The Twilight Saga: New Moon, commonly referred to as New Moon, is a 2009 American romantic fantasy film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2006 novel New Moon. It is the second film in The Twilight Saga film series and is the sequel to 2008's Twilight. Summit Entertainment greenlit the sequel in late November 2008, following the early success of Twilight. Directed by Chris Weitz, the film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively. Melissa Rosenberg, who handed in a draft of the film script during the opening weekend of Twilight, returned as screenwriter for New Moon as well.
Filming began in Vancouver in late March 2009, and in Montepulciano, Italy in late May 2009. The film was released on November 20, 2009 in most countries, and set domestic box office records as the biggest midnight screening, grossing $26.3 million, which was superseded by its sequel, Eclipse. This led to the highest single day, domestic gross on an opening day, with $72.7 million, until it was beaten in 2011 by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which made $91.1 million, by nearly $20 million. Furthermore, New Moon opened with the third highest domestic opening weekend since 2002 grossing a total of $142,839,137. The film also became the highest-grossing film released by Summit Entertainment, and was the widest independent release, playing in over 4,100 theaters in its theatrical run, until it was surpassed by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
New Moon was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on March 20, 2010 through midnight release parties. As of July 2012, $184,916,451 in North American DVD sales, selling more than 8,835,501 units, 4 million of which were sold within its first weekend, beating Twilight's 3.8 million units sold in its first two days. The film was well received by fans, but received generally negative reviews from critics.
