“Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I” is the second movie in just a few years to be the first entry of two in the final installment of a long running movie series. Did you catch all that? Kind of confusing, no?
The finale of both the series about sparkling vampires and British wizards were split into two distinct and separate movies. Nobody knows what will come of the second part of the finale of the “Twilight” series, but all indications point to an enormous box office haul. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ was such a critical and commercial success that it may well receive serious consideration in the race for Best Picture at the Oscars. The extension of the nominations beyond the traditional five has somewhat watered down the honor, but there is much to the speculation that David Yates’ thrilling cap to Harry Potter’s showdown with Voldemort will be among the top five vote collectors anyway.
Does that mean that the box office success of “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II” is likely to earn that series a measure of critical respect come Oscar time? Doubtful. In the first place, David Yates has proven himself to be one of the most interesting directors in films today. The Harry Potter films were able to cross gender and age barriers to bring in a variety of audience members whereas “Twilight” still needs to prove that it would not be dead in the water were it not for young women and girls in their teens and younger. The box office success of “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I” indicates that quite a few of those young women rushed to the theater to enjoy their vamps and wolves and the fight over Bella. The real test will be whether “Breaking Dawn, Part I” can show staying power in its second week and beyond. All that fun taking place with Voldemort and the Deathly Hallows had what used to be called “legs.” Few films today have or even require legs because the average movie today makes the bulk of its money during its opening weekend and maybe weekend number two. A movie still in the top five after a month or two is almost unheard of these days, whereas it was the common route toward blockbuster status as few as twenty-five years ago.
Still, one must also keep in mind that the ability for “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part II” to cap the series with an Oscar nod is also up to the competition. And the competition for those expanded slots seems to be getting less and less intense so, who knows, maybe all those young women will be celebrating and tuning into the Oscar telecast in a year or two.
For more from Timothy Sexton, check out:
The Poseur’s Guide to Vampires
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Christabel”: Vampires and Transsexualism
Sexy Female Vampire Movies