CATHERINE HARDWICKE - NEW MOON SHINES FOR DIRECTOR OF TWILIGHT SEQUEL

NEW MOON SHINES FOR DIRECTOR OF TWILIGHT SEQUEL

About A Boy helmer Chris Weitz has been named as the new director of New Moon, the sequel to smash hit Twilight.

The literary adaptation has earned $150.1 million (£99.9 million) in one month but it was revealed last week that director Catherine Hardwicke would not be returning for the follow-up.

Weitz, 39, has now been confirmed as her replacement and will begin work on New Moon immediately, with a late 2009 or early 2010 release date planned.

"I am honoured to have been entrusted with shepherding New Moon from the page to the screen," he said.

"I will put every effort into realising a beautiful film," he continued.

The Golden Compass director said bringing Stephenie Meyer's novel to the screen was "not a task to be taken lightly".

"The extraordinary world that Stephenie has created has millions of fans," he explained.

"It will be my duty to protect on their behalf the characters, themes and story they love."

Twilight tells of the love between a human girl (Kristen Stewart) and a vampire (Robert Pattinson) and grossed $70.6 million (£47.4 million) in its opening weekend in the US to achieve the best-ever box office debut for a female director.

But Hardwicke withdrew from the project last week, reportedly over concerns that the studio was overly committed to releasing the film in a year's time.

Twilight is released in the UK on December 19th.