FX picks up rights to 'Twilight' saga

By Nellie Andreeva

The "Twilight Saga" franchise is headed to FX.

FX has acquired the ad-supported TV rights to the four "Twilight"movies in a package deal with producer Summit Entertainment thatalso includes the indie studio's Oscar hopeful "The Hurt Locker,"the Nicolas Cage thriller "Knowing" and actioner "Push."

Under the pact, FX will start running last year's "Twilight," thefirst movie in the franchise, beginning in late 2011. "The TwilightSaga: New Moon," which shattered projections to open at $142.8 million domestically this past weekend, will beavailable in late 2012. "Eclipse," which is slated for a June 30 release, will have its premiere on FX inearly 2013. Summit has yet to greenlight production on "BreakingDawn," an adaptation of the fourth book in Stephenie Meyer's"Twilight" series.

"Locker," "Knowing" and "Push" will debut on FX in mid-2012.

All seven films are set to go to FX after completing their paycable window on Showtime, which last year inked a four-year output deal with Summit.

The license fee for the movies is based on their North Americanboxoffice performance. If the third and fourth "Twilight" moviescontinue to go strong, each reaching the $200 million markdomestically, FX could end up paying close to $100 million for thequartet. (For a marquee film title, ad-supported networks usuallyshell out about 12% of the domestic tally and as much per as $24million if the movie's receipts total crosses $200 million.)

FX's deal with Summit mirrors similar output deals the cablenetwork has put in place with Marvel Studios and DreamWorksAnimation.

It also adds another 2009 No. 1 opener, "New Moon," to FX'scollection of this year's biggest hits that includes "2012," "StarTrek," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Night at the Museum: Battle ofthe Smithsonian," "Monsters vs. Aliens," "Transformers: Revenge ofthe Fallen," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," "The Proposal" and"Zombieland."

The acquisition of "Wolverine" and "Dawn of the Dinosaurs" alsogave FX two more franchises in addition to "Twilight" as thenetwork now owns the rights to all "X-Men" and "Ice Age" movies.