Opens Nov. 20
Boy meets girl; boy is vampire; girl loves him all the more for his disability or gift and for the rapture she feels risking her life to be with him. A teen girl's heart must beat inside a lot of moviegoers, because Twilight, the first film from Stephenie Meyer's tetralogy, earned $384 million — 10 times its budget — in theaters worldwide. Summit Films, the little indie with a great big hit on its hands, instantly green-lighted three sequels. New Moon opens just before Thanksgiving, Eclipse next summer. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson return as Bella and Edward, with Taylor Lautner as Bella's mysterious friend Jacob. Chris Weitz (About a Boy, The Golden Compass) steps in as director, but that doesn't matter nearly as much as the movie's fidelity to the book and its dead-serious take on adolescent passion. With werewolves added to the vampire mix, New Moon should be a howling success.