Summit Entertainment has taken the unusual step of publicly identifying and issuing a press release regarding the identity of the person responsible for stealing unreleased materials from The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and posting them on the internet for all to see. According to the official press release, Summit will be pursuing civil action against “Daiana Santia, along with others, as being involved in stealing photographs, unfinished images and video from both parts of the yet to be released The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn which first appeared on the internet of March 31 of this year. Criminal action in Argentina has also been filed.”
The studio further revealed the investigation spanned four continents and that they believe more individuals are likely to have been involved in the crime.
“While we very much appreciate the legions of committed fans of the franchise and encourage them to create community online, we cannot ignore that property was stolen,” said David C. Friedman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Summit Entertainment. “It is not fair to the majority of fans that want to see the final chapter of the Twilight Saga film franchise fully realized by the filmmaker and dedicated cast and crew to have these images out and available on the Internet.”
Immediately after the images made their way illegally onto the internet, the studio reached out to Twilight fans to help slow/stop the spread of the images with this message:
“As some of you may know pictures and screen grabs of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn as a work in progress have leaked on the internet. We are extremely proud of this film and also extremely heartbroken to see it out there at this stage. The film and these images are not yet ready or in their proper context. They were illegally obtained and their early dissemination is deeply upsetting to the actors, the filmmakers and Summit who are working so hard to bring these movies to fruition to you in November 2011 and November 2012.
Please, for those who are posting, stop. And please, though the temptation is high, don’t view or pass on these images. Wait for the film in its beautiful, finished entirety to thrill you.
Sincerely,
Bill Condon, Wyck Godfrey, Summit Entertainment and Stephenie Meyer”
