After all of the unexpected drama of Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke‘s removal from the series, the big question stood: who directs now? Well, it didn’t take long before we got our answer. Summit Entertainment has announced that The Golden Compass director and About A Boy writer Chris Weitz has officially signed to pen the adorable vampire follow-up, New Moon.

President of Summit Entertainment Erik Feig had this to say about the hiring:

Chris Weitz Also added:

Summit Entertainment is hoping for a late 2009, early 2010 New Moon release.

In New Moon, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire love, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black. Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested. Production on NEW MOON is scheduled to begin in the coming months and the studio is planning to release the film towards the end of 2009 or early 2010.

In interesting thing to note in the above official synopsis, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are mentioned as Bella and Edward, respectively, yet next to the character name Jacob Black, no actor is mentioned. In Twilight, the role of Jacob Black, a childhood friend of Bella who becomes a new love interest, is played by Taylor Lautner, but recent rumors are that Summit might not think Lautner can carry a lead role in New Moon. There were even rumors that Lautner’s agent wanted to show Summit what a bulked-up Lautner would look, so a digital rendering was created by the imaging team that worked on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Therefore, Lautner’s name being left off the synopsis only serves to fuel the fire of these rumors.