The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is a 2010 American romantic fantasy film directed by David Slade from a screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg, based on the 2007 novel Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It is the sequel to The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) and the third installment in The Twilight Saga film series. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively. Bryce Dallas Howard joins the cast as returning character Victoria, who was previously portrayed by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two films. In the film, Bella further explores her relationships with both Jacob and Edward as the threat of an army of newborn vampires looms over the possibility of an alliance being formed between werewolves and vampires.
Summit Entertainment announced it had greenlit the film on February 20, 2009. Principal photography began on August 17, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and finished on October 31, with post-production beginning early the following month.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse premiered at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California on June 24, 2010, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 30, by Summit Entertainment. It became the first The Twilight Saga film to be released in IMAX. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $699 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Critics praised the action sequences, visual effects, Dallas Howard's performance, and Shore's musical score, but criticized its pacing, most of the other performances, and the screenplay. It held the record for biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada, grossing $30.1 million, beating The Twilight Saga: New Moon until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). The film then scored the biggest Wednesday opening in the United States and Canada with $68.5 million, beating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has also become the film with the widest independent release, beating The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and the widest domestic release, playing in 4,416 theaters, beating Iron Man 2, which released the same year until it was surpassed by Despicable Me 2 (2013).
The film received two sequels, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Plot
In Seattle, Washington, the vampire Victoria Sutherland attacks the human Riley Biers, turning him into a vampire. Thus she begins creating an army of newborn vampires to help her get revenge on Edward Cullen, who killed her lover James Witherdale.
In Forks, Edward and his human girlfriend Bella Swan discuss her desire to be turned into a vampire, but Edward wants her to stay human. He asks her to marry him, but she is reluctant, even after Edward promises to turn her into a vampire if she agrees. Bella talks with her father, Charlie, who decides to lift Bella’s house arrest if she promises to spend more time with her other friends and Jacob Black, her childhood friend and a werewolf with a strong dislike for vampires and Edward.
Edward's clairvoyant sister, Alice Cullen, foresees the newborn vampire army, led by Riley, attacking Forks. Edward's family chase Victoria through the forest, but she escapes into werewolf territory, causing an incident between the vampires and the werewolves that flares up tensions between them. Edward decides to keep all this a secret from Bella.
At school, Edward and Jacob have a tense meeting, where Jacob reveals the incident to Bella. She is upset with Edward for keeping things from her, so she leaves with Jacob, and starts spending more time with him and his tribe. Jacob eventually confesses his love to her. She tells him she is in love with Edward, but he refuses to believe it, and kisses her. She angrily punches him, but hurts her hand on his hard werewolf body. Later, Jacob apologizes for his behavior, and Bella forgives him.
The Cullens forge an uneasy alliance with the werewolf tribe to defend against Victoria's oncoming attack, and train together. During the training, Alice's partner, Jasper Hale, tells Bella that he was once part of a newborn army and hated himself, but eventually experienced happiness once he fell in love with Alice.
Bella and Edward spend the night alone in his family home and, afraid how her feelings will change after being turned into a vampire, she agrees to marry him if he agrees to have sex with her. The two make out, but Edward finds it too dangerous, and explains that he wants to wait until marriage, after which he shows Bella his mother's ring and asks her to marry him, and she says yes.
They use Bella's blood to bait the newborn vampire army, and Edward and Bella camp in the mountains away from the fight to keep her safe. They discuss their engagement, which Jacob overhears, after which he storms off. Bella chases Jacob and desperately asks him to kiss her, which he does. Bella explains to Edward that although she loves Jacob, her love for Edward is stronger.
They get interrupted when Victoria and her army attack. The Cullen family together with the werewolves fend off the attack, with Edward killing Victoria, but Jacob gets badly injured during the fight. After the werewolves carry Jacob to safety, the Volturi guard, who carry out vampire laws, arrive and find the Cullens guarding Bree Tanner, one of the newborns whom Victoria created, who surrendered.
The Volturi torture and interrogate Bree, despite the Cullens' protests. When the Volturi note that Bella is still human, against their agreement, she explains the date for her transformation has been set. The leader of the Volturi guard sends one of her subordinates to kill Bree, with the Cullens too afraid to intervene. Afterwards, Bella visits the injured Jacob to tell him she has chosen to be with Edward, and he reluctantly accepts her decision.
Bella and Edward discuss their upcoming wedding in their meadow. Edward questions why she is doing this, and Bella explains that she feels more herself in Edward's world and wants to be connected to him, and they plan to reveal their engagement to Bella's father.
