Taylor Lautner: From Werewolf To Superhero?

Heads up, Twi-hards — we might have a werewolf superhero on our hands!

Okay, maybe not a superhero who IS a werewolf — but Taylor Lautner, who plays the werewolf/giant ab muscle Jacob in New Moon, is apparently in talks to play Max Steele.

Who’s that? According to the LA Times, Steele is “a 19-year-old extreme-sports athlete who is accidentally exposed to the unleashed power of nanotechological machines, which become part of him and (in the old show, at least) give him increased strength, near-invulnerability and the ability to change his appearance.”

Additionally, the LA Times reports that Paramount has J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani — who are also slated to work on Rob Liefeld properties Capeshooters and Youngblood — on board to write the Max Steele script.

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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse To Be Released In IMAX

Summit Entertainment has announced that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will be released to IMAX theatres next June. For the few /Film readers interested, you can read the press release after the jump.

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT TO DISTRIBUTE THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE TO IMAX® THEATRES BEGINNING JUNE 30, 2010

Los Angeles, CA – December 9, 2009 – IMAX Corporation (NASDAQ: IMAX; TSX: IMX) and Summit Entertainment announced today that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film in the studio’s Twilight franchise, will be released to IMAX® theatres simultaneously with the film’s launch on June 30, 2010. Directed by David Slade (30 DAYS OF NIGHT, HARD CANDY) and starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX’s customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie. The film franchise is based on the book series by Stephenie Meyer.

“Twilight moviegoers will have a whole new way to experience this next installment of the series, with the enhanced image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience putting them IN the movie,” said Richie Fay, Summit Entertainment’s President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution. “The IMAX release puts us on the event film calendar for 2010, and we’re very excited to work with IMAX to bring a new kind of film to the IMAX theatre network.”

“Our 2010 film slate continues to fill out with strong titles, and a film from this incredible franchise is a very welcome addition,” said IMAX CEO Richard L. Gelfond. “This title fills a valuable spot in our 2010 summer release window, and will no doubt thrill IMAX audiences.”

“We’re very excited to work with our new partners at Summit Entertainment to transport the very loyal and enthusiastic Twilight fans into the world of the Volturi via The IMAX Experience,” added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “With our growing theatre network, we’re poised to take advantage of the rapidly growing fan-base devoted to this dynamic, cutting edge series.”

In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.

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Bryce Dallas Howard Plays Bad Girl In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

It seems that more and more Eclipse is becoming the Twilight film to pay attention to. First we caught word that David Slade would be directing the film—which is interesting not only because he’s a talented up and coming director, but because he’s also had some unkind words to say about the series (Slade has since distanced himself from his earlier remarks). Now we’ve learned from that Bryce Dallas Howard is taking on the villain role of Victoria, replacing Rachelle Lefevre who portrayed the character in the first two Twilight films.

The official reason for Lefevre’s departure is a “scheduling confict”, though you’d have to wonder what would convince someone to drop one of the biggest new film franchises. Hitfix points out that Lefevre has been a big supporter of the series who seemed adamant on making the time for Eclipse back in May, so there’s very likely a bigger story behind this casting change.

As for the addition of Howard, I’m certainly not complaining. While I’m far from looking forward to this film, I would be interested to see how the series ends up with higher caliber direction and actors. I wouldn’t be surprised if more of the lesser known actors in the series get replaced later on. The Twilight Saga is a franchise not unlike the budding comic film franchises we’re seeing now, and we’ve learned from The Dark Knight and Iron Man 2 that comic film casts aren’t really set in stone.

Discuss: Do you think this is a smart move for Bryce Dallas Howard? Are there any roles you’d like to see replaced in the Twilight series?

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Twilight Stars Looking Forward To Filming ‘Eclipse’

The back-to-back filming of The Twilight Saga: New Moon and a third installment, Eclipse, means that Twilight fans will only have to wait half a year for their next fix. The stars of the series have just shown footage of their first sequel at San Diego Comic-Con, and they’re getting ready to work on part three.

