The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2 Information

| starring = Kristen Stewart
Robert Pattinson
Taylor Lautner
Dakota Fanning | music = Carter Burwell | cinematography = Guillermo Navarro | editing = Virginia Katz
Ian Slater | studio = Summit Entertainment
Temple Hill
Sunswept Entertainment | distributor = Lionsgate | released = | runtime = 116 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $120,000,000 | gross = $829,224,737 }} The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 2 (commonly referred to as Breaking Dawn " Part 2) is a 2012 American romantic fantasy film directed by Bill Condon and based on the novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. The second part of a two-part film forms the fifth and final installment in the series The Twilight Saga, and is the conclusion of the 2011 film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 1. All three main cast members, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprise their roles, with Mackenzie Foy portraying Renesmee. Part 2 was released on November 16, 2012, by Lionsgate in the United States, in consequence of the merger between Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment.

The film (101 days in release) was a box-office success, grossing over $829 million worldwide, becoming the 34th highest-grossing film, the 6th highest-grossing film of 2012 and the highest-grossing film of the Twilight series. However, the film received mainly negative critical reception, but rated the highest out of the entire series.

Plot

Bella awakens from her transformation from human to vampire, not only keenly aware of her new abilities, but also of changes within the coven as Jacob has imprinted on her child, Renesmee. It also appears that Bella's father, Charlie, has been attempting to contact the Cullens for updates on Bella's illness. They intend to tell him she didn't survive, which requires that they move out of Forks, Washington to protect their identities. Jacob, desperate not to lose Renesmee, tells Charlie that his daughter is in fact alive and well, and explains that Bella has had to change in order to survive. He morphs into a wolf, revealing his tribe's shape-shifting power, but does not tell Charlie about vampires, stating that Bella just had to change into something "other".

Several months pass uneventfully, with Carlisle monitoring Renesmee's rapid growth with Bella, Edward, Jacob and the rest of the Cullen family worrying what will become of her with such a rapid growth rate. On an outing in the woods, a bitter Irina sees Renesmee from a distance, and believes her to be an immortal child. Immortal children were those who were frozen in childhood, and because they could not be trained nor restrained, they destroyed entire villages. They were eventually executed, as were the parents who created them, and the creation of such children outlawed. Irina goes to the Volturi to report what she has seen to them.

Alice sees the Volturi and Irina coming to kill the Cullens, and leaves with Jasper the next day, instructing the others to gather as many witnesses as they can that can testify that Renesmee is not an immortal. They must gather the witnesses before the snow covers the ground, because that is when the Volturi will come. The Cullens begin to summon witnesses, such as the Denali family. One of the Denali, Eleazar, later encounters that Bella has a special ability: a powerful mental shield, which she can extend to protect others from mental attacks like those from Jane and Alec, with practice.

As some of their potential witnesses are attacked and prevented from supporting the Cullens, Carlisle and Edward realize they may have to fight the Volturi, despite their desire to avoid this. Some witnesses hesitate, but ultimately agree to stand with them in battle.

The Volturi arrive, led by Aro, who is eager to obtain the gifted members of the Cullen coven as part of his guard. Aro is allowed to touch Renesmee, and is convinced that she is not an immortal child. Irina is brought forth and she takes full responsibility of her mistake, leading to her immediate death. Her sisters are tempted into picking a fight, but are restrained. Although the blunder has been settled, Aro still insists that Renesmee may pose a risk in the future. Alice and Jasper appear to attest to the existence of other children like Renesmee, and Alice shows Aro a vision of the future. In the vision, Aro refuses to change his decision and a battle ensues, during which both sides undergo heavy casualties, with most of the Volturi dying. The identifiable major characters who die in the vision are (for the Cullens) Carlisle, Jasper, Seth, Leah and (for the Volturi) Aro, Jane, Alec, Caius, Marcus, Demetri and Felix. After the vision ends, Alice reveals to Aro that the vision will come to pass if Aro maintains his pursuit of Renesmee. Two more witnesses then arrive: a fully grown vampire-human hybrid and his aunt who have been living peacefully and undetected for 150 years, proving Renesmee is not a threat. (In a change from the novel, his three hybrid half-sisters and the gender differences in vampiric qualities of hybrids are not mentioned) For the sake of self-preservation, Aro orders his guards to retreat but not without giving one final glance to Alice and Bella.

