Twilight Movies in Order: Release and Chronological

The Twilight movies in order of release are five films, running from 2008 to 2012, and that is also the order to watch them in. Here is the full list with US release dates and runtimes:

1. Twilight (2008), directed by Catherine Hardwicke, released November 21, 2008, 122 minutes
2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), directed by Chris Weitz, released November 20, 2009, 131 minutes
3. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), directed by David Slade, released June 30, 2010, 124 minutes
4. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011), directed by Bill Condon, released November 18, 2011, 117 minutes
5. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012), directed by Bill Condon, released November 16, 2012, 115 minutes

Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen lead all five films. Taylor Lautner, who plays Jacob Black, is billed tenth in Twilight (2008) and third in every film after it. The full list of credited actors sits on the Twilight cast page.

Four directors handled the five films. Hardwicke made the first, Weitz was hired for The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) after Hardwicke's exit (Screen Daily reported the hire in December 2008), Slade took The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), and Condon directed both halves of Breaking Dawn, which were shot back to back. The two Breaking Dawn films also share a composer in Carter Burwell, so, in my opinion, they play like one long story cut in half.

The release rhythm was close to one film every November. Twilight (2008), New Moon, Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Breaking Dawn Part 2 all opened in the US in the second half of that month, while Eclipse arrived on June 30, 2010, roughly seven months after New Moon. The animated series Twilight: Midnight Sun, which Netflix ordered in September 2024, is television rather than a film and has no release date, so it does not belong in this list. For the franchise overview, see the Twilight movies hub.

If you are new to the series, start with Twilight (2008) and watch all five films in release order, because the story never loops back and skipping a film leaves the next one without its setup. That is the plain answer to how to watch the Twilight series. The rest depends on who is on the couch.

For families, the official ratings are the best guide. All five films carry PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK. In Australia four are rated M and Breaking Dawn Part 1 is rated MA15+, so a parent planning a marathon for a younger teen will want to check that one first. I would rather point to those labels than invent an age cutoff of my own.

Time is the other question. The five runtimes add up to 609 minutes, which fits two evenings and a long Saturday, or one committed weekend (with snacks, naturally). In my opinion, the best place to pause is after Eclipse, since Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Part 2 are happiest watched together.

If you are tempted to skip New Moon, perhaps because the Cullens leave Forks early on, it could be argued that it is the easiest cut. I would resist it. The Volturi arrive there, with Michael Sheen as Aro and Dakota Fanning as Jane, and both return in Breaking Dawn Part 2, where the payoff would land flat without that introduction.

As for streaming, JustWatch data via TMDB, checked November 3, 2026, lists all five films on Netflix in the US and the UK, and on Stan in Australia (Netflix also carries the first three in Australia). If you want to compare the books and the films afterward, Twilight books vs movies is the place, and the Twilight movies ranked page shows how we order them. Pick your country on where to watch Twilight, press play on Twilight (2008), and save both Breaking Dawn films for the same evening.