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The deal of the century was brokered last night while you were sleeping. There have been rumblings in the industry for the last couple of months that one of the parties in question had been sniffing around the other... call us cynical, but we felt like it could never happen.
Well hands up on this one. We got it totally wrong. Last night at around 11:30pm Pacific, in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in L.A., two teen fiction powerhouses made the kind of historic accord that happens once every 100 years.
Stephenie Meyer, the supernatural romantic genius behind the Twilight books had asked meet and to talk shop with Suzanne Collins, the dystopian romantic guru. What happened sent ripples through the industry and lit up Facebook and Twitter like no one could have expected. The deal went down like this: Collins and Meyer will spend the majority of 2012 writing a screenplay that seeks to combine all the characters of their hugely successful franchises. The premise? Why what could be more simple than The Cullen clan discovering that they've been sent to the dystopian future pictured in the Hunger Games world of Panem. The culprits? The Volturi of course. As obvious outsiders, the Cullens (including Bella) are seen as revolutionaries and are forced immediately to compete in the titular Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen, the ever-compassionate character she is, once again volunteers to compete in the games to help out these strangers knowing that they'll need more than their vampiric abilities to survive!
What a story, huh? The whole concept was masterminded by Lionsgate exec Steve Sherzer who seized the opportunity to combine the studio's two most successful franchises. After planting the idea in Stephenie Meyer's head some time ago, it was only a matter of time untill Sherzer managed to get these two into a room together. When Meyer and Collins met last night the two apparently hit it off immediately and hashed out the plot on the spot.
Sherzer was quoted as saying:
I just knew that my two favorite writers would become the best of friends. It was really the perfect set of circumstances, with the mega-successful Twilight franchise coming to an end we were looking for a way to sustain it. I mean, if Harry Potter can have 8 movies, why can't we? Then I thought, 'What could be better than combining Twilight with the equally triumphant Hunger Games franchise?' The idea just seemed to click and as soon as I got Steph and Suz into the room, magic happened.
The internet has been all over the story since it broke at midnight last night, and in order to get on top of it before it got away from them the studio issued this statement.
We are very excited to announce the first picture on our Fall 2013 roster, written by Stephenie Meyer and Suzanne Collins, the cast of The Hunger Games will meet with the cast of The Twilight Saga in an exciting new story from both authors: Solar Flare. Starring Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Lawrence, Whoopi Goldberg, Kristen Stewart and Josh Hutcherson.
Apart from the enormity of this partnership, there appears to be more than one interesting layer to this collab. The first being the title, Solar Flare. It's the perfect mix of Meyer's lunar leanings and Collins's flaming prose. It gives us a hint at the story, too. Could the Volturi be motivated by an upcoming Solar Flare? We'll have to wait until Fall 2013 to find out.
The second most interesting detail is the inclusion of a surprise new cast member. Joining the ranks of the good-looking, pale, twentysomething actors is none other than The View's Whoopi Goldberg. At first, fans took to Twitter to express their outrage about the casting of Ms. Goldberg, with one user Avril01 saying:
Y iz dis old man playing a vampire? I doont no who he iz. Lame. #shytc8sting
The crux of the matter? Goldberg is reportedly playing Edward and Bella's all-grown-up daughter Renesmee, making a huge change from the previous actress, Mackenzie Foy. After writers Collins and Meyer took to their websites to say that the casting of Goldberg has been a mutual decision—a total sister act and not a coercion by the studio—the fans seemed to calm down somewhat and agreed to give the 56 year-old actress a chance at playing Bella's reportedly teenage daughter.
So, what do you guys make of that? Saw it coming or total surprise? Even if it's a disaster, it's going to be history in the making. Not since The Avengers, has a team-up like this caused so much uproar and commentary. What about you? Leave us a comment and let us know how you think the movie will turn out. We are so totally excited; having just got back from watching The Hunger Games, there is nothing more exciting than the idea of watching Whoopi Goldberg running around the forest with a bow and arrow as a vampire shooting teenagers. Awesome