Back at the Cullen home, Alice glimpses into the future, seeing Edward and Bella together with Jacob and a fully matured Renesmee. Edward reads Alice's mind and feels happy that Renesmee has Jacob to protect her. Alone in the meadow, Bella finally allows Edward a peek into her thoughts. As the two share a kiss, their story closes as a book revealing the final line, "And then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever."

Cast

Production

Development

After confirming one film, Summit Entertainment had been keeping their eye on a fifth installment. In May 2010, Billy Burke and Peter Facinelli were the only cast actors who were confirmed for both parts of Breaking Dawn, while other cast members such as Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz were still in negotiations for a second part. If the actors holding Summit back from making an official announcement did not reach an agreement with them, the studio would not have minded recasting their roles, as was done in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse with Bryce Dallas Howard's character, Victoria. However, in June 2010, Summit officially confirmed that a two-part adaptation of the fourth book would start production and it was made clear that all major actors, including the three lead roles, the Cullen family, and Charlie Swan, would return for both parts.

Pre-production

By August 2009, Rosenberg said that the scripts for Part 1 and 2 were 75 to 85 percent completed. She found the greatest challenge in writing the scripts to be the final sequence of Part 2: "The final battle sequence is a big challenge because it lasts 25 pages", she said. "It's almost an entire three-act story in and of itself. You have to track [keep it all in one setting] hundreds of characters. It's an enormous challenge to choreograph on the page and for Bill [Condon] to choreograph on the stage." She had written various drafts of the scene but, at that, hadn't revised or discussed them with Condon yet. She said, "That's the next big hurdle to sit down with the stunt coordinator and create the ballet. It's a lot of work. I'm exhausted, but we're intent on making them the best scripts yet." Godfrey called Part 2 "an action film in terms of life-and-death stakes" and said that in Part 1 "there are the pangs of newlywed tension that occur that are relatable even in a fantasy film. Marriage is not quite the experience that they thought it was." Condon thought of Part 1 "as a real companion piece to Catherine Hardwicke's movie". Condon explains, "Like, everything that got set up there gets resolved here. I think you'll find that there are stylistic and other nods to that film."

Godfrey considered releasing the second film in 3D to differentiate between the time before and after Bella becomes a vampire, an idea originally proposed for Eclipse, but said that the decision is up to Condon. However, he said that if the second film were to be released in 3D, he would like to shoot it with the proper equipment in "real" 3D as was done with Avatar (2009), not convert it into 3D in post-production as was done with Clash of the Titans (2010). However, it was confirmed on February 12, 2012 that Part 2 would not be filmed in 3D.

Filming

Filming started on November 1, 2010 and wrapped, for most of the cast, on April 15, 2011, ending the franchise's three years of production since March 2008. Filming was shot on location in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Vancouver, British Columbia; and at the Raleigh Studios in Baton Rouge.

On the subject of the final day and her final moment as Bella, Stewart stated, "After that scene, my true final scene, I felt like I could shoot up into the night sky and every pore of my body would shoot light. I felt lighter than I've ever felt in my life." Pattinson thought the day was "amazing" and commented, "I then asked myself why we didn't do this in those four years. Every difficult moment just vanished."

In April 2012, the crew and cast, including Pattinson and Stewart, returned for reshoots to pick up some additional shots for technical work with some of the cast and stunt actors. However, these re-shoots did not include any new scenes or dialogue.

Special effects

Tippett Studio first began working on the CGI (computer-generated imagery) wolves in February 2009 for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and the look of the creatures has evolved, becoming more photo real over the course of the saga, with the input of three different directors. "It's a subtle balance of just how anthropomorphic these wolves are," says Eric Leven. "Bill (Condon) wanted to make sure that we had a sense of the human or the shape shifter in there. Finding that balance of how much of a human performance versus an animal performance was important for Bill."

