'Twilight' studio Summit unlikely to merge with Lionsgate

Reports that Summit — the studio behind the Twilight movie (pictured) — and Lionsgate, the makers of the Saw franchise, are discussing a merger have been greatly exaggerated, EW has learned. Following a report yesterday on Sharon Waxman’s new website The Wrap, which revealed that the two indie studios are in fact having conversations about a corporate marriage, a source tells EW that those discussions actually occurred before Summit took the $37 million Twilight and turned it into a $340 million worldwide franchise. Now that they’ve got a real hit on their hands, Summit is going it alone for the time being, with the Dakota Fanning-starrer Push releasing on Friday, and New Moon, the studio’s Twilight sequel, scheduled for a Nov. 20 bow.

However, with the economic conditions being as they are, everyone in Hollywood is talking about ways to enhance their business strategically while simultaneously reducing overhead, so it’s certainly not out of the question that we’ll see some kind of changes taking place at various studios in coming months. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

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• EW’s Twilight Headquarters
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