Massive "Twilight" Payday Looming?

A report in Variety suggests that the Twilight gang might be in for a massive payday. Summit Entertainment were an also-ran production company when they acquired the rights to the series, but as New Moon closes in on $500 million at the box office, they are no doubt now players in the game. The series has been - and will continue to be - a gravy train for Summit because they've made the films on modest budgets and locked up their cast to inexpensive four picture deals back when they - and the franchise - we're barely a speck on the pop culture radar.

However, when you do nearly half a billion in box office the executives start clamoring for a way to milk the golden cow again. The final book in the series, Breaking Dawn is the only property not filmed yet and now the studio wants to split it into two separate movies. (This is the same thing that Warner Bros. recently did with the last Harry Potter book.) This, of course, means the four picture deals no longer cover all of the films they want to make and that means they need to re-open all of their negotiations, only this time, they don't have the power and the principals know exactly what they are worth. This would require Summit sitting down with author Stephanie Meyer and cast members Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner and asking what address they would like them to back up the dump truck full of cash to. Those would prove to be incredibly expensive conversations.