new moon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

As much as we might like to poke fun at Twilight now and again, there's no denying it's a multimedia juggernaut. Besides the books, you can read about the stars in their off-hours in celeb gossip mags, listen to Twilight-inspired bands like The Bella Cullen Project, read Twilght fan fiction, peep fan art, buy all the Twilight tchotchkes your heart could desire over at Hot Topic or Amazon (like this jewelry box!) and, yes, get inked with Twilight-inspired tattoos.

But unless Stephenie Meyer starts cranking out some more books about Bella and Edward, the four Twilight tomes are going to be the end of Bella and Edward on the big screen... right?

Not necessarily, according to Twilight's producers, who were caught on video by the folks over at RadarOnline.com at the 36th Annual Vision Awards this past weekend. RadarOnline's intrepid reporter tracked down Wyck Godfrey and Greg Mooradian at one of the awards parties and asked them about the possibility of a spin-off about the Volturi family.

For those not in the know -- myself included -- the Volturi family is the big daddy coven of vamps, the "de facto royal family" according to the extensive Twilight wiki. The cast list for New Moon's Volturi clan stands out because it includes Michael Sheen, star of Frost/Nixon, The Queen and Tim Burton's highly anticipated remake of Alice in Wonderland, and future Runaway Dakota Fanning.

While Greg Mooradian played coy, he left the door open for spin-offs depending on how well the saga does in theaters and "[where] the audience demands us to go from there."

Did you watch the New Moon trailer and wonder if wolfy Jacob would've been any more scary if he could morph into a little guinea pig?

You may have noticed that little hairy beasts are fighting their way to the big screen later this month with G-Force. To help kick off the film, which opens on July 24, Electric Spoofaloo has been holding a contest. Viewers pitch ideas for spoof trailers featuring the little hairy beasts, they're voted on, and then the site makes the pitches come to life.

There's a faux Harry Potter that isn't all that funny, but Spoofaloo really hits the nail on the head with their take on the New Moon trailer (which you can see after the jump). It works so well that it seems like Stephanie Meyer's world was just destined for guineadom. There's the dramatic kiss, and then Bella's cataclysmic paper cut that sends her whole life into upheaval. (Whoever knew that paper could be so destructive? Good thing no one ever got one at school during the few years Jasper went to Forks High.)

From beginning to end, it's all there, right down to a ridiculously beefy guy filling in for Taylor Lautner and exploding into a guinea pig -- one that looks just as frightening as that big, fluffy wolf. How sad is it when your menacing animal can be easily replaced by a hand-held pet? I mean, I have a tendency to think lots of scary animals look cute, but that's the least menacing movie wolf I've ever seen!

Honestly, I have no idea why any fan of Twilight would film themselves in full fan-girl mode and put it out into the world to open themselves up for ridicule and contempt on a global scale, but that's is precisely what they have done. To date, hundreds of fans have posted videos of themselves giddy with the prospect of a shirtless Taylor Lautner or a glimpse of the brooding 'deer-slayer' Edward Cullen in the first trailer for New Moon. The trailer premiered during the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and was released on the net soon after, and the dedicated have been streaming/downloading it ever since. According to MTV, there have been, "4.2 million online views in the first 24 hours, contributing to a total of 7.8 million streams in the first seven days." And those fans are showing no signs of stopping.

I don't know why, but watching these videos is fascinating; I mean, this is like a tween version of the 2 Girls 1 Cup Reactions. You have your choice of seeing girls watch it in stone faced silence (but you know their inner fan-girl is squealing) and then there are those who frankly you just kind of feel bad for them (if you want to see an exercise in humiliation take a look at some of the comments that follow these videos). Personally, I like to play a game where I try and pinpoint the exact moment that Lautner or Robert Pattinson appear on screen by the glazed look that slowly takes over, but I've got a strange sense of humor.

Check out our picks for the five greatest New Moon trailer reactions after the jump ...

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.

Alright, let's get the Twilight out of the way first. Entertainment Weekly has a couple of new images from the set of New Moon, and if anything, I suppose it's small solace that director Chris Weitz looks like he has this shoot on schedule for a November 20th release. For those of us who didn't know, this sequel concerns Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her divided love for both vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson - SQUEE!) and werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Maybe Kate Beckinsale should give her some advice on how to handle this...

Now, in somewhat related news, the rumor du jour as to which villain will play a part in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 has turned to Morbius, the well-meaning scientist (natch) who unwittingly transforms himself into a psuedo-vampire (no, thank you, Wikipedia!). The notorious showman plays coy when asked in this FearNET interview (that's hosted on... CHUD?), but then goes on about the appeal of vampires in a way that doesn't rule the possibility out...

Spider-Man 4 is scheduled for a 2011 bow, so let me use this as yet another opportunity to nudge you to support Raimi's very fun Drag Me to Hell this weekend.

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...

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?

Think what you will about the Twilight franchise -- they know how to give, young, hormone-ridden girls sexy boys to yearn for -- even the werewolves. In fact, this is just plain unfair. I don't have a werewolf fetish by any means, but I think it's a bit jerky that children of the '80s got Michael Jackson, Michael J. Fox, and Jason Bateman looking either scary or ridiculously hairy (in both the amount and look of the hair), while girls these days get washboard-abbed, shirtless hotties.

USA Today has nabbed a look at the wolf pack set to terrorize in New Moon, which you can see above (and over there with more leg). The chesty mens in question: Alex Meraz (Paul), Chaske Spencer (Sam), Bronson Pelletier (Jared), and Kiowa Gordon (Embry) ... plus, of course, Taylor Lautner who isn't pictured. (I wonder -- does Jacob Black dig Harry Potter and think of Sirius Black as a doggy idol?)

It might seem a bit silly to show all of their chesticles, but it's a big part of the job description: "It's not pleasant for the actors," says director Chris Weitz. "But they have all been good-natured. They show up on location in drenching, cold rain, and I say, 'OK, off with the robes.' "