NEWS: Is Twilight the New Harry Potter?

With the Harry Potter franchise winding down, there’s going to be a huge void left at the box-office for its die hard fans. Where will their dedicated dollars go now? Studio execs are hoping they will shift their interest from wizards to vampires with the new film, Twilight. Based on the successful book by author Stephenie Meyer, Twilight tells the story of a teenage girl named Bella, who falls in love with a vampire, Edward.

Originally, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was supposed to be released on November 21 of this year, but was pushed back to next summer. Twilight was then moved up from its original date of December 12, to nab Potters spot. The producers of Twilight are using every opportunity they can to make this film the next big thing. According to Yahoo Movies, Summit Entertainment has acquired the rights to three more books in the Twilight series, and they’ve already hired a writer and producer to work on the next two.

More info on the sequels after the jump.

There are some Potter fans who like the Twilight series and are willing to give it a chance, but there are also some who are completely against it. I wonder if this is how Star Trek fans felt when Star Wars came out? Oddly enough, Twilight star Robert Pattinson co-starred in both Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as Cedric Diggory.

Regardless of the outside drama, the next installments of the new franchise are already in development. The titles of the future films will be New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Twilight will be hitting theaters this Friday, and is directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Along with Pattinson, the film stars Kristen Stewart,  Nikki Reed, Cam Gigandet, Billy Burke, and Charlie Swan.  Will moviegoers bite the bait? We’ll have to wait and see.