While it took until 2008 to get Robert Pattinson in glittery make-up and yellow contacts, the Twilight books initially kicked off in 2005. It's hard to say the books would have been as much of a global phenomenon without the movies, as even if they're not going to blow you away they certainly did a lot for middle-aged women in the late 2000s-early 2010s.
A key part of that was Pattinson himself, who played Edward Cullen. He's not been too kind to Twilight in interviews immediately following the end of the saga, but it seems he's softened on the films since. "It's amazing. I can't believe the cultural legs that movie has had," he told ExtraTV. "It's] just mind-blowing to me. It's so cool ... I get asked about it every single day ... I have such fond memories about the whole thing. I'm so grateful for it."
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Pretty soon, it'll be 20 years since the first film debuted, too, and we're almost certain there's going to be another round of interviews asking Pattinson the same question. As Twilight really kickstarted his career in Hollywood (outside of a stellar Harry Potter performance), it might be Pattinson owes a lot to the franchise. Or maybe he would have been just fine without it. That's up for people above my paygrade, in any case.