Leven adds, "Bill has always treated the wolves as characters and never as computer generated things, and directs them in the same way he'd direct any actor. He would always give us direction like Sam should be angrier. It's the best way to work. His treating these creatures as characters, instead of just computer bits, was really great."

"Because we've been working on this franchise for such a prolonged period of time, we've been able to improve the look from show to show," comments Phil Tippett. "Wolves generally are pretty darn clean and since Bill wanted the wolves rangier, that means a lot more fur matting and clumping, like they've lived out in the woods. We edged towards something a bit more feral."

"However, there is also a balance between look and technology," adds Tippett. "The body count of the wolves escalates and because we're adding a great deal more hair to get the right texture, that fur really ups the rendering time. We've gone from four wolves to eight to twelve, to sixteen in Part 2. So we have to be very careful about that balance, because it takes hundreds of hours to render each wolf."

Music

It was revealed in January 2012 that the soundtrack for Part 2 had already started production. Confirmed for the soundtrack in advance were "Heart of Stone" by Iko, which plays when Edward and Bella are talking in the cottage after finding Alice's note and "Where I Come From" by Passion Pit, which will play when Bella wakes up from her transformation. The lead single from the soundtrack is "The Forgotten", performed by the American rock band Green Day. "A Thousand Years, Pt. 2" by the American singer Christina Perri is also featured on the soundtrack album.

Carter Burwell, the composer of Twilight and Breaking Dawn: Part 1, returned to score the final installment of the series. In later announcements, Burwell confirmed that the score for the film was complete. "The movie basically upholds the final installment with a score that has the same jungle-music feeling The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 1 brought us," Burwell affirmed. "The music pieces that take place in the catalytic final battle will be very much like the nineteenth song in the previous movie's score, 'It's Renesmee' and the twenty-fourth, 'You Kill Her You Kill Me', which were ,if not the most, one of the boldest pieces in my career. I will tease anything but I recommend for the fans to listen to 'A Kick in the Head', 'Exacueret Nostri Dentes in Filia' and 'Aro's End' if you want to have goosebumps for the rest of your life"

Reaction

Box office

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 2 has earned $292,324,737 in North America and $536,900,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $829,224,737. The film is now the 34th highest-grossing film and 6th highest-grossing film of 2012, also the highest-grossing film of the Twilight series. It had a $340.9 million worldwide opening, which was the eighth-largest ever, the largest for the Twilight franchise and the largest for a film released outside the summer period.

In North America, the film grossed $30.4 million in Thursday night and midnight showings, achieving the third highest midnight gross and highest midnight gross of the franchise. Breaking Dawn " Part 2 made an $71.2 million on its opening day, which is the sixth highest opening and single day gross as well as the third highest opening and single day gross of the franchise. For its opening weekend, the movie earned $141.1 million, which is the eighth highest-grossing opening weekend, the second highest-grossing one of the franchise, the second largest November opening and the fourth largest 2012 opening. It retained first place in its second weekend by dropping 69.1% with a gross of $43.6 million over the three day weekend and made a total of $64.4 million over the 5-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend. In its third weekend, Breaking Dawn Part " 2 held onto the No. 1 spot again by dropping 60.1% and grossing $17.4 million. It has so far become the third highest-grossing film of the franchise behind Eclipse and New Moon.

