A surprise appearance by Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke at a screening last weekend provoked squeals of excitement from fans of the movie. It was, Entertainment Weekly observes, "as if Zac Efron -- or Twilight's own Rob Pattinson, for that matter -- had just strode on stage and dropped his drawers." Yet whether or not she will be the director of New Moon remains up in the air. She has not yet officially signed on for the sequels and was reportedly sequestered with lawyers, agents and studio executives over the weekend, trying to work out a deal. One issue is that she felt hamstrung by the modest budget for Twilight, complaining that financial constraints kept her from doing some of the "very crazy, cool stuff that I wanted to do." She is particularly concerned that the budget for the sequel be big enough for location shooting in Rome and special effects that will realistically morph teenage boys into werewolves. But studio executives say that they are not yet sold on a higher budget for the sequel despite the original's spectacular success.
Still, there are already signs of budget increases to come, with Twilight stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson rumored to be getting a hefty $10 million salary hike for each of the sequels.