“We’ve been doing a lot of prep work,” said star Taylor Lautner (Jacob) in a group interview last week in San Diego. Co-star Kristen Stewart added: “There’s been a lot of rehearsal.”

David Slade (30 Days of Night) steps in to direct the third Twilight Saga film, bringing yet another new vision to the series from previous directors Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) and Chris Weitz (New Moon). “I’ve only met him twice while I was actually filming New Moon,” Lautner said. “I know that he’s been up there for a while, scouting locations and stuff. So I’m excited to get up there to talk with him and pick his brain. It’s really awesome to have the opportunity to work with so many different directors and work with their different styles. So I’m looking forward to getting to know David.”

Stewart is still busy working on the film she crammed in between Twilight films, playing rocker Joan Jett in the biopic The Runaways, and still has her Joan Jett hair to show for it.

“It’s hard to talk about [Eclipse] now,” Stewart said. “I still have four days of shooting left. I feel that what we’re doing is really important. I feel like what The Runaways did was really important, so trying to convey that is really awesome. It’s daunting, to say the least.”

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‘New Moon’ Stars To Appear At Comic-Con

FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: If you live in the San Diego area, we suggest you buy some ear plugs, stat. Variety is reporting that “New Moon” stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will appear at Comic-Con 2009 this week to promote the “Twilight” sequel. Cue the squealing teens!

Fans have been speculating for months whether the Saga’s stars would turn up for the event, with keen interest focused on RPattz who is in the middle of filming “Remember Me” in New York City. According to the report, Robert, Kristen and Taylor will participate in an off-site press conference Thursday morning and will attend a Hall H panel later in the afternoon at the San Diego Convention Center. (View an entire Comic-Con schedule of events here.)

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Thom Yorke In Talks For ‘New Moon’ Soundtrack?!?

Some things just go together like peanut butter and jelly, right? Well how about Radiohead front-man Thom Yorke and the vampire romance, New Moon? According to an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Moon’s director Chris Weitz spilled details about his plans for the music, and while Weitz will be working again with his Golden Compass composer Alexandre Desplat on the score, rumors have started to pop up about what’s in store for the soundtrack.

A few weeks back there was talk that Coldplay and Kelly Clarkson would be contributing to the official soundtrack, but music snobs out there might want to hold on to their hat because Weitz now tells RT the following: “I am surprised at some of the bands that have said they’re interested. It’s kind of great. The criterion will still always be what’s right for the movie at that given moment, but Thom Yorke is interested; we might, if we’re very lucky, get Kings of Leon to do something… ”

Now you might remember that Yorke provided the track for Radiohead’s 15 Step to play over Twilight’s closing credits, but I wonder if Yorke does sign on, will he be creating something original, or just hand over the rights to another one of his songs? We will have to wait and see, because neither Leon or Yorke have confirmed their involvement with the soundtrack, and like so much of the news surrounding New Moon, the rumors are running wild.

But Yorke’s spokesperson tells MTV that they were, “not denying [the story], but there’s nothing confirmed as yet” and Kings of Leon’s spokesperson told MTV “They like the film a lot, but it’s a little too early to tell if they can be involved.”

Thom Yorke in Talks for ‘New Moon’ Soundtrack?!?

‘Twilight: Eclipse’ Selects First New Cast Member - Xavier Samuel

Looks like the Twilight series is looking to launch one more career. Empire writes that Australian actor Xavier Samuel will join the cast of Eclipse, the third movie in the series due out in June 2010, playing Riley, “a newborn vampire…instrumental in an evil plot to kill” our heroine, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).

Odds are, you don’t know very much about Xavier Samuel, and unless you’ve seen movies like Newcastle and September, the odds are even slighter. It’s a notable casting choice, though, because Samuel is the first new face to join the cast of Eclipse, which will go in front of cameras later this summer.

