Lionsgate is, according to co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger, currently going through something of a “sea change.” Chatting to Screen Daily, the executive and all-round industry stalwart – Wachsberger has been operating in the movie business for over 30 years – spoke broadly about the company’s stance in the here and now, along with the potential future of its undisputed crowd jewel, Twilight.
Following five YA tentpoles in as many years, Lionsgate officially retired its lucrative film series – one based on Stephenie Meyer’s literary juggernaut – with the launch of Breaking Dawn – Part 2. That was four years ago and since then, Twihards have quietly hung on to the hope that Bella and the Cullen clan would return to the big screen at some point down the line.
And though the franchise’s future is still largely uncertain, when pressed on the matter, Wachsberger admitted that there’s “a possibility” that Lionsgate could one day revive the dormant series for a new generation, but not without the blessing of Meyer.
“It’s a possibility,” Lionsgate co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger told Screen Daily. “Not a certainty but it’s a possibility. It’s about Stephenie [novelist Stephenie Meyer]. If she wants to tell a story related to those characters we’re here for her.”
It may not have matched the lofty heights of, say, Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter film franchise, but at $3 billion worldwide, Twilight‘s international haul is not to be baulked at. This, coupled with the fact that Warner is circling back to the well in time for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – a sub-series that looks set to spawn a trilogy of its own – and new entries in Lionsgate’s angst-ridden series doesn’t seem to be out of the question.
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