Going back, the change of the century was such a crazy time. Funny thing, the 2000s seem like yesterday, yet it has been over two decades now.
Sure everything was changing and the world was getting into the age of modernization, and its influence could be seen in Hollywood too. From new fashion to new movies, everything was becoming more advanced.
Hollywood was roaring with documentaries, sci-fi, animation, and fantasy. Movies like Lord of the rings, and Harry Potter were on the rise and created an uproar. Among the hits that the turn of the century gave was yet another name – The Twilight saga
The 2008 popular hit, The Twilight series although had many elements that would certainly be considered way too basic for today’s time, but back then even the cliches made it one of the most popular movies.
From vampires to werewolves, not only it gave the audiences something new to look forward to, but since it was targeted mainly at young audiences, it also had that romance element.
Even after decades of its release, The Twilight series still remains one of the greatest movies of all time. So, if you are curious to revisit the Twilight series or just want to watch them the first time, here’s how you can watch them in order.
But first, let’s know a little about this superhit vampire-themed romance fantasy.
The Twilight Saga
The Twilight Saga is a series of five vampire and supernatural-themed movies based on the romance fantasy novel written by Stephenie Meyer.
The series, mainly targeted females as a consuming audience, releasing the film at the right time in the thick of the post-feminist era, which depicted the right story of transformation from a girl to a woman.
Targeted mainly to the female audience, especially teenage high school girls, the movies followed the life of Isabella Swan or better known as Bella, a human teenager who moved to Forks, Washington where she met a vampire named Edward Cullen.
Her life was never the same as it turned upside down when she fell in love with a vampire. The movies take you on her journey, from falling in love with a supernatural being to becoming one herself, and the changes in her life and relationships because of that.
Depicting such unique themes and strategies, the movie adaption was a commercial success as it grossed more than $3.4 billion worldwide.
How many movies are there in The Twilight Saga?
The Twilight saga consisted of five vampire-themed romance fantasy movies; Twilight (2008), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 (2011), and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2 (2012).
All the series were based on the four novels published by the author Stephenie Meyer and were rated PG-13 because of some violent scenes.
Are the movies connected to each other?
They sure are. The whole Twilight saga is based on the life of Bella and Edward from the day they met, and how their lives changed after meeting each other.
The five movies are all connected to each other. Although each movie had a new storyline and some new characters as well, they were still connected to the previous one and followed its story.
The entire series does involve references from previous events and plots. So, to understand them, you need to watch the previous movies.
What order should you watch the Twilight Saga?
Well, it is really up to you to watch the movies as a standalone or in order, but as we have already told you that if you want to fully understand the movies, and don’t get all lost, we suggest you follow the orders of the movies.
Watching the movies in order will not only boost your viewing experience but will also help you to understand the characters’ backgrounds and the movie plot well.
So even though it’s not compulsory, it is very highly recommended to watch the movies in order. The best order to watch the Twilight series is to follow the release order.
With the introduction to the characters and main plot of the story, watching them in the order of their release will help you understand and enjoy the saga to its fullest.
Here, we have put the Twilight saga movies in order of their release.
Twilight
Released Date: November 20, 2008
Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg
Based on: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, Greg Mooradian, Mark Morgan
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli
Language: English
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Runtime: 2h 1m
Rating: PG-13
Main Plot
Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, written by Melissa Rosenberg, and based on the novel of the same name, Twilight was the start of the famous movie series, The Twilight Saga.
The movie introduced us to Bella Swan ( Kristen Stewart), a seventeen-year-old high school girl, who after leaving her mother’s home back in Phoenix, Arizona, to live with her father, Charlie Swan, a police chief, in her birthplace of Forks, Washington.
Not long after she joined her new school, she met Edward Cullen( Robert Pattinson) a cold-blooded vampire living amongst the humans.
Even though Bella was constantly annoyed by Edward’s hot and cold attitude, she was very drawn to him and tried to figure out what he really thought about her.
Over time, Bella came to know about Edward’s truth that he was not an ordinary teenager like her but was actually a vampire, who had lived for more than over 100 years. Despite their differences and Edward’s constant thirst for Bella’s blood, they soon fell hard for each other.
With them getting together, Bella was introduced to the world of Vampires and other hostile supernatural beings.
Being the only human in the vampire family, Bella was introduced to a more dangerous vampire family that marked her as a target. When the Cullen family tried to protect her at the cost of another vampire’s life, it was the start of vengeance and vampire politics, which was what the whole story was based on.
