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Girl power?

Kim Hollis: Do you take anything from the fact that this is the biggest opening ever for a female director?

Brandon Scott: None whatsoever. Good for her. And hopefully she gets a crack at more sequels. This is good for women directors everywhere and hopefully can open more doors for them. But this is source material driving business, not the direction.

Max Braden: The credit for an opening this large on previously unfilmed book material (especially with a crappy trailer) goes to the author rather than director. Note that the Twilight's author is female, as is the mega-rich author of the Harry Potter series. No doubt though Hardwicke gets her pick of projects now, and copycat methodology may lead Hollywood producers to throw projects at female directors on the hope that they have the magic touch. This movie must be the most successful in terms of the young female demographic, so I'd expect Hollywood to try go after that in future projects as well. And I haven't seen the movie but I suspect that Kristen Stewart didn't have to remove her clothes in order to make her presence known. All around this is a positive for women in Hollywood.

Scott Lumley: I don't think this question even relevant. It's almost insulting to bring it up. If you're the kind of person that even notes that it was a female director and let that influence your decision to watch a movie then there's something wrong with you.





Les Winan: I wonder if Scott thinks it's insulting to note that Barack Obama's about to be the first African-American president? Generally, I'm all for acknowledging these milestones, unless we're parsing the milestone down too far (the first African-American lesbian former nun, etc.), it can't be a bad thing. God forbid the millions of girls seeing Twilight in the theater notice the director was a woman and dream of a career in film.

Daron Aldridge: The first thing that I take away from it is that it is sad that this beat a ten-year old record for Deep Impact, directed by Mimi Leder, with just over $40 million. This says to me that for all its talk of liberalism, it is rare that a studio will give more female directors a shot at a tentpole, action, comic book, sci-fi or Will Smith movie, which account for the majority of big openers. Aside from Kathryn Bigelow (who hasn't made a "big" film since K-19: The Widowmaker), can you name a female action director? I don't think the director's gender played a role in the audience showing up for this. It reminds me of the widely held BOP belief that with the right product the audience will show up even if the movie opens in January. There have to be more female directors who can direct an event movie as well as Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich.

Jason Lee: Frankly, I'm disappointed in Catherine Hardwicke. I LOVED her directorial debut, Thirteen, and even liked Lords of Dogtown. I think Twilight (though a huge financial success) is more of a creative letdown.

Kim Hollis: While I don't think that people were going out to see this movie because it was directed by a woman, I'm pleased if it motivates fans of the film to pursue a career in the creative arts. I do think it proves that women still don't have a lot of the high-profile positions in Hollywood, though - especially when you consider that Mimi Leder held the record for top opening by a female director for so long.

David Mumpower: I think Jason has touched upon the most fascinating aspect of this. Daron's comments drill the madness of the issue that the previous record had stood for a decade, but what I keep spinning over and over in my head is that the director of Thirteen has successfully cribbed off her previous work. I also enjoy the incongruity of her going from The Nativity Story to a supernatural goth story. After the Virgin Mary and Bella Swan, I wonder what teen girl character she focuses on next.

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