Melissa Rosenberg had been working on adapting the novel prior to Twilight's release and handed in the draft for New Moon during Twilight's opening weekend in November 2008. "I would sit down at ten o'clock in the morning and work on [the script]… until six o'clock in the evening." Rosenberg spent the months of October though June 2008 alternating between writing for the Showtime television series Dexter, and writing New Moon on weekends. She and Meyer kept in touch during this five-month period. One of the key changes the Screenwriter made while adapting the book was the decision to take Edward's voice in Bella's head and make it visual. This change caused the first confrontation between the two main characters, one an "apparition", to be emotional. For the screenplay, the four men who Bella approaches needed to create a significant and dangerous situation, and so Rosenberg gave these men motorcycles. "I added the motorcycles, [mainly] because… they became an important part of [Bella's] relationship with Jacob."
Many theater showings sold out as early as two months prior to New Moon's release date. The film set records for advance ticket sales, causing some theaters to add additional showings. The film is also the biggest advance ticket seller on Fandango, surpassing Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. New Moon accounted for 86 percent of Fandango's online ticket sales the weekend before the film was released, and its total morning ticket sales on November 20, 2009 are estimated to total $13.9 million.
In February 2009, Summit Entertainment scheduled a film adaptation of Eclipse, the third novel in the Twilight series, for release on June 30, 2010. Weitz would not be able to direct the third film of The Twilight Saga as it would be filming while New Moon would be in post-production. David Slade was therefore confirmed as the Director of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on April 22, 2009.