At one point Edward saved Bella from becoming a vampire by killing James, a fellow vampire, and Victoria’s lover. Later on, when he accompanied Bella to the high school prom she asked him to turn her into a vampire, which he refused immediately. However, they were still unknown about Victorias’s planning revenge for her lover’s death.
So, along with some human vampire action, the whole movie really focused on Edward and his family’s subsequent efforts to keep Bella safe from the hostile vampires, while giving enough time to the development of a personal relationship between Bella and Edward.
The movie when released theoretically on Nov 21, 2008, grossed about $35.7 million on its opening day and has come to gross US$393.6 million worldwide.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Released Date: November 18, 2009
Directed by: Chris Weitz
Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg
Based on: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Rachelle Lefevre
Language: English
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Main Plot
The Twilight Saga: New Moon was the continuation of the first movie Twilight, directed by Christ Weitz and written by Melissa Rosenberg.
After nearly getting killed in the first movie, Bella survived and made it to her eighteenth birthday. However, she felt sad and lonely as she dreamt of her being old while Edward would still look as young as he was even after hundreds of years.
During her birthday party, seeing her blood, one of Edward’s family members tried to attack her. This made Edward realize that it was dangerous for Bella to be with him. So, he decided to get separated from her.
The pain of separation didn’t sit well with Belle as she soon fell into depression and isolation. However, she was able to depression lasted until she developed a strong friendship with Jacob Black( Taylor Lautner).
Jacob not only provided support to Bella but he also helped her out of her depression. Later Bella found out about Jacob being a werewolf. Hence, Jacob and his family decided to protect Bella from Victoria and an enormous herd of vampires.
During the movie, Alice had a vision where she saw Bella jumping off of a cliff but Edward thought she had killed herself. So, he decided to end his own life by revealing himself to the world, in front of Volturi, who were the elite, high-ranking, and powerful royal family of the vampires.
Luckily, Bella and Alice made it in just time to save Edward from being executed by the Volturi. Later Edward and Bella were reunited. However, Volturi already knew about Bella’s knowledge about them.
Since Bella knew about the vampires, the couple was given an ultimatum; either kill Bella or turn her into a vampire. Not wanting to kill Bella, Edward suggested turning her into a vampire but only if she agreed to marry him.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon after its release set numerous records. At that time, it was the biggest advance ticket seller on Fandango and also held the biggest midnight opening in domestic history, which grossed an estimated $26.3 million.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Released Date: June 23, 2010
Directed by: David Slade
Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg
Based on: Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Bryce Dallas Howard
Language: English
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Sci-fi, Thriller
Runtime: 2 Hours 4 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Main Plot
Moving on from the first two movies of the saga, the third installment came The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which was directed by David Slade and based on the novel Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.
The story followed the struggles of Bella and Edward to continue their relationship as they were given an ultimatum because of Bella’s knowledge of the vampire world.
Edward did suggest turning her into a vampire if she were to marry him. However, Bella hesitated as she was too young to get married.
However, before they could even think any further, they came face to face with Victoria, who returned with an army of newborn vampires, seeking vengeance on Bella and the Cullens for killing her lover, James, in the first film.
The third movie followed Bella’s story as she developed awareness of the possible complications of marrying a vampire. Meanwhile, learning about Victoria’s return, Jacob and the rest of the wolves formed a temporary alliance with the Cullens to battle her and keep Bella safe.
During the movie, Jacob overheard Bella and Edward talking about their engagements. Enraged by their talks, Jacob tried to convince Bella to leave Edward and be with him instead. Regardless, Bella didn’t listen to him and accepts Edwards’s marriage proposal.
After the movie was released, it was the first Twilight movie to be released on IMAX and set a new record for the biggest midnight opening, grossing an estimated $30 million in over 4,000 theaters.
Do they get married? Was Victoria defeated? Well, to find out more, you have to watch the next part of the series and believe us when we say, it’s only getting interesting from now on.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Released Date: November 16, 2011
Directed by: Bill Condon
Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg
Based on: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt, Stephenie Meyer
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Bryce, Nikki Reed
Language: English
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Thriller
Runtime: 1 Hour 57 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Main Plot
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn was directed by Bill Condon and was based on the novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. The book was divided into two films, the first one was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn- Part 1.
The first part followed the story of Bella and Edward after they get married and Bella became pregnant and their struggle with conceiving a vampire child as a human.
