'Breaking Dawn' Part 2 to Be Released One Year After Part 1

For better or worse, the end is in sight, Twilighters. Summit Entertainment has announced the official release date for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2." The final film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling series is scheduled to open in theaters on November 16, 2012.

When Summit revealed that "Breaking Dawn" would be split into two films — with the first film's release date set for November 18, 2011 #&8212; there was much speculation that the final chapter would drop the following summer. This news puts the second film out almost a full year after Part 1, no doubt creating an excruciating waiting period for the film franchise's extremely dedicated fans.

With no official statement accompanying the news of Part 2's release date, we, too, can only speculate as to why Summit has chosen to wait a full year between releasing the two films. One likely reason is the already-crowded summer 2012 movie calendar, which has been padded with several other highly anticipated and established franchise films. "The Avengers," "Madagascar 3" and "Men in Black 3" all open in May; June will deliver a "Star Trek" sequel; the re-booted "Spider-Man" is nestled in the July 4 slot (occupied this year by "Eclipse"), followed closely by another "Ice Age" and a third "Batman."

Now that both films' release dates are set, there are a few other unresolved "Dawn" issues, namely the MPAA rating and whether director Bill Condon will choose to film the two parts in 3-D.

"That decision has yet to be made," Summit distribution chief Richie Fay told MTV of the rating question last month. "It's still the source of a discussion."

The 3-D conversation, on the other hand, involves both financial and creative decisions. "There's certainly a financial part of the discussion," Ray said. "And yes, there's a certain amount of technology that has to be considered and accounted for. But it really comes down to the creative folks.

"In any of these roundtable conversations, [Summit CEO] Rob Friedman has always been concerned about the 'Twilight' patron," Fay added. "His concern is always the people that come in to see this movie. He doesn't want to turn them off or offend. That's why it's a creative decision. A big factor is the perception of our audience. What are their feelings going to be? If it lends itself to being a better movie because of 3-D, then that's the technology we'll use."

What do you think of the "Breaking Dawn, Part 2" release date? How painful will the almost one-year wait be for you?

Source