Twilight Movies In Order Of Release: How Many Are There?

Quick Facts

In 2007, Summit Entertainment acquired the rights to the Twilight movies – a screen adaptation of the titular novels, from Paramount Pictures. At this time, the production company couldn’t have known that they just got ahold of a gold mine as the movie franchise turned into a cult phenomenon with the release of the first installment. Popularly known as the Twilight Saga, the series of romance fantasy films had talented stars like , , and (the three main cast members) grace its set, thus, it didn’t come as a surprise when the franchise grossed billions worldwide. In other, words, it didn’t just make its cast members more popular in the movie world, they also got richer by virtue of their earnings in the Twilight movies.

Twilight Movies: How Many Are There?

Depicted through the eyes of the young and beautiful Bella Swan, the Twilight movies are divided into five installments based on the titular novels by Stephenie Meyer. The journey, which started in 2008, saw the release of five installments laden with young romance, which intrigued many viewers who obsessed about the movies. Riding on the love it received from the viewing public, the Twilight movies attained every milestone possible and with each new release, the cult following experienced an upsurge. The film series, in general, boasts over $3.3 billion grossed across the globe while the second installment of the series shattered box office records, taking up the rank of the biggest midnight screening and opening day in history.

Twilight Movies In Order Of Release

The first installment of the famous Twilight movies hit the screen on November 21, 2008, and when it proved to be very lucrative, the production company followed it up with the second one on November 20, 2009. A box office mega-hit, the second film in the Twilight Saga series grossed about $709.7 million, spurning the third installment which came on June 30, 2010. The last two projects on this illustrious timeline graced the screens on November 18, 2011, and November 16, 2012, respectively and there’s no gainsaying, fans loved them all.

Notwithstanding the popularity of the franchise, most of the fans that the Twilight movies have amassed have no idea which one to watch first. This means that the chronological arrangement of the film series is still a mystery to some people, including those who claim to be die-hard fans. For what it’s worth, you wouldn’t be blamed if you fall victim to this confusion considering the back-to-back-release of the films and the excitement they stirred among movie lovers. In lieu of this lingering issue with knowing which Twilight movie to watch first and the one after it, we have come up with a solution.

Below is a complete list of the Twilight movies in order that they were released and the background details about them. Enjoy the read.

Twilight (2008)

This is the first of the five series of romantic fantasy films. The film adaptation gives writing credits to Melissa Rosenberg while Catherine Hardwicke directed.

After moving from Arizona to Forks, Washington state, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), a high school student meets a charming young man, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) who turns out to be from a family of vampires. Twilight’s focus is on building a strong bond between Bella, who is human, and the ageless Edward. The closer she gets to him, the more danger she attracts from other vampires from a rival group. Bella’s plea to be turned into a vampire so that she could live forever with Edward is denied and as she remains a defenseless human against the vampires aiming for her blood, it falls on Edward and his family to protect her from impending danger.

Twilight first aired on the big screen on November 21, 2008, grossing $35.7 million on the first day. Subsequently, the movie grossed a whopping $408.9 million globally. It grossed an additional $264 million from home media sales which break down to – DVD sales of $238 million and the Blu-ray disc edition which amassed more than $26 million.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)

As directed by Chris Weitz and written by Melissa Rosenberg, this second project in the series of Twilight movies was theatrically released on November 20, 2009, breaking several boundaries.

Here, the Cullens leave Forks, and Bella falls into a deep depression as a result. She soon finds solace in her friendship with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) who continues with the task of protecting her from werewolves and vampires. Edward presents Bella with the offer that he would turn her into a vampire if she marries him.

This commercial hit of a film set many records in box office history. It grossed an estimated $709.7 million with its sequel doing even better when it dropped.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

Directed and written by David Slade and Melissa Rosenberg respectively, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse continues the love story of Bella and Edward as the former comes to the realization that there will be consequences if she marries her vampire lover. Bella’s influence sees the collaboration of Jacob Black and his fellow wolves, as well as the Cullen family in fighting the evil vampire called Victoria who has an army of vampires. Of course, this alliance is for the safety of Bella who turns down Jacob to accept Edward’s marriage proposal.

Released theatrically on June 30, 2010, in IMAX, the film set its own record for biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada, grossing an estimated $30 million in over 4,000 theaters which is an improvement from what its predecessor achieved. Additionally, to become the biggest Wednesday opening in domestic history, it beat the likes of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which made $62 million, by scoring $68,533,840. This film in the series Twilight movies also had the widest release with more than 4,416 theaters showing it.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011)

The fourth in a series of Twilight movies, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn credits Bill Condon, and the author of the Twilight novels – Stephenie Meyer, as the director and co-producer respectively. Meyer teamed up with Karen Rosenfelt and Wyck Godfrey to do the job while the scripts were written by Melissa Rosenberg.

Split into two parts, this installment depicts a whole new package with Bella carrying Edward’s child after their marriage. Though a thing of joy, Bella’s pregnancy becomes a problem because it’s no ordinary baby growing inside her. While trying to keep her half-human, half-vampire child alive, she nearly dies.

While the cameras started rolling on the series in November 2010, the fourth of the Twilight movies made its screen debut on November 18, 2011. It grossed more than $281,287,133 in North America and recorded over $712,205,56 worldwide.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)

The final part of the Twilight movie series, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, was met with more commercial success as the cult following was on a full swing, what with the successful release of the previous installments from the franchise. Like the one before it, the last project on the list of Twilight movies was directed by Bill Condon while Stephenie Meyer, Karen Rosenfelt and Wyck Godfrey co-produced. Also, Melissa Rosenberg took care of the script for the second part of the Breaking Dawn which was released on November 16, 2012.

In the second part of Breaking Dawn, Bella is now a newborn vampire trying to wrap her head around the perks that come with immortality and unending thirst for blood. Her relationship with Edward continues to grow and the young parents fight hard to ensure their daughter, Renesmee is always safe. The final battle that sees The Cullens, other vampires from the Denali Clan, together with the wolves from the Quileute Tribe, team up against The Volturi is the climax of the film series.

Twilight Movies Cast

With five commercially successful projects under the Twilight movies franchise, it is expected that the cast will be star-studded, which is so in this case. The franchise is also known to have turned many of its cast members into international celebrities overnight.

The cast list contains more than 50 thespians who played different parts in the film series, however, the constant faces fans enjoyed the most are that of Kristen Stewart who played the lead role of Bella Swan, Robert Pattinson as Edward Collen, as well as Taylor Lautner who completes the trio with his role of Jacob Black.

Other cast members who contributed immensely to the Twilight movies include – Ashlee Greene as Alice Cullen, as Rosalie Hale, Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen, as Jessica Stanley, Peter Facinelli as Dr. Carlisle, Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale, as Esme Cullen, Billy Burke as Charlie Swan, as Victoria, as Jane, Rachelle Lafevre as Victoria, Rami Malek as Benjamin, Cam Gigandet as James, as Angela Weber, as Renesmee Cullen, as Aro, Edi Gathegi as Laurent, Michael Welch as Mike Newton, as Eric Yorkie, Gil Brimingham as Billy Black, Sarah Clarke as Renee Dwyer, as Seth Clearwater, Cameron Bright as Alec, as Caius, Bronson Pelletier as Jared, and a slew of others.

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