'Twilight' sets new record for biggest opening weekend for a female-directed film

London, Nov 25 : 'Twilight', a fantasy romance in which a girl falls in love with a vampire, has set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a female- directed film, taking 70.6 million dollars.

The film, which topped the North American box office, is directed by Catherine Hardwicke and is based on the first of a series of novels written by US author Stephenie Meyer.

'Twilight' easily broke the previous opening weekend record set by a female-directed film - Mimi Leder's 'Deep Impact', which took 41.1million dollars on its opening weekend in 1998.

The film Harry Potter actor Robert Pattinson as the vampire Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as the bookish schoolgirl Bella Swan.

Its release was brought forward a month to plug the gap left by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which has been pushed back to summer 2009.

Producers Summit Entertainment has already announced a follow-up to the film, based on the second of Meyer's books, New Moon.

Hardwicke is in negotiations to direct the second instalment.

"I want to be sure that it's going to be done right. I don't want to rush into it," BBC quoted Hardwicke, as saying.

"It's not like Friday the 13th or Halloween; you can't just do it super-fast and knock another one out. I want to understand their plans and all that," she added.

ANI