The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 *** (2011, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner) – Classic Movie Review 3835

The final episode of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is split into two movies, as director Bill Condon’s 2011 Part 1 story The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 begins with Kristen Stewart’s Bella now a vampire learning to use her new capabilities.

Bella and Robert Pattinson’s Edward are now expecting parents and their unborn child threatens the Wolf Pack and the townsfolk of Forks.

It runs 117 minutes, or 125 minutes in the extended edition.

It is filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Magen’s Bay, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; as well as Squamish, Vancouver and Ucluelet, all three in British Columbia, Canada

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is made by Summit Entertainment, Sunswept Entertainment, TSBD Canada Productions, TSBD Louisiana, TSBD Productions, Temple Hill Entertainment, Total Entertainment and Zohar International, and released by Summit Entertainment (US) and Entertainment One (UK).

It was made on a fairly high budget of $110,000,000, but was immensely lucrative, taking  $281,287,133, in the US and $712,171,856 worldwide. 

Carter Burwell, composer for Twilight (2008), had worked with director Bill Condon before and returned to the franchise to score this movie and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012).

It is preceded by Twilight (2008), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010).

It is followed by The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012).

Taylor Lautner was paid $12,500,000 plus 7.5 per cent of the gross for both The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and also again for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

He recalls: ‘Breaking Dawn caught me by surprise. I think I originally heard what happened through somebody who had already read it, and I didn’t believe them. I thought they were joking and then when I read the book, I was like, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”‘

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3835

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