Kristen Stewart, Rob Pattinson Stalled But Breaking Dawn – Part 2 “Moving Full Steam Ahead”, Say Summit

After a fraught week and a bit of breathless headlines and endless punditry about Kristen Stewart’s affair with Snow White and The Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, Summit Entertainment have released a statement which – in itself – acknowledges they needed to make one.

With only 107 days left until The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 drops in theaters, the $ 2.5 billion question everyone is asking is:

How will the very public meltdown of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart’s relationship affect the promotional tour?

Speaking exclusively to Entertainment Weekly, Summit’s President Of Worldwide Marketing, Nancy Kirkpatrick said,

“While it is studio policy not to comment on the personal lives of actors, Summit is moving full steam ahead and looking forward to this November’s opening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

She added,

“We are confident that the film delivers amazing entertainment for our passionate fans and general audience alike.”

Asked and answered.

How “moving full steam ahead” actually translates once the press junkets, TV specials, talk shows and meet and greets kick in remains to be seen, but Summit’s PR machine will have its work cut out.

The real-life relationship between the reportedly now-estranged couple has been an explicit marketing hook for the franchise. Pattinson and Stewart’s “Robsten” romance and its overlap with “Edward and Bella” simultaneously fascinating and delighting fans. For many fans their connection to The Twilight Saga,is Pattinson and Stewart.

For Summit, of course, the enormous box-office Bill Condon’s final installment is expected to make and possible future Twilights is the prize. That’s the reality. That’s the deal. So it will be interesting to see how the studio handles whatever developments may occur between their leads in the months ahead.

Like everyone else in the cast Pattinson and Stewart are contractually tied-in to promotional obligations, so for Summit the way ahead will be one of co-ordination and control.

One cast member here, two there, three doing this, everyone doing that. Question vetting for interviews will no doubt be tightened, and perhaps by the time the really intense press gets going the current hyper-tension between Pattinson, Stewart – and the media for that matter – will have resolved one way or the other.

Which would be a good thing. Because right now, the idea of Pattinson and Stewart being grilled about “mind-blowing, other-worldly” vampire sex is, quite frankly – unthinkable.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 hits theaters November 16.