The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is a 2010 American romantic fantasy film directed by David Slade. It was written by Melissa Rosenberg and was adapted from Stephenie Meyer's 2007 novel Eclipse.[5] The sequel to The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), it is the third installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.[6] Bryce Dallas Howard joins the cast as returning character Victoria, who was previously portrayed by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two films.
This article is about the film. For the novel on which it is based, see Eclipse (Meyer novel).The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Eclipse
2007 novel
by Stephenie Meyer
- Art Jones
- Nancy Richardson[1]
Summit Entertainment[2]
- June 24, 2010 (Los Angeles premiere)
- June 30, 2010 (United States)
123 minutes[3]
United States[2]
English
$68 million[4]
$698.4 million[4]
Summit Entertainment announced it had greenlit the film on February 20, 2009.[7] Principal photography began on August 17, in Vancouver, Canada,[8] and finished on October 31, with post-production beginning early the following month.[9]
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiered in Los Angeles on June 24, and Summit Entertainment theatrically released it in the United States on June 30. It became the first The Twilight Saga film to be released in IMAX.[10][11] The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $698.4 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Critics praised the action sequences, visual effects, Dallas Howard's performance, and Shore's musical score, but criticized its pacing, most of the other performances, and the screenplay. It held the record for biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada, grossing $30.1 million, beating The Twilight Saga: New Moon until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011).[12][13] The film then scored the biggest Wednesday opening in the United States and Canada with $68.5 million, beating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).[14] The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has also become the film with the widest independent release, beating The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and the widest domestic release, playing in 4,416 theaters, beating Iron Man 2 (2010) until it was surpassed by Despicable Me 2 (2013).[15][16]
The film received two sequels, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Plot[edit]
In Seattle, Washington, the vampire Victoria attacks a human victim, Riley, so she can begin to create an army of newborns – humans newly transformed into vampires – to get her revenge on an enemy vampire, Edward Cullen, who killed her past lover.
In Forks, Edward and his human girlfriend Bella Swan discuss the complications of becoming an immortal vampire. At 18 years old, one year older than Edward when he transformed, Bella expresses her aversion to the idea of marrying so young. Edward refuses to turn her into a vampire, which she desires, until they are married, his argument being that she should have various human experiences she would otherwise miss. Adding to the turmoil, Bella's childhood friend, a werewolf named Jacob Black, confesses he is in love with her, and forcefully kisses her. Furious, she punches him and sprains her hand but forgives him later when he apologizes.
Rosalie tells Bella that she envies her and that choosing to be transformed into a vampire is the wrong choice. Rosalie says that she was raped in the streets on her last night as a human. Edward's adoptive sister, Alice Cullen, experiences visions of the future and foresees the newborn vampire army attacking Forks, led by Riley. As a result, the Cullen vampire family forges an uneasy alliance with the werewolf tribe, and they all decide to strategize and train in defense. During the training, Jasper, Alice's partner, explains to Bella that he was once part of a newborn army and hated himself but he experienced self-worth once he fell in love with Alice. Bella sees the true bond between a mated vampire pair and realizes that spending eternity with Edward is important to her, so she agrees to marry him.
Edward and Bella camp in the mountains to hide her from the bloodthirsty newborns. Jacob overhears them discussing their engagement and takes off, upset. Bella chases him and desperately asks him to kiss her, realizing she has fallen in love with him too. Edward is not upset, as Bella tells him her love for Jacob is not as strong as her love for him. When Victoria appears, Edward kills her while a werewolf kills Riley; their allies soon destroy the rest of Victoria's army, but Jacob is badly injured during the fight. The Volturi guard, which carries out vampire laws, arrives and finds the Cullens guarding a teenaged newborn who surrendered. The Volturi torture her and prepare to kill her, despite the Cullens' efforts to spare her, revealing their ruthlessness.
When the Volturi note that Bella is still human, Bella explains the date for her transformation has been set in the hopes of thwarting their desires to kill her. She visits the injured Jacob to tell him she has chosen to be with Edward, and Jacob reluctantly agrees to stop trying to come between her and Edward. Bella and Edward go to their meadow, where she tells him that she has decided to do things his way (get married, have sex, then be transformed into a vampire) and that she feels complete in his world. They decide to reveal their engagement to Bella's father.
