The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, commonly referred to as Eclipse, is a 2010 American romantic vampire film based on Stephenie Meyer's 2007 novel, Eclipse. It is the third installment of The Twilight Saga film series, following 2008's Twilight and 2009's New Moon. Summit Entertainment greenlit the film in February 2009. Directed by David Slade, the film stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, reprising their roles as Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, and Jacob Black, respectively.
Eclipse set a new record for biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada in box office history, grossing an estimated $30 million in over 4,000 theaters. The record was formerly held by the previous film, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, with $26.3 million in 3,514 theaters.
Melissa Rosenberg, who penned the scripts for both Twilight and New Moon, returned as screenwriter. Filming began on August 17, 2009, at Vancouver Film Studios, and finished in late October, with post-production began early the following month. Bryce Dallas Howard was cast as Victoria, replacing Rachelle Lefevre who previously played her.
The film was released worldwide on June 30, 2010, and became the first Twilight film to be released in IMAX. It set a new record for biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada in box office history, grossing an estimated $30 million in over 4,000 theaters. The previous record holder was the previous film in the series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon with $26.3 million in 3,514 theaters.
The film then scored the biggest Wednesday opening in the United States and Canada history with $68,533,840 beating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's $62 million. Eclipse has also become the film with the widest independent release, playing in over 4,416 theaters, surpassing its predecessor, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which held the record since November 2009.
