This weekend sees the end of Hollywood's four-year license to print money, as the final Twilight film, Breaking Dawn Part 2, hits theaters. Keeping pace with their standard process, they made it a point to release a heavily market-researched soundtrack to coincide with each film. Below are some highlights and lowlights from each.
Twilight Released in 2008, the first soundtrack for the film franchise actually debuted at number 1 on the Billboard charts and held that spot for two weeks before being dethroned by the unstoppable unicorn that is Taylor Swift. Stacked with the likes of Muse, Paramore, Perry Farrell, Collective Soul and Linkin Park, Twilight feels like a throwback to the early Aughts, when aggro-rock ruled soundtracks and served as a distraction when they popped up in the films. Just look at anything with a Marvel superhero, namely Daredevil, which was less a movie and more a commercial for Amy Lee's voice.
Peppered amongst the guitar-heavy whining were songs by series star Robert Pattinson (somehow not the worst song on the soundtrack), MuteMath and Collective Soul. Easily, the highlight of the soundtrack was Iron & Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth," which was included on the insistence of star Kristen Stewart, and serves as a signifier of the changes that would occur on the next soundtrack.