Something funny happened at our local press screening for The Hurt Locker this week, and not in the film itself, which is decidedly not funny. The trailer attached to the film was for Sorority Row (pictured), a dumb-looking I Know What You Did Last Summer knock-off in which college students are harassed by a person they thought they'd killed. It was incongruous to see a cheesy horror flick advertised in front of The Hurt Locker, a complex action drama that many critics consider one of the year's best films. It was like screening There Will Be Blood with a trailer for Land of the Lost in front of it.

The reason for it, of course, is that The Hurt Locker and Sorority Row both have the same distributor, Summit Entertainment. When you go to the movies, some of the trailers are just whatever's in rotation, but one or two are usually from the same studio as the film you're watching, sent out with prints of that film with explicit instructions that they be attached. Big distributors (Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, etc.) usually have plenty of upcoming products and can choose trailers that target the same general demographic as the movie they're paired with. But Summit is small -- all they had to choose from was Sorority Row and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. (A Sorority Row trailer in front of New Moon -- now that would make sense.)

So I understand why this particular trailer came with this movie. But it was still a funny juxtaposition. I can't imagine anyone wanting to see both Sorority Row AND The Hurt Locker. Has anyone else ever noticed this phenomenon? If you've seen The Hurt Locker in theaters, was this trailer in front of it, or was it just for the critics' benefit? What other strange combinations of trailers and features have you noticed?

After the jump, the Sorority Row trailer, so you'll know what I'm talking about.

Earlier this year, Summit decided that they needed another franchise, one that would cater to those who don't particularly dig sparkly vampires. Their answer was Harry Houdini, and they optioned a controversial biography with an eye to making him an Indiana Jones type. If you were thinking "That's a pretty weird idea, I bet it'll never happen," it's become a little more solid today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit has hired Jeff Nathanson to adapt and direct William Kalush and Larry Sloman's biography, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero.

Kalush and Sloman's book claims that Houdini was an English spy, and was once offered an position at Tsar Nicholas II's court. (This means the movie will have him fighting Rasputin.) They also try to stir up a conspiracy theory around his unfortunate death, suggesting that he was murdered by the charlatans he enjoyed debunking. Summit has the idea of adding lots of action, and turning him into something akin to Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.

By all appearances, it looks like the gouging of Twilight fans is going to continue unabated. There I was thinking that $255 to attend a fan convention was a steep price, but as it turns out it can get much, much, worse -- because if a weekend talking Twilight just isn't enough, now you can get your own Twilight-themed vacation courtesy of Vancouver Twilight Saga Set and Sightseeing Tours. Their tag line is: "By Fans...For Fans," and if you believe their website, Twihards willing to make the trip to Vancouver are going to get an awful lot for their money.

The tours are run by self-proclaimed fans who will pick you up in a luxury car and take you on tailored excursions to relive moments from the film, visit sets from the latest installment, New Moon (just as long as you book your tour at the right time and aren't hauled off by security for trying to cut off a piece of Robert Pattinson's hair), or help you camp outside the cast and crew's favorite bars and restaurants for a photo op. They even guarantee that they will refund your money if you don't get to meet the star of your choice. Personally I would want to score a minute with Michael Sheen just to ask why exactly he agreed to be in this film, but that's probably just me.

So how much will all of this Cullen-goodness run you? Well, there is a sliding scale on the price tag, and it can get as cheap as $60 an hour or you can go for the Cadillac of tours and shell out two grand for a custom designed trip. With a price tag like that, you can guarantee that only the dedicated will be attending. But, at least unlike some other movie vacation-destinations, the Twilight fans don't have to schlep all the way out to New Zealand for their fan fix.

