HitFix has a great article about Summit’s decision to have the release date in November. It talks about the money Eclipse is (not) making, despite it being the best film so far as the main reason why BD2 won’t be a summer release. But read for yourselves

It appears the summer release experiment for “The Twilight Saga” was not as successful as Summit Entertainment had hoped.  The studio announced today that “Breaking Dawn, Pt. 2″ will be released on Nov. 16, 2012.  That’s a full year after the debut of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1″ on Nov. 18, 2011.

After releasing both “Twilight” and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in November of 2008 and 2009, Summit made the seemingly smart move of moving “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” to a June 30, 2010 release date.  This was because of both fervent interest from the franchise’s fanbase and the expectation that opening in the summer would allow for a larger gross due to the fact many teenagers would be out of school and able to see the film numerous times during the work week.  Instead, “Eclipse” has grossed less than the previous chapter, “New Moon,” with only $288.1 million domestic and a total of $644.8 million worldwide so far.  “New Moon” ended up with $296 million domestic and $709 million worldwide and it’s hard to see “Eclipse” matching that total as its grosses have slowed considerably.  Considering “Eclipse” received universally better reviews than the previous two chapters and was the most action packed (i.e., male friendly) of the series this has to be something of a disappointment for Summit.  Granted, there is no need to shed any tears as the studio and series creator Stephenie Meyer are still swimming in profits as the picture only cost $65 million.

In hindsight, however, the shouldn’t have come as that much of a shock even if it seems to go against conventional wisdom.  The “Harry Potter” series has also released a number of chapters during the summer months and found mixed results.  After the first two installments debuted in Nov. of 2001 and 2002 respectively, 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” debuted in June and is actually the worst performing picture in the franchise with just $249.4 million.  “The Order of the Phoenix” and “The Half-Blood Prince” have performed much better with their July releases, but some of that can be credited to increased ticket prices as well as IMAX ticket costs.  It’s somewhat telling “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1″ will open in Nov. of this year.

As for “Breaking Dawn,” production is expected to begin this Nov. with shooting split between Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Vancouver, British Colubmia.  Oscar winner Bill Condon is at the helm and the entire cast will return including the trifecta of Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

Related posts:

1. HitFix confirms “Breaking Dawn” Release Date
2. ‘Breaking Dawn’ Part Two Release Date Not Set For Summer 2012
3. With a yearlong gap between films, ‘Breaking Dawn’ waits until dusk
4. MTV: Why ‘Breaking Dawn, Part 2′ Is Set For Fall 2012, Not Summer
5. How Will 1 1/2 Year Wait for Breaking Dawn Affect the Twilight Fandom??

in a way i am very angry that we have to wait another year for part 2 to come out but i very much understand. because eclipse got alot of money during the summer but after 1 week it went down very quickly. so though i am very mad i still understand the business decision. i guess fall is alot better than the summer.

Well one Its doing a lot of money in Barrow-UK’s cinema and even though im slightly annoyed at the fact it will be out in 2012 but dont forget summer is busy people dont always want to see something in the movies they are on holidays enjoying fun i loved Eclipse but you cant always make judgements till you actually know all the facts. And not only in UK Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows Part 1 is coming out in november and next year the last one in July thats why Eclipse didnt go in the fall and went in the summer!