Ad the fourth installment of the series, Breaking Dawn- Part 1 followed the previous part, The Eclispse from where it had left off; Bella accepted the marriage proposal.
The movie started with Bella and Edward’s wedding and followed their journey after that. Later Bella got pregnant. Since the child was a half human and half vampire, it was very risky for Bella to conceive her as it could have led to her death.
Spoiler alerts!!
She did die for a while. I mean- she gave birth to their vampire-hybrid child and died.
However, she was brought back to life and this time she came back as a vampire! Soon after she reunited with her family, they named their daughter Renesmee, whose alarming growth started to take an enormous amount of toll on Bella’s health.
Now, what was very special about this series was mainly the birth of their child, and also Jacob, Bella’s best friend, imprinted on Renesmee, which was basically what a Quileute shapeshifter did when it found its soul mate.
This further revealed why Jacob was so drawn to Bella, as she was the mother of his soulmate and since he had imprinted on Renesmee, she was safe from the werewolves because their law forbade harming anyone who had been imprinted by a member of their tribe.
The movie closed off with a little tease of Volturi’s return and their main entrance was shown in the next and the fifth installment of the saga.
It was released in theaters on November 18, 2011, and released on DVD on February 11, 2012, in the United States. Although negatively reviewed by critics, the film was commercially successful, having grossed over $712 million at the box office.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
Released Date: November 13, 2012
Directed by: Bill Condon
Screenplay by: Melissa Rosenberg
Based on: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
Produced by: Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt, Stephenie Meyer
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz
Language: English
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Runtime:1 Hour 55 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Main Plot
As the second part of Breaking Dawn and the final movie of the Twilight series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn- Part 2 was released on November 16, 2012.
Directed by Bill Condon, the movie showed the climax of Bella’s and Edward’s relationship. The movie mainly focused on Bella’s journey to becoming a fully-fledged vampire, as she learned to use her special powers and protect her family especially her daughter Renesmee.
As the movie began, it showed Bella awakening as a vampire and learning her way through her newly awakened powers. After being a vampire, Bella became more protective of her daughter.
At first, she was furious over the fact that Jacob imprinted on Renesmee, but later on, she understood the situation.
As Renesmee grew at an alarming rate, she caught the attention of the Volturi, who believed her to be an immortal child, a human child turned into a vampire and remained eternally frozen in mental as well as physical state.
Since the Immortal child was considered to be taboo, the Volturi came to kill her, however, along with their allies, Bella and Edward tried to prove that Renesmee was not an Immortal child but a vampire-human hybrid.
The movie showed the final battle between the Cullens, along with vampires from the Denali clan and other vampire friends, as well as the wolves from the Quileute Tribe against the Volturi.
At last, they were able to convince the Volturi that Renesmee was indeed not an immortal child. She was also able to convince the Volturi to leave them in peace by showing them a vision of a brutal battle that costs the lives of Carlisle, Jasper, and other several high-ranking Volturi coven members.
The final movie ended with a glimpse of a happy future, thanks to Alice’s visions and one last profession of love between Bella and Edward, who promise to be together for eternity.
The film was released worldwide on June 30, 2010, in theaters, and became the first (and only) Twilight film to be released in IMAX. The film received a mixed reception from critics. It held the record for the biggest midnight opening in the United States and Canada in box office history, grossing an estimated $30 million.
Will there be another sequel?
The most prominent question about the saga is whether there will be another part of the franchise. Well, it is very obvious that fans would demand more, as all five of the movies did really well.
While there were no signs of any more addition to the Twilight saga, just recently the author of the original novel came out with a new Twilight book, Midnight sun, which was a book mainly from Edward’s perspective.
However, at this time there are no official plans for a Midnight Sun Twilight movie, although rumors about its development have started to circulate in the community.
So, if the rumors do turn out to be true, we could possibly see a movie within a year or two of the start of development.
It is quite unfortunate for Twilight fans as there are currently no plans to adapt the novel and even if it were to happen fans won’t really be getting the same vibes as the original cast themselves stated that they were so done with their roles.
Quiet disappointing but this also means that the new movie could star some new faces with interesting plot lines.
Hence, even after almost a decade of its release to create such hype in the community, the Twilight series is surely a must-watch, and if you are looking for a streaming service to marathon all of the Twilight sagas, Netflix is just there for you.
Just recently in July 2021, Netflix added all five movies, and with Halloween closing up, what better time to get all cozy and turn on your TVs and enjoy the world of the vampires and werewolves, with some hint of great supernatural romance?
