Catherine Hardwicke Will Not Be Directing ‘New Moon’

Summit Entertainment and Catherine Hardwicke jointly announced Sunday that she would not be returning on directing duties for the sequel to ‘Twilight’, ‘New Moon’. Â  The production companies idea that ‘New Moon’ would be fast-tracked to allow for a 2009 or early 2010 release date did not meet with Hardwicke’s required prep time to maker her vision of the film a reality. Â  The studio is looking for a new director.

“I am sorry that due to timing I will not have the opportunity to direct ‘New Moon,'” said Hardwicke. “Directing ‘Twilight’ has been one of the great experiences of my life, and I am grateful to the fans for their passionate support of the film. I wish everyone at Summit the best with the sequel– it is a great story.”

“Catherine did an incredible job in helping us to launch the ‘Twilight’ franchise and we thank her for all of her efforts and we very much hope to work with her on future Summit projects,” said Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Production. “We as a studio have a mandate to bring the next installment in the franchise to the big screen in a timely fashion so that fans can get more of Edward, Bella and all of the characters that Stephenie Meyer has created. We are able to pursue an aggressive time frame as we have the luxury of only adapting the novels into screenplays as opposed to having to create a storyline from scratch.”

What do you think? Â  Should Summit push ‘New Moon’ out so quickly? Â  Should Hardwicke have sucked it up and made the movie anyway? Â  Who should replace her in the director’s chair? Â  Let us know by commenting below!

Source: Coming Soon