that. The book made them seem more in love than the movie. So I'm hoping for more details from NM
3 hours MINIMUM! One of Twilights biggest problems, IMO was the 2 hour mark. ALOT was left out and therefore was full of holes. Especially if you never read the book before hand, you had no idea what was going on in some scenes. New Moon and the remaining saga should be no less than 3 hours.
You can do a 4 hour movie easy. I state that because the FANS are so into the "Twilight Saga: New Moon". If cut to short they the FANS might be unhappy campers. Anyway, the FANS love the books (3). Some could not put it down until finish (count me in) to the end of the last book "breaking dawn" plus the e-mail version, lot of pages to read, no one complaint. As I stted earlier 4 hours. Peace and Blessings
I don't care how long will this movie be, i´enjoy every part, it´s imposibile in two hours, resume the book. Robert happy Birth Day
id sit thru 3 hours happily!
oh COME ON PEOPLE, 3 plus hours is not going to happen, be realistic. I'd be happy with 2 1/2 or if they can stretch it to 2:45.
I think we'd be lucky to see a 3 hour depiction of "New Moon" in theatres; it would most likely end up in a director's cut on the DVD. Theatres want to pack as many people in the seats as possible, and this means having the most showings of each film. A 3-hour epic won't make as much money as a 2 or 2.5 hour film since the theatre owners wouldn't be able to offer as many showtimes of the film. Statistics also show that younger audiences won't sit through a 3-hour epic (Birthday Boy or not). It's all about the cash when it comes to Summit & the theatre chains.
Considering the disappointment that Twilight was, I think NM should be exactly as long as it takes to get everything right. Twilight missed so much of the important pieces of thier "getting to know eachother phase." I think the new director owes it to the fans to get this one right!
In my opinion, New Moon is the most exciting book of all and the important parts should not be left out from the birthday scene to Edward and Bella's break up scene (by the way, will they have the scene when they go looking for Bella in the woods?)to Jacob's and Bella's relationship (very important in this book/movie!) all the way through to Alice and Bella going to Italy to save Edward, etc., etc., etc.. They have the budget to make a three hour movie(?) So, I would sit three hours in this movie like I did in Titanic and Titanic use to be my favorite movie, but now it's Twilight!
Also, Happy Birthday, Rob! Hugs and Kisses to you!!!! Have a safe and wonderful day. Wish I was there to celebrate your birthday with you and bring you some of my wonderful Texas Chocolate Chip Cookies. Everyone loves them! <3
I know we would all love to see at least 3 hours of NM, but really that is not going to happen. It is all about money for Summit, they will make it fast and skip over a lot of key parts in the book. It happened in Twilight and we all need to be prepared that it is going to happen again.
I will be amazed if we get a 2 hr 20 min run time, that would be a blessing!
How ever long it takes to bring Stephanie's vision to life. If it has to be as long as Lord of the Rings let it be. This is too good of a story to cut short.
If a longer run time means we'll have more on the beginning portion and the Volturi/end section then I'm all for it. Otherwise, I had the hardest time getting through the middle part of New Moon, so I don't want a run time that will extend that section beyond 45 mins to an hour.
I think it needs to be around the three hour mark. I loved this book and don't want to be short changed on a second of it.
I think New Moon should be much longer than Twilight, there is no way to put all the important details, in New Moon in just two hours or less... With out screwing up the movie. I don't think they should rush this movie... New Moon is also my favorite book, for so many different reason... Twilight was a good movie, but with a little bit more of a run time, it would have been better... We will sit through a longer movie, as long as they don't screw it up..I hope they listen to all the fans, when they say they would sit through a three or four hour movie, and even pay more, just to get the full affect of the book... I hope it turns out great, we are really excited,and can't wait to see it..
I agree with Jana, the movie should be definitely more than 2 hours because Twilight missed a lot of important scenes.
In Twilight they didn't show how inlove Edward and Bella really were. They didn't show how affectionate they were and how they grew close to each other. They didn't even have them saying "I love you" and in the book they do. Like Jana said - in the book Edward and Bella had much more touching, eye contact,small kisses etc. I missed that. The book made them seem more in love than the movie.
I hope this director does not deprive us like Twilight did and really show how fun and affectionate Edward and Bella are together. Also her relationship with Alice was also very weak in Twilight, unlike the book.
This movie should be at least three hours and on up to 6 hours. Us fans want to see all that we can of the series and if they cut it out, there really is nothing to see. But I'll still be happy if its only 2 and a half hours. I just prefer it to be much longer.
in my opinon, i think the movie should be long enough to properly depict everything that the book had to offer, as stated above there are essential elements to the book that would need to be in the movie to fully appreciate it. and believe it or not, summit may be worried about a long run time having the veiwers be less then antsy for sitting so long, but how many people have seen green mile/titanic/pearl harbor. i am i guess u could call me a twi-mom im 24 years old and i love these book i would be more then happy to sit through over 3 hours of new moon with pleasure. i understand that book to movie adaptations are very hard to convey but... twilight the movie was just too short and left out alot of essentials, such as the 1st time edward took bella home, he explains the volturi there and carlise's past. not too mention if you watch the movie and didnt read the book 1st, you dont get the real true love between edward and bella! so in conclusion i feel that 2 hours will not be near anough to even touch on each chapter of the book let alone fully protray the book. i hope chris takes a lesson from catherine's book and lengthens the time and add's the essentials. a half done job is not good enough for us fans!
Happy B-day Rob !!! yeah eaver longer than 3 hours my little one she is 7 her and me we readed the books together and we love the books so much we are reading them over and over again !! We are hooked !! ;o)
I think to represent the book correctly the film should be at least 3 hours long a true twilight fan wouldn't want any of the important bits to be missed and will be happy with how long it is i really cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The LOTRs Fellowship of the Ring was 3 hours, The Return of the King was 3.5 hours. I'm thinking New Moon should be 3 hours, Eclipse 3 hours and Breaking Dawn 3.5 hours! With extended scenes on all the DVDs. Plus, keep the scenes between Bella and Edward even though they're not "action" scenes - this is still, first and foremost - a love story.
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