eclipse Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to predict some healthy box office returns for the upcoming Twilight movies, New Moon and Eclipse. Though as the films (and books) gain in popularity, so do the amount of people who want in on some of that action. Enter: Glynis McCants, a numerologist who believes that by adding up the numbers in the movie's release dates, she can expertly predict good things in the near Twilight future.

According to McCants, when the original Twilight hit theaters last year on November 21, 2008, because the numbers ultimately added up to a 6, that meant the film was magnetic and we were all drawn to it without having a choice in the matter. McCants goes on to reveal the same sort of good vibes for the release dates of both New Moon and Eclipse, and even notes that Summit Entertainment may have picked these dates for a reason ... because they knew they'd have success ... because the numbers all added up to a 6. Or because they knew every other Hollywood film would steer clear of the mega vampire box office killer since they'd be up against a powerhouse.

So what do you think? Is Summit Entertainment in cahoots with the number gods, choosing release dates simply because the numbers add up to good things? Or is this chick just completely out of her mind. Watch the video after the jump and let us know ...

MTV, an outlet I don't believe has ever covered the Twilight franchise, is reporting that Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night director David Slade has visions of turning Eclipse, the upcoming third film in Stephenie Meyer's paranormal romance series, into a film guys may actually want to bring their dates to. One may assume their source for this speculation should have been as obvious as David Slade's historical track record - revenge-loving jail bait and deformed, snow-covered throat-rippers don't exactly scream PG-13 hugs and cuddles - but their actual informant is Eclipse co-star Ashley Greene:

"The first one was very focused on this love story and really sweet and it was beautiful, but it didn't have a lot of stuff that guys would go, 'Yeah, I want to go see that,' " she said. "There's going to be a lot more focus on [action], and the fight scene will have more emphasis on it. I definitely think it will be a little more guy-friendly."

Now before you doubt how a singular fight scene designates a film more "guy-friendly", keep in mind that Greene is referring to only her character's big showdown, which apparently has left the young actress, who plays Alice Cullen, adopted sister to dreamboat Edward Cullen, bruised from all the stunt training. MTV is quick to point out that the novel culminates in "a climactic battle of vampires and werewolves", which certainly sounds like something basic enough to attract a tree-chopping, tobacco-chewing, barrel-chested king of men like me... until I remember that we're talking about a franchise that makes that which normally bursts into horrific flames sparkle like an '80s be-dazzler in sunlight.

The neverending web of Twlight continues to be weaved:

New Moon hasn't even hit screens yet and Eclipse has already started filming, which means the final casting nibbles have been released. After Xavier Samuel as Riley and Bryce Dallas Howard as the new Victoria, Jack Huston grabbed Royce King II (Rosalie's evil human ex), the super-cute and creepy Jodelle Ferland grabbed Bree, and finally, we've got the wolfy Clearwaters. Vanessa Hudgens aside, the LA Times reports that Julia Jones will play Leah, while BooBoo Stewart grabs Seth. Jones most recently played Dr. Kaya Montoya on ER, and the ridiculously named BooBoo (who will hopefully put aside the Boo soon) is an ex member of Disney's T Squad, and has popped up in recent films like The Last Sentinel.

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter posts that the series' fan conventions are going on tour. Methinks they want all those fans to save on travel costs so that they may save their first born for the autographs and photos. What cities will soon be trampled by Twihards? The tour kicks off in Parsippany, New Jersey, before heading to cities like: Chicago, Toronto, Miami, Seattle, Minneapolis, Nashville, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Charlotte, Boston, Phoenix, and Atlanta. No city is safe!

The world of Twilight never seems to end. Lately, we've had everything from Teen Choice Award sweeps and casting drama, and here's a little more for the rabid fiends out there:

First, it looks like joining Eclipse was a chance for Bryce Dallas Howard to reconsider a turned-down role. While Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke couldn't enlighten us more on the Summit kerfuffle, she did tell Just Jared that the series is finally getting their first choice: "I know we originally asked Bryce Dallas Howard to do the first movie, but she thought it was too small a part at the time." I guess a world-wide phenomenon was enough to whet her appetites and pounce like a hungry cat when Rachelle Lefevre got embroiled in schedule drama. Sneaky Opie-offspring.

What started out as a surprising casting twist has quickly turned into an argument. First, Rachelle Lefevre wasn't trying to move on to bigger and better things by leaving vampires behind. Right after news that Bryce Dallas Howard would replace the Lefevre as Victoria in Eclipse comes a rather surprising statement the actress sent to Entertainment Weekly. Much like Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2, the Twilight recast has stunned the actress in question. According to Lefevre, she's out because of a 10-day overlap between Eclipse and Barney's Version. "I turned down several other film opportunities and, in accordance with my contractual rights, accepted only roles that would involve very short shooting schedules."

