A report on THR Esq. claims that Summit Entertainment has been forced to hold up an announcement of a fifth “Twilight” film due to a salary dispute.
The plan according to all insiders is for the studio to divide “Breaking Dawn,” the saga’s fourth novel, into two separate films. But as of press time, issues with the franchise’s supporting cast members are preventing the studio from definitively moving forward with the new film (for which Bill Condon has been booked as director).
THR’s story notes that while the studio is close to finalizing deals with the “big three” (Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner) and has developed working deals for Billy Burke and Peter Facinelli, it is struggling to make something happen with some of the other supporting players, notably Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene.
“We may have a situation where one of them is thrown out on the street to make a point,” says an insider. “Twilight” already proved it was willing to make that kind of statement when it recast Rachelle Lefevre with Bryce Dallas Howard in the Victoria role.
Though not the saga’s stars, Lutz and Greene have seen their profiles rise exponentially as well, and they are looking to parlay that success into bigger paydays. Summit’s current offers are reportedly at least ten times what the actors made for the first film but have been deemed “offensive” given the massive success of the franchise.
As the cast members were initially signed for just three films, plans to adapt “Breaking Dawn” required a renegotiation with everyone. That went through, but once Summit decided to break the novel into two movies, additional negotiation had to be done to lock the cast up for the fifth and final film.
In addition to keeping a tight grip on increases for the actors, Summit is reportedly looking into other cost-cutting means for the fourth and fifth films, including possibly moving filming to Louisiana.