TWILIGHT, the vampire-romance series that spawned five blockbuster movies and captured the hearts of brooding teenagers worldwide, is coming to TV.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. is developing the series — based on the young-adult books by Stephenie Meyer — for television, according to a person familiar with the matter. But plans are in the very early stages and haven’t been finalized, said the person, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the plans. Shares of Lions Gate jumped more than 6% to $11.49 in New York on Wednesday.
News of a potential Twilight series follows plans by Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. to create a TV show based on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga, which was previously made into eight movies. It underscores the pressure studios are facing to squeeze as much revenue as possible from intellectual-property rights they own, especially if they’ve already generated billions of dollars from the franchises.
The five Twilight movies — the first of which was released in 2008 — grossed $3.3 billion worldwide, earned stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart a legion of die-hard fans and turned the series into a cultural touchstone for a generation of young moviegoers.
As for Lions Gate, it has struggled to find a buyer and has lost more than 30% of its market value since the start of 2022, even though it boasts a library of almost 20,000 titles, including The Hunger Games. It recently got a reprieve with the success of John Wick: Chapter 4, the latest installment in action-movie series starring Keanu Reeves. —Bloomberg