I don't know why, but vampires are back in vogue (I once read it had something to do with bad economies, but that might be stretching it). So even though we all knew this was coming, today it's official: Robert Pattinson (better known as dreamy bloodsucker Edward Cullen) will be returning for the fourth and final Twilight film, Breaking Dawn. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Pattison is "committed to starring in the final outing to date but doesn't know when backers Summit Entertainment will begin production because of the actor's jam-packed shooting schedule." The final book in Meyers series centers on *spoiler alert* Bella and Edward's marriage and her subsequent pregnancy -- and let me tell you, I read the book, and it's pretty out there.

Parts two and three of the series are already in production in Vancouver, and as much as I giggled my way through Twilight (and brother, did I giggle), I have higher expectations for New Moon. But that has a lot to do with the addition of Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning as the kind of vampire I'm a little more familiar with -- you know, the kind that are a little more bad-ass. In New Moon, Bella (Kristen Stewart) is struggling with the loss of her pigment-challenged boyfriend and growing closer to her childhood friend, Jacob. But don't worry girls, Pattinson's role has been beefed up in the second installment, and he told THR it was no easy task to make the role a little more exciting: "You're playing a figment in Bella's imagination so I was trying to do it in a 2-D way. I hope it doesn't translate onscreen as being boring." Pattinson's schedule is filling up, and he will take a break from all that 'glittering' to start work on the romantic drama Remember Me before heading back to Vancouver to start work on Eclipse (the third film in the series) in October.

After the jump; how Pattinson is trying to beat the curse of typecasting...

Shauna Cross, who wrote the screenplay for Whip It! and the book it's based on, has signed on to adapt the young adult book If I Stay, which will be directed by Twilight's Catherine Hardwicke.

Sounds like it will be a challenging write, because If I Stay's protagonist Mia is in a coma after a horrible car accident that killed both her parents. Similar to The Lovely Bones, the 17-year-old spends her time looking back on her life and watching her loved ones wrestle with this tragedy -- and deciding whether or not she still wants to live. It was positively reviewed by Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and I will definitely be picking it up ASAP. The book came out in April and is still in hard cover.

If you haven't read The Lovely Bones, please do pick it up -- and hide the razor blades. It's told from the POV of a young girl who was raped and dismembered who is looking down from heaven on her family, friends, and murderer. Bring your hankies for the big-screen version helmed by Peter Jackson that's coming out a few weeks before Christmas. Cheery!

The kicker is that Summit Entertainment, which severed its Twilight ties with Hardwicke after the first Twilight and brought on board Chris Weitz to direct The Twilight Saga: New Moon, is distributing If I Stay. Seems like this project will be more in tune with Hardwicke's strengths, who has proven she can handle teen subjects with sensitivity and depth, given the right material to work with. Cross is definitely one to watch (Variety said so!), and I can't wait to see what these two do with If I Stay. Sounds like some girl power is back in the house of Summit.

Has there ever been an easier target for a quick joke than the vamp phenomenon known as Twilight? Probably not, but what do you do when one of the people taking shots is the director? Over at /Film, Brendon Connelly dug up an old interview with David Slade (the newly crowned director of the third installment of the franchise, Eclipse) which addressed the likelihood of seeing the film, saying, "Twilight drunk? No, not even drunk. Twilight on acid? No, not even on acid? Twilight at gun point? Just shoot me."

So, as you can imagine, fans weren't pleased that the man in charge of the third installment in their beloved franchise found a bullet to the head preferable to spending two hours with Edward and Bella. Slade has since gone into damage control mode (probably to avoid the possibility of being attacked by glittering teens wherever he goes) and in an email to the Twilight Lexicon fan board Slade clarified that his earlier remarks were all in good fun, and that "... I have since seen the movie and read the books and was quickly consumed with the rich storytelling and the beautifully honest characters that Stephenie Meyer created. I would like to reassure everyone involved that I am invested in making the best film that I am humanly capable of, and that I am acutely aware of the power of the original books we serve."

After the jump: the downside of fandom and why there's still hope for the franchise...

