Washington (ANI): Hollywood actor Robert Pattinson has been forced to pull out of a new independent film to star in Twilight sequel. Robert, who witnessed meteoric rise to stardom after he played the romantic lead in the Twilight, which became one of 2008's biggest box office hits, has signed up for New Moon.

After Twilight became a major hit, studio bosses were eager to sign up the star for a sequel immediately - reportedly offering Pattinson a multi-million deal to tie him into future big screen adaptations of the Stephanie Meyer's cult series of books. Robert was scheduled to shoot the movie in early 2009, but studio executives are keen to start filming on New Moon in order to ride on the success of Twilight. The movie is slated for a 2010 release.

"Unfortunately, the prep time and production schedule on New Moon haven't left enough time for Robert to work on Parts Per Billion in the first quarter of this year,” Contactmusic quoted a representative for Robert, as telling MTV.com.

by:newszoom