For months now there’s been talk about the fact Summit Entertainment wanted to split the final Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, into two films, in the same way Warner has done for the last Harry Potter. However while they admitted it was a possibility, they refused to confirm it would actually happen, initially saying they were waiting to say the script, before it became apparent that the real problem was that while the cast was commited for a single Breaking Dawn movie, all their contracts would have to be renegotiated if Summit wanted to add a fifth.
In the last few weeks, those negotiations have been winding up, and now Summit has announced (via THR), that they will definitely be shooting two Breaking Dawn movies, with the first coming November 18th, 2011, and the second expected sometime in 2012. Bill Condon will direct the movies back-to-back, with shooting due to begin later this year. All the major cast members, including all of the Cullens (who held out in contract negotiations for higher pay, leading to rumours they might be recast) will be back.
It’ll be interesting to see how they handle it, especially across two film, as Breaking Dawn isn’t like the other books, being split into section, some told by Bella and some by Jacob, while it also has a slightly peculiar plot, involving Bella and Edward’s half vampire child.