Will Stewart-Pattinson Scandal Affect the 'Twilight' Franchise?

Most sinful of all was the perception that she had sullied the Twilight franchise. 

Their off-screen relationship became part of the brand, and so, in revealing herself to be less than “pure,” Stewart tainted the purity of the couple’s on-screen connection as well. 

Twilight fans...are way too devoted to the series to let a little thing like a tainted-by-gossip Kristen Stewart deter them from buying a ticket to the series’ climactic final chapter. But let me go further. To the extent that Kristen and Robert, Together Forever are the red-carpet shadow version of Bella and Edward, what happens in their relationship most assuredly impacts the excitement that people feel about seeing a new Twilight movie. And in this case, I would argue, the excitement will only be heightened. 

Will the two even be interviewed together? If so, the eyes of the world won’t just be listening to their answers. They’ll be studying every nuance of their body language, trying to read the semiotics of their affection. 

But the scandal involving the on- and off-screen couple is unlikely to affect box-office returns for the final installment in the vampire-romance juggernaut due this fall, or even harm the image of the 22-year-old actress.

"The fans are so romantically tied to this movie in both the real-life romance and the on-screen romance, so I'm sure this is hitting them pretty hard," said box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com. "They think of Bella and Edward and Kristen and Rob like family — characters they absolutely love on screen and in real life. For a 14-year-old girl, this is probably heartbreaking. But are girls not going to see the movie because of this? Heck no."

Reports of infidelity could even draw more viewers to theaters for "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2," he said: "They might go just so they can be even more mad at Kristen."

"The shocking thing is (Stewart) cheated on Robert Pattinson, who is this guy who everyone in the world wants," Drew [Us Weekly senior editor] said.

Fans might feel it when they watch the film in November.

"It sort of intrudes on their universe a little bit," he said. "This is the ill-fated romance from the screen that ended up working on screen and in real life as well. That made it more believable and more sellable, so it punctures holes in that."

Countless stars have committed such indiscretions over the years, but the Stewart-Sanders scandal seized the attention of the public and Hollywood particularly strongly last week for a number of reasons: the unambiguous photographic evidence (which quickly landed in Us Weekly); the brazen nature of the lapse, given Stewart's heretofore strongly guarded, cautious public persona; the rapid and pained public apologies by both parties; and the questions the tryst cast over not one but two films — the upcoming "Twilight" finale and plans for a "Snow White" sequel.

The apologies elicited both empathy and cynicism, with skeptics calling them a calculated public relations effort to minimize any career ramifications. In November, the final entry in the "Twilight" series ("Breaking Dawn — Part 2") will hit theaters, and both Stewart and Pattinson will have to promote it worldwide.

While the tryst seems likely to make those duties awkward, perhaps more concerning for Stewart are the questions that now arise over Universal Pictures' planned "Snow White" sequel. "Snow White" has taken in more than $380 million worldwide, and a sequel would help to cement Stewart's status outside the "Twilight" franchise. (For Sanders, the stakes are also high: "Snow White" was his feature debut as a director.)