Outside North America, the film opened on Wednesday, November 14, 2012 in 6 countries earning $13.8 million. By Thursday, it had opened in 37 territories, earning $38.8 million. In all territories it opened with similar or higher earnings than its immediate predecessor. It also opened on 24 more territories on Friday for a total of 61. Through Sunday, it scored a series-best $199.5 million opening from 61 territories on 12,812 screens. This is the eighth-largest opening outside North America and the largest 2012 opening. IMAX showings generated $3 million from 82 locations. The film's highest-grossing markets were the UK, Ireland and Malta ($24.4 million), Russia and the CIS ($20.3 million), and Brazil ($19.0 million). In Spain, it set a 3-day opening-weekend record with $11.8 million.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics, but the reviews were much more favorable than those of its predecessor. At Rotten Tomatoes the film currently holds a 48% rotten rating, based on 174 reviews with the consensus stating: "It is the most enjoyable chapter in The Twilight Saga, but that's not enough to make Breaking Dawn Part 2 worth watching for filmgoers who don't already count themselves among the franchise converts." It did receive a positive reaction from the RT Community, giving it a fresh rating between "76%" and "88%" The majority of the fan base and average reviewer gave it a solid, "A" on sites like Fandango. At Metacritic it holds a score of 52 out of 100, based on 31 reviews. The majority of praise from both fans and critics went towards the ending sequence, Michael Sheen's performance as the Volturi leader Aro and Lee Pace's performance as vampire Garrett.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The final installment of the immortal Bella/Edward romance will give its breathlessly awaiting international audience just what it wants". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said, "Breaking Dawn " Part 2 starts off slow but gathers momentum, and that's because, with Bella and Edward united against the Volturi, the picture has a real threat". Sara Stewart of the New York Post wrote, "Finally, someone took the source material at its terribly written word and stopped treating the whole affair so seriously". Justin Chang of Variety praised the performance of Stewart by saying, "No longer a mopey, lower-lip-biting emo girl, this Bella is twitchy, feral, formidable and fully energized, a goddess even among her exalted bloodsucker brethren". Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said, "Despite the slow start Mr. Condon closes the series in fine, smooth style. He gives fans all the lovely flowers, conditioned hair and lightly erotic, dreamy kisses they deserve".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "its audience, which takes these films very seriously indeed, will drink deeply of its blood. The sensational closing sequence cannot be accused of leaving a single loophole, not even some those we didn't know were there". However, he concluded by saying, ""Breaking Dawn, Part 2" must be one of the more serious entries in any major movie franchise... it bit the bullet, and I imagine fans will be pleased." Helen O'Hara of Empire gave the film a mixed review and said, "Fans will be left on a high; other viewers will be confused but generally entertained by a saga whose romance is matched only by its weirdness".

Home media

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray, on March 2, 2013.

Awards and Nominations

• 2013 " Kids Choice Awards Nomination " Favourite Movie Actress " Kristen Stewart
• 2013 " Kids Choice Awards Nomination " Favourite Female Buttkicker " Kristen Stewart
• 2013 " Peoples Choice Awards " Favourite Movie Fan Following " Twihards
• 2013 " MTV:Movie Awards Nomination " Best shirtless performance " Taylor Lautner
• 2013 " 1st Annual Fonie Awards " Most Extreme Role Adjustment,The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 2 " Kristen Stewart
• 2013 " UK Kids Choice Awards Nomination " Favourite English Actor " Robert Pattinson
• 2013 " UK Kids Choice Awards Nomination " Favourite Movie Actress " Kristen Stewart
• 2013 " UK Kids Choice Awards Nomination " Favourite Female Buttkicker,The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn " Part 2 " Kristen Stewart
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Picture
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Actress " Kristen Stewart
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Supporting Actor " Taylor Lautner
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Screen Couple " Mackenzie Foy and Taylor Lautner
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Director " Bill Condon
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards " Worst Screen Ensemble " The entire cast of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn " Part 2
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards Nomination " Worst Actor " Robert Pattinson
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards Nomination " Worst Supporting Actress " Ashley Greene
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards Nomination " Worst Screen Couple " Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
• 2013 " 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards Nomination " Worst Screenplay " screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg and Stephenie Meyer, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer
• 2013 - Virgin Media Awards- Hottest Movie Actor - Robert Pattinson
• 2013 - Richard Attenborough Film Awards - Best British Performance of the Year - Robert Pattinson
• 2013 - Empire Cinema Alternative Movie Awards - Best On-Screen Couple - Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
• 2013 - Empire Cinema Alternative Movie Awards - Best On-Screen Kiss - Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
• 2013 - Kids Choice Awards - Favourite Movie Actress - Kristen Stewart
• 2013 - Kids Choice Awards - Favourite Female Buttkicker,The Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn 2 and Snow White and the Huntsman - Kristen Stewart