As you know, Summit really, really, really wants to cash in now on the Twilight movies, so they’re rushing - perhaps too much - to get parts two and three in production and in theaters. New Moon opens a year to the weekend that Twilight opened to hordes of screaming fans. Eclipse follows about seven months later.

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Yen Press Moves Forward With ‘Twilight’ Graphic Novels

In the closest thing to printing money that we’ve heard about this year, Yen Press has the rights to graphic novels based on Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series, according to Entertainment Weekly. Art will be by Korean artist Young Kim, with Meyer “deeply immersed in the project, reviewing every panel,” according to the report.

This weekend’s issue of Entertainment Weekly will include finished illustrations of Edward, Bella, and Jacob.

This is the kind of deal that could be a transformational event for Yen, which has already been getting some titles in the top ten of late (see “Top 25 Manga Properties”). Like the first time the fledgling Fox network got NFL rights, Yen’s other properties will enjoy something of a halo effect from a property with the strength of Twilight (and it certainly wouldn’t hurt sales of Yen Plus if it included Twilight stories).

The impact of Twilight on the teen girl book buying audience has been cited as one reason for the decline in manga sales in the U.S. last year. Now the property has a chance to bring a new generation of readers to the art form.

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Will ‘Twilight’ Ruin This Year’s Comic-Con?

I’m not a Twilight hater. We wrote about the first film a few times, and received a ton of extra traffic as a result. But I learned quickly that it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Not only that, but it isn’t something most /Film readers are interested in. That’s why we generally don’t cover the Twilight films (aside from some trailers or page 2 items). Unlike others, I don’t feel threatened by the books, films, or insane fandom. Why should I? Twilighters can do their own thing, and it really doesn’t affect me at all… except for when it does. And the one time it might is at a place called Comic-Con.

Probably the most anticipated film at Comic-Con this year is James Cameron’s Avatar. But only second to Tron 2, a film almost 30 years in the making which was the surprise sensation of last years con. For those who don’t know, they have retrofitted the main hall at the San Diego Convention Center, Hall H, for 3D presentations this year — a Comic-Con first. What this means is that the first two panels in Hall H on Thursday are in 3D (Disney 3D and Avatar). I assume they did this so that they could easily pass out 3D glasses to those entering the hall in the morning. If they had held the 3D presentations later in the day, distribution of 3D glasses could have been complicated. Sounds logical, right? But not when you add Twilight into the mix.

Summit Entertainment’s panel takes place 15 minutes after the close of the Avatar presentation. Anyone who attended last year’s Comic-Con can attest to how much of a cluster-&$#% was caused by Twilight’s presentation in Hall H. Hundreds of tweens and Twilight Moms/Dads camped overnight to be the first ones into Hall H. By the time the “normal people” began to line up hours before doors were set to open, thousands of Twilighters were already in line.

Hall H fits 6,000-6,500 people , yet many people were shut out of the opening 20th Century Fox panel, and when the Summit panel began you couldn’t even hear yourself think as four or five thousand Twilight fans screamed in unison. It was a bit sad seeing a 50-year-old Twilight Mom asking a 22-year old Robert Pattinson if he wears boxers or briefs, but Im not writing today to talk about that. When the Summit panel ended, Hall H rapidly emptied, as more than 80% of the people exited the building. The rest of the day/weekend became a lot less stressful. But a lot of the people that wanted to attend the early morning panel missed out.

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‘Twilight’ Saga ‘Spinoff’ Possibilities Explored

FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: Though the blood has barely dried on the set of “Twilight” sequel “New Moon,” talks are now turning toward the future of the saga once the final installment, “Breaking Dawn,” debuts on the big screen. More specifically, producers may be eying a spin-off.

Radar caught up with “Twilight” producers Wyck Godfrey and Greg Mooradian at the 36th Annual Vision Awards, where the duo said there could be more bloodsucking action to come. “Stay tuned. I think if our movies do as well as the first did all possibilities are out there. But right now we need to finish what we have and finish Stephenie’s vision as best we can and then let’s see where the audience demands us to go from there.”

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