Distribution[edit]
Marketing[edit]
On November 5, 2009, the American Film Market revealed the first poster for Eclipse.[53] In late February 2010, Summit Entertainment announced that the first trailer would be attached to the studio's own film Remember Me, which also stars Robert Pattinson. On March 10, 2010, a 10-second preview of the trailer was released online,[54] followed by the release of the full trailer the next day.[55] The trailer's release coincided with the launching of the film's official website. On March 19, 2010, The Twilight Saga: New Moon was released on DVD and Blu-ray; the Walmart Ultimate Fan Edition includes a 7-minute first look at Eclipse.[56] On March 23, the second poster for the film was released.[57] The final Eclipse trailer debuted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and in promotion for the movie, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Dakota Fanning made a guest appearance on the show May 13; the audience also viewed a version of the film.[58] On June 6, 2010, a sneak peek of the film was shown at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards; that same week, more clips and TV spots were released also.[59]
In order to tie in the lunar eclipse on June 26, 2010, Summit Entertainment hosted screenings of the first two films in The Twilight Saga film series in twelve cities throughout the United States. The event was streamed live from Philadelphia and San Diego, and included cast member appearances and special previews of Eclipse.[60]
Nordstrom and Summit Entertainment joined together to sell a fashion collection inspired by the film, as was done for the previous installment. Created by Awake Inc., the collection was based on Ashley Greene's character, Alice, and Kristen Stewart's character, Bella. The Eclipse collection became available on June 4, 2010.[61] In a similar style to its New Moon marketing, Burger King started promoting the film on Monday, June 21, 2010. Their promotion heavily focuses on the "Team Jacob vs. Team Edward" aspect of the film.[62]
Release[edit]
Tickets for Eclipse went on sale on various online movie ticket sellers on Friday, May 14, 2010.[63] The official red carpet premiere for the film was held on June 24, 2010, at the Nokia Plaza in Los Angeles.[64] An official United Kingdom premiere was held in Leicester Square, London on July 1, 2010. However, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were not present.[65]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Eclipse set a new record for the biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada in box office history, grossing $30.1 million in over 4,000 theaters.[12] The record was formerly held by the previous film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, with $26.3 million in 3,514 theaters.[12] It held the record until the summer of 2011, when it was broken by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which made $43.5 million.[74] Eclipse also had the highest midnight gross of The Twilight Saga film series until it was topped in November 2011 by its successor, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 ($30.3 million).[75] The movie also surpassed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in total grosses for a midnight screening in IMAX. Eclipse garnered more than $1 million at 192 theaters, while Revenge of the Fallen earned $959,000,[76] until it was beaten five months later by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 with $1.4 million.[77] The film grossed $68.5 million on its opening day in the United States and Canada, becoming the biggest single-day Wednesday opening over Revenge of the Fallen's $62 million,[78] and the third biggest single-day opening ever at the time.[14] As of 2011, the film has the third-highest opening-day gross of the series behind New Moon ($72.7 million) and Breaking Dawn - Part 1 ($72.0 million).[79] Furthermore, the film earned $9 million at various IMAX locations during its first week.[80]
After six days of release in the United States and Canada, the film ended Independence Day with a total of $176.4 million, including $64.8 million during its first weekend.[81] In its second weekend, the film fell 51%, a better standing than its predecessors, grossing an estimated $31.7 million.[82]
The film opened overseas with $16.2 million, beating records set by the film's predecessor in Russia with an estimated $3.9 million (since surpassed by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which earned $5 million), in Italy with an estimated $3.1 million, in the Philippines, grossing $1.2 million, and in Belgium, where it grossed an estimated $1.1 million. It is the third-best opening day ever in Italy; in the Philippines, Eclipse topped Spider-Man 3 for best opening day ever, and was the highest opening day ever in Belgium.[83] In three days, Eclipse topped the box office with $121.3 million[84] and during its first weekend it earned $71.3 million.
