Twilight Continues

With anticipation of the upcoming Twilight movie already building to an overwhelming fervor, it's only natural that the rest of the books in the Stephenie Meyer series start considering their future on the silver screen. The movie's release is just seven days away now, and today we find out that Summit Entertainment has started the development process for the remaining three books in the series--"New Moon," "Eclipse," and "Breaking Dawn." The studio has acquired the rights to the final three installments and hired Melissa Rosenberg (who also penned the first film) to write at least the next two. A screenwriter for "Breaking Dawn" has yet to be assigned (Does anybody else find that a little strange? Really? You hired her for the first three but you're holding off on signing her on for the fourth? For what? If she was shitty, why would you hand her the next two pieces to a potential blockbuster franchise, and if she's good, why keep her off the fourth? I don't get it.).

Rosenberg has an interesting resumé. She's done some varied work in TV, including stuff like "Birds of Prey," "The O.C.," and "Love Monkey," as well as written another hit for Summit Entertainment, Step Up. Though these projects may not seem particularly impressive, what I find most promising about her is the fact that she's a writer-producer on the Showtime series Dexter, arguably one of the five best shows on TV right now. Of course, Twilight's target demographic being what it is means she likely won't have the same kind of freedom she enjoys writing for everyone's favorite serial killer, but the two properties share a similar darkness that I hope she can adequately tap into as we move deeper into the quadrilogy. If anything, I just hope the series doesn't become recyclable teenaged fluff with a vampiric twist (though for all I know, it could already be too late for that). Anyway, I remain cautiously apathetic about this project and its inevitable sequels. We'll see if that changes in the coming week.