'Golden Compass' Director to Helm 'Twilight' Sequels?

Since Nikke Finke officially broke the news that Catherine Hardwicke was kicked out of the Twilight club, it only makes sense that she might have the inside scoop on a new director. At Deadline Hollywood Daily, Finke says that Summit Entertainment will offer the director's chair for New Moon and possibly the third film in the series to Chris Weitz.Weitz directed The Golden Compass, which looked great and even won an Oscar for looking great, but it was not exactly a financial boon for anyone. But Weitz has proven himself to be a very versatile director over the past decade, with About a Boy and an uncredited co-director stint on American Pie. Finke cites both the look of Golden Compass and Weitz' relationship with Eric Feig, Summit's president of production.  When Hardwicke's departure was made official on Sunday, the news began to spread that New Moon and Eclipse might be filmed back-to-back, and Finke reports that the offer to Weitz includes both films.I think he's a wise choice for two reasons: 1) Weitz can be a very good hired hand, based on his résumé. I'm sure he'd rather develop his own projects, but after The Golden Compass, he needs to get back on track and steer a hit. 2) It shows Summit knows what it's dealing with in terms of a franchise. Weitz isn't so big a name that it becomes his trilogy, but he's also more than capable of directing and helping out with a script if need be and giving/keeping an interesting visual style for the series.The contract offer hasn't been made official, but with the delicate balance of teenage vampire movies in flux, we thought we'd update you as soon as we could.