Cast
Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan:An 18-year-old who finds herself surrounded by danger and targeted by the vengeful vampire Victoria. In the meantime, she must choose between her love for vampire Edward Cullen and her friendship with werewolf Jacob Black. Edward had proposed to Bella in the previous film and she says "yes" in this film, ultimately choosing him over Jacob. Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen:Bella's vampire boyfriend who is capable of reading minds, except for Bella's. In New Moon, Edward left Bella, and now he has returned to try to stay a part of her life. Edward had proposed to Bella in the previous film and she says "yes" in this film. Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black:A werewolf in whom Bella found solace during Edward's absence in New Moon. Now, Edward has returned to Bella's life permanently, and Jacob is looking for ways to prove that he is a better choice for her. He is heartbroken and furious when he finds out Bella is marrying Edward but is unable to do anything to stop her. Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria Sutherland: A vengeful vampire who wants to kill Bella to avenge her mate, James Witherdale, whom she supposes to be killed by Edward in the first Twilight film. She meets her end at the hands of Edward when Bella cuts herself on purpose to distract her. Billy Burke as Charlie Swan: Bella's father and Forks's Chief of Police. Burke admits he has not read the Twilight books, saying, "We can't make the book, we're making the movie", and that he works from the scripts. Dakota Fanning as Jane: A loyal servant to the Volturi and Alec's twin sister. Peter Facinelli as Carlisle Cullen:A compassionate doctor who acts as a father figure to the Cullen coven. He turned each member of the Cullen family into vampires other than Alice (who was turned by an unknown vampire) and Jasper (who was turned by a Spanish vampire and his former love, Maria). Elizabeth Reaser as Esme Cullen: A loving mother figure to the Cullen coven and the wife of Carlisle. Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale: A Civil War fighter who was turned into a vampire to train newborns. He's also a member of the Cullen coven who trains his family to fight newborn vampires and can feel, control, and manipulate emotions. Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen: The strongest member of the Cullen family, who provides comic relief. Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen:A member of the Cullen family who can see "subjective" visions of the future and who is close friends with Bella. Being Jasper's mate, she helps him control his thirst for blood and is also the reason why he stays with the Cullen family. Alice's vision of the Seattle army helped the Cullen coven ally themselves with the Quileute pack and come up with a plan to protect Bella from Victoria. Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale: One of the most beautiful vampires in the world, according to Bella. She was raped by her fiancé and left to die before she became a vampire. She also feels that Bella is making a mistake for choosing to live the life of a vampire before she could live a full human life. Anna Kendrick as Jessica Stanley: One of Bellas friends in Forks. Michael Welch as Mike Newton: One of Bella's friends in Forks. Mike has a crush on Bella, and does not like Edward. Justin Chon as Eric Yorkie: Bella's friend and Angela's boyfriend. Christian Serratos as Angela Weber: Bella's shy but caring friend. Xavier Samuel as Riley Biers: The one Victoria changed to help her form an army of newborn vampires. Sarah Clarke as Renée Dwyer: Bella's mother who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, with her husband Phil. Gil Birmingham as Billy Black: A Quileute elder and Jacob's physically disabled father.
Kiowa Gordon as Embry Call Tyson Houseman as Quil Ateara Bronson Pelletier as Jared Cameron Alex Meraz as Paul Lahote Julia Jones as Leah Clearwater: Seth's older sister and the only female werewolf in existence. Tinsel Korey as Emily Young: Sam's imprinted fiancée whom he once hurt unintentionally. Chaske Spencer as Sam Uley: Alpha of the Wolf Pack. Booboo Stewart as Seth Clearwater: Leah's younger brother and Jacob's friend. Jodelle Ferland as Bree Tanner: A newborn vampire created to fight the Cullens, in the newborn army. She is executed by the Volturi at the end of the film. Jack Huston as Royce King II: Rosalie's ex-fiancé who drunkenly beat her, resulting in Rosalie's transformation, which led her to kill him afterwards. Daniel Cudmore as Felix: A loyal servant to the Volturi who is one of their guards. He executes Bree Tanner at the end of the film. Cameron Bright as Alec: A loyal servant to the Volturi and Jane's twin brother. Charlie Bewley as Demetri: A Volturi guard who is a gifted tracker. Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria (uncredited): The one that turns Jasper into a vampire.
Production Development
In early November 2008, Summit Entertainment obtained the film adaptation rights to the remaining novels in the Twilight book series, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. On February 20, 2009, Summit confirmed that they would begin working on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. On the same day, it was announced that since The Twilight Saga: New Moon director Chris Weitz would be in post-production for New Moon when Eclipse began shooting, he would not be directing the third film. Instead, the film would be helmed by director David Slade. David Slade dove right into the project, interviewing cast members individually two to three times to discuss characters and the plot.
Casting