Overseas in its second weekend, the film grossed $70.6 million from 9,440 screens in 63 markets, a 1% drop from its first weekend. The film opened in the United Kingdom at number one, grossing $20.7 million from 523 locations (including previews), the market's biggest opening of 2010 (until Toy Story 3 surpassed it) and about $1.7 million more than The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed in its opening weekend in November 2009. The film also debuted at number one in France, grossing $13.3 million, which marks the third-largest opening in the country for a 2010 film (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1's ($20.7 million) and Alice in Wonderland's ($15.4 million). The film opened at number one in South Korea with $4.9 million.[85]
The film ended its box-office run in the US and Canada on October 21, 2010, having grossed $300.5 million, surpassing its predecessor The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which grossed $296.6 million a few months before, to become the highest-grossing film of the franchise and the highest-grossing romantic fantasy, werewolf and vampire film of all time at the American and Canadian box office.[86] It is the fourth movie of 2010 to reach $300 million and ranks 46th on the all-time chart in the US and Canada. Compared to its predecessor overseas, it has grossed $393 million against New Moon's $413.2 million. Therefore, internationally, Eclipse remains the second-highest-grossing film in the franchise with $693.6 million against New Moon's $710 million.[87] Eclipse's highest-grossing markets except the US and Canada are the UK, Ireland and Malta ($45.7 million), Germany ($33.1 million), France and the Maghreb region ($33 million), Italy ($20 million), Brazil ($30.5 million) and Australia ($28.6 million).[88]
Critical response[edit]
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 46% based on 256 reviews and a rating average of 5.4/10. The site's general consensus is that, "Stuffed with characters and overly reliant on uninspired dialogue, Eclipse won't win The Twilight Saga many new converts, despite an improved blend of romance and action fantasy."[89] Metacritic, another review aggregator, rated it a weighted average of 58/100 based on 38 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[90]
The Hollywood Reporter said the film "nails it".[91] Peter Debruge of Variety said that the film "finally feels more like the blockbuster this top-earning franchise deserves".[92] Rick Bentley of McClatchy Newspapers said the film was the best in The Twilight Saga so far, suggesting that, "The person who should be worried is Bill Condon, the director tapped for the two-part finale, Breaking Dawn. He's got a real challenge to make movies as good as Eclipse."[93] The New York Times praised David Slade's ability to make an entertaining film, calling it funny and better than its predecessors, but wrote that the acting has not improved much.[94] Giving the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, Betsey Sharkey from the Los Angeles Times praised David Slade's method of blending his previous works to form a funny movie. She stated, "Eclipse eclipse[s] its predecessors."[95] The film was also listed in 49th place by Moviefone on its list of the 50 best movies of 2010.[96]
Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel, who gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, said, "The dullness of the performances really stands out when somebody like Bryce Dallas Howard, or Anna Kendrick turn up and liven up their scenes." While calling the film "too chatty and too long", he did compliment David Slade's directing and noted that the movie will please the fans.[97] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, stating that David Slade's pacing is "everything like molasses running uphill". He also criticized the characters, the actors portraying them, the big close-ups of hand-held devices, and called Howard Shore's score "gunk".[98] Wesley Morris from the Boston Globe said, "If the first two movies were "get a room," part three is "get a therapist". He said the second and third film "repeat that discovery [in Twilight] without truly deepening it...the movies are interesting without ever being good."[99]
Geoff Berkshire of Metromix said that while "Eclipse restores some of the energy New Moon zapped out of the franchise and has enough quality performances to keep it involving", the film "isn't quite the adrenaline-charged game-changer for love story haters that its marketing might lead you to believe. The majority of the 'action' remains protracted and not especially scintillating should-we-or-shouldn't-we conversations between the central triangle."[100]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film a more positive review than for the first two films in the saga, but still felt the movie was a constant, unclever conversation between the three main characters. He criticized the "gazes" both Edward and Jacob give Bella throughout the film and said audiences unfamiliar with the saga would understand the opening or closing scenes. He gave the film 2 stars out of 4.[101] Steve Persall of the St. Peterburg Times rated the film C− and called it "just monstrously bad". He said, "Eclipse leaves the sputtering story arc in idle, with only an uneasy truce between the vampire and werewolf clans amounting to anything new".[102] The Guardian's columnist Peter Bradshaw gave the film a one-star rating in a review that lampooned Bella's continued abstinence, among other plot elements. Bradshaw, dubbing the series "The epic of the unbroken duck", wrote that "Bella Swan is starting to make Doris Day look like the nympho from hell", and concluded that "it could be time to sharpen the wooden stake."[103]