"Twilight" film franchise looks ahead

(L-R) Cast members from the film "Twilight," Robert Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart, pose for photographers at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles September 7, 2008.
REUTERS/Phil McCarten

By Steven Zeitchik

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Ahead of next Friday's release of the eagerly anticipated vampire romance "Twilight," indie studio Summit Entertainment is moving potential future installments in the franchise into the development pipeline.

The company has acquired rights to the next three novels in Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster series, "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn."

It has hired "Twilight" scribe Melissa Rosenberg, a writer/producer on Showtime's "Dexter," to adapt the first two. "Breaking Dawn," has not attached a writer.

"Twilight," which revolves around the relationship between an average teenage girl, Bella, and a vampire, Edward, in a rainy Northwest town, has been generating huge buzz ahead of its November 21 bow.

In "New Moon," Edward leaves Bella, sending Bella into a depression and a friendship with another vampire. In the third book, "Eclipse," that relationship triangle evolves, while evil empires begin to pursue Bella. "Breaking Dawn" pushes the plot further with a marriage between Bella and Edward.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter