Weitz: Poor ‘New Moon’ Reviews Are Understandable, Unsurprising

I must admit that when the first Twilight movie came out I was one of those people putting a downer on it. I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about and rallied against what I saw as the mainstream romanticization of vampires.

However, having actually seen the film (though I still haven’t got round to reading the books) I can certainly see the appeal. In fact, I kind of liked Twilight and am hoping New Moon doesn’t suck either.

Unfortunately for director Chris Weitz and the cast and crew of New Moon, the reviews have been mostly negative. Fans like this movie more than the first but newcomers to the series and hardened reviewers are giving it a hard time.

Weitz isn’t surprised, however, as he recently explained to Entertainment Weekly:

“What I’ve realized over the last week is I won’t necessarily get good reviews for this movie. Having swallowed that, this was made for the fans, and if you don’t get it, then you don’t get it.”

“Nothing surprises me in terms of reviews. Having been a reviewer myself, there are only two ways to spin this story. You can either be the one guy who says this is a great movie, or more likely, take a more jaundiced view of the whole thing. And given the media blitz that has accompanied New Moon, it’s rather unsurprising.”

Fortunately for Weitz and the cast and crew of New Moon, the reviews don’t seem to have had any impact on the box office figures. The film is an absolute smash, breaking records and bringing in the money in a way studio bosses only dream of.

Which just goes to show that movie reviews and reviewers only have very limited power, especially for franchises such as Twilight which have their own life and own dedicated set of fans.