I have to tell you, when it was announced that David Slade (Hard Candy) would be taking the reigns for the third installment of Twilight, I actually thought there was a chance the franchise could overcome its reputation as a pop-culture punch line. But, just because I'm willing to give the story of Edward and Bella another chance doesn't mean I'm up to attending a four-day convention. That's right Twihards, if you're willing to make the trip to Dallas on July 30th and shell out $255 per person, you can spend four days indulging in all things Cullen at TwiCon, the official Twilight fan convention.

So what exactly will $255 get you at the ultra-Gothic location of the Sheraton Dallas Hotel? Well, there will be vendors, panel discussions, a masked ball, Twilight inspired bands, and even some appearances from cast members. But before you get too excited, keep in mind that Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will not be in attendance; instead fans can line up for a chance to see Ashley Green (Alice), Peter Facinelli (Carlisle), Kellan Lutz (Emmett), and Jackson Rathbone (Jasper) in the (pale) flesh.

Even though Twilight fans usually get a bum rap, it's not like TwiCon is any sillier than other fan conventions out there. Fandom is a funny thing, and for most of us, how geeky you want to get is a personal choice. I mean, I may have spent more time than I care to admit reading Watcher Junior, but I'm not writing Xander and Spike fan fiction in my spare time (see what I mean about personal choices?). I guess in the end there really isn't that much difference between dressing up as Volturi for a fancy dress ball and getting in touch with your inner Klingon -- well, maybe not to me, but how about you?

The Twilighters can breathe a sigh of relief. After much speculation and breathless arguing, Drew Barrymore is no longer a contender to helm the third Twilight installment, Eclipse.

Barrymore detached herself from the project over at MTV News with her usual amount of charm: "Oh, I wish that I was! I adore that project and I adore the team that's making it. And I am very honored to now be a director and going up for other movies and being offered other movies as a director. I'm now an actor/producer/director! How lucky am I! [But] no, we're not going to do it together."

Barrymore's involvement was initially announced by Entertainment Weekly, and was quickly confirmed by the actress to AP reporters. "I'm one of the directors that is being talked about, which is great, because I'm a director now. But, you know, they'll make their choice."

Despite all rumors of Juan Antonio Bayona, Summit still hasn't made one ... but now you know one person it absolutely isn't. Fans will undoubtedly be pleased as "Not Drew Barrymore!" seemed to be the resounding cry whenever the topic came up on news sites and Twilight forums all across our great Internet. Despite that no one has seen Whip It!, I was in her corner on this one, and I am glad to see her name being tossed around a franchise, especially a girl-driven one that seems to have gone to the boys.

Sure, the Twihards among us have probably already purchased their very own womb, snagged some of those limited edition chocolate bars from Godiva and possibly even shelled out thirty bucks for a photo with the most famous hand model in the world. But the collectibles don't stop there, because there are still plenty of goofy tie-in product ideas rattling around the brains of marketing execs to keep fans busy until Edward and Bella are back on the big-screen staring longingly (or blankly depending on your point of view) at each other. The latest tie-in comes from the makers of Sweethearts (aka Conversation Hearts) and go by the ridiculously awesome name of 'Forbidden Fruits'. But these are not your mom's Sweethearts; these babies are covered in glitter and have Twilight themed quotes like 'Bite Me', 'Lamb', and 'I Trust You' written on them.

Shooting might have already begun out in Vancouver for the follow-up to the vampire romance, but other than a few casting announcements, fans haven't had much to keep them busy until New Moon's release later this fall. Well, maybe with the exception of the engaging in the odd criminal misdemeanor or hate mail campaign. Come to think of it; compared to some of the other behaviors from legions of fans, collecting candy seems downright wholesome. But if sugar isn't your thing and you still have a penchant for sparkly vamps; don't worry, there is still plenty of merchandise on its way for the devoted collector, including a board game, umbrellas, band-aids, and my personal favorite; Edward Cullen body glitter. Check out images of some Twilight merch in the gallery below.

New Moon will arrive in theaters on November 20th.