Going by this alone, the whole mess seems quite fishy. One would assume that Summit would've warned the actress about when she'd be needed, and likewise, that she'd make sure there was no conflict before accepting outside work.

Well, Summit's press release answers those questions. They have expressed their disappointment right back at Lefevre, and paint an entirely different picture. Summit says she was advised in April about August production, that she waited a month after accepting the second role before alerting them, etc, etc. Basically, their position is that she screwed them over. (You can read the release after the jump.)

So there you have it. Will Lefevre fight back? Stay tuned!

Sorry Twihards -- Rachelle Lefevre is moving on before her character can wreak havoc on Forks. An announcement has just been sent out that the actress won't be coming back for Eclipse, and instead, Bryce Dallas Howard will take over the bloody mayhem when production begins on August 17. As The Hollywood Reporter explains, Lefevre found a gig in the indie drama Barney's Version -- the Mordechai Richler adaptation I posted about in April -- and it starts production on the same day. It may be in Canada as well, but there's a whole lot of land between Eclipse's Vancouver and Version's Quebec.

And talk about a crappy time for scheduling conflicts. She was the moody vamp girlfriend in Twilight, gets to haunt around here and there in New Moon, and then really kicks into gear with Eclipse, cooking up one heck of a revenge scenario to kill Bella and avenge the death of her love, James. Basically, Lefevre has bowed out just as things get really interesting for her character.

And what about Howard? Is she a good replacement? She's got a whole different look than Lefevre, so we can surely expect to see a whole different kind of VIctoria. Let's just hope that Eclipse does better than Howard's other recent blockbusters -- Spider-Man 3 and Terminator Salvation. Or, well, a lot of her other work, for that matter.

The first big casting announcement is at hand. There has been a whole deluge of rumors about who would play Riley, Victoria's new right-hand man (of sorts) in Eclipse, the third installment of Twilight. Now the question has been answered. The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog reports that Australian actor Xavier Samuel will play Riley. If you have a thing for Down Under cinema, you might have seen him in Newcastle or September.

Now that I've actually read the Twilight series, there are two big question marks that loom overhead. For a vamp romance more concerned with cuddling than combat, one focused on the romantic inclination of tween and teen girls, how on earth will they deal with the bloodletting of the last two books? ...and with that, I give you a SPOILER ALERT...

Anyway... How will they deal with the showdown between Edward and Seth and Victoria and Riley, and then in Breaking Dawn, the bloody release of Renesmee and the vampification of Bella? Meyer might shy away from the particulars of Edward and Bella's romantic life, but she wasn't shy when it came to either of these two events.

Should things go along like the book, we'll see this cute Aussie lad literally ripped to pieces, and not just one subtle bite-and-spit like Edward performed in Twilight. Somehow I don't think the scene will make it as is. One, this is a highly youth-centric story and while some sexiness flies, decapitation is usually frowned upon. Two, it'd make time for more cuddling.

But what say you, Twihards?

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...

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...

This just in: David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy) will be directing the third film in the Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Might not be the first guy to pop in your head, but he's obviously capable of delivering believable vampires (and Josh Hartnett as someone you want to root for in a film -- big points for that) while upping the tension, and he's definitely the kind of guy who could bring more male moviegoers to the franchise. Sh*t, I kinda want to see the film now.

Nikki Finke reported the Slade talks earlier today, and a press release announcing his hiring was released shortly thereafter. Eclipse is currently scheduled to hit theaters on June 30, 2010, right smack in the middle of summer blockbuster alley. Will this film rule the summer of 2010 and outshine Iron Man 2? Shocking, perhaps, but these look to be the top contenders.

What do you think of Slade directing Eclipse? Good choice? Bad one? Check out the press release below.

Summit Entertainment announced today that David Slade has been hired to direct THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE from a screenplay written by Melissa Rosenberg. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, the third film in the studio's TWILIGHT film franchise based on the Stephenie Meyer's blockbuster book series, will be released theatrically in North America on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. The announcement was made by Erik Feig, Summit's President of Production.

Meyer stated, "I am thrilled that David Slade will be directing ECLIPSE. He's a visionary filmmaker who has so much to offer this franchise. From the beginning, we've been blessed with wonderful directorial talent for the Twilight Saga, and I'm so happy that ECLIPSE will be carrying on with that tradition."