Hollywood Movies

When Hollywood came to town for the Australia premiere at Greater Union George Street recently, CINE BUZZ TV was there with Darren McMullen grabbing Hugh Jackman for a chat and talking all things outback, romance plus the buzz the film has created for our country.

With the closure of one of Sydney’s main streets, thousands of fans flocked to the premiere in the hope of catching a glimpse of Australia’s biggest celebrities. They weren’t disappointed!

Watch the Interview here

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Sydney becomes Tinseltown for a night

All the key cast of Twilight have signed on for the sequel New Moon, which is due to start shooting in the northern spring, ready for release in 2010.

That’s according to USA Today and MTV, although Entertainment Weekly casts doubts on whether Taylor Lautner (pictured) will return as werewolf Jacob, considering the 16-year-old is shorter and more boyish-looking than the way Stephenie Meyer described the character.

”We are definitely talking and thinking about it right now,” Erik Feig, Summit’s president of production, told EW. ”Taylor’s fantastic as Jacob in Twilight. I think when we get closer to shooting, the director is going to look at everyone as if they are brand-new to the role.”

That’s news to Catherine Hardwicke, who hasn’t signed for the sequel yet but is talking as if there’s no doubt she’ll take the reins again.

According to USA Today, Catherine says Taylor told her he’d gained 14 pounds (6 kg) since she’d last seen him. “I think he’s chanting to make himself grow,” she laughed.

Edi Gathegi is keen to go back to Portland to resume playing Laurent in New Moon, and to wear dreadlocks again.

“It

At the risk of hastily jumping to conclusions, I think it’s fair to say a sizable number of Aussies are enjoying Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, while Yank audiences are less enamoured.

The historical drama/romance rang up nearly $1.4 million here on Wednesday and about $1.2 million yesterday: a strong but not stellar start for the much-hyped movie.

Especially considering the $200 million epic seems to appeal chiefly to women aged 30 plus and middle-aged folk, who are not inclined to rush to cinemas in the first few days, unlike fans of say, The Dark Knight, Bond and Harry Potter.

Those figures suggest the film will end up making about $25 million in Oz, a very good result for any Australian movie, but not the blockbuster Baz and Fox were hoping for.

In the US, the Hugh Jackman/Nicole Kidman adventure fetched $2.5 million on around 2,600 screens on Wednesday- a distant No. 7 behind Twilight, the new Reese Witherspoon/Vince Vaughn comedy Four Holidays, Bolt, Quantum of Solace, Jason Statham’s Transporter 3 and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

That indicates Australia is on course to make about $18 million over the 5-day Thanksgiving holiday, at the low end of most pundits’ predictions, versus roughly $45 million for Twilight and $35 million for Four Holidays.

Fox will be hoping word-of-mouth keeps Australia on screen and earning money in the coming weeks as a bundle of new releases enter both markets.

Otherwise, as one US writer put it, the movie could go down as a low-grossing “Far and Away with Vegemite.”

See the rest here:
Lots of Aussies love Baz’s Australia; Yanks not so much

Slumdog Millionaire offers no stars or glitz, just an inspiring, rags-to-riches story of an illiterate orphan teenager from the slums of Mumbai.

Danny Boyle’s movie is being touted as a dark-horse favourite for the best picture Oscar, alongside much higher-profile contenders such as The Dark Knight, the Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett starrer The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the Meryl Streep drama Doubt and Kate Winslet/Leonardo DiCaprio’s Revolutionary Road.

Launched on November 12 on just 10 screens in the US, the film is drawing sizable audiences, an encouraging sign before it rolls out nationally; it opens here on Boxing Day.

The script by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty) follows 18-year-old Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) who dreams of escaping poverty when he competes in Who Wants to be a Millionaire?…until he’s arrested by the cops on suspicion of cheating.

“This is a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating at the same time, about a Mumbai orphan who rises from rags to riches on the strength of his lively intelligence,” raved Roger Ebert.

“Slumdog Millionaire has the goods to bust out as a scrappy contender in the Oscar race,” says Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers. “It’s modern India standing in for a world in full economic spin. It’s an explosion of color and light with the darkness ever ready to invade. It’s a family film of shocking brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse, a fantasy of wealth fueled by crushing poverty.”

The subject may seem a left-field choice for director Boyle, who’s known for gritty, confronting films like Trainspotting, The Beach and Shallow Grave, and zombie pic 28 Days Later.

“I always try to make films intense — intensely pleasurable or intensely frightening or intensely joyful,” Boyle says. “Intensity is something I go for. That’s how I judge things.”

Go here to see the original:
Slumdog Millionaire: a nugget among life’s rubble

This is my final week as a contributor to the blog. It’s been a real pleasure and a privilege to have brought you news, gossip, critiques and interviews on the world of cinema this year. Thanks very much for your support and comments. I’m leaving to pursue other interests, while remaining in the industry I love.

The rest is here:
And it’s goodbye from Don

When the producers of Marley and Me sent Jennifer Aniston a copy of the book on which it’s based, she didn’t want to read it.

She knew it was about a couple and their neurotic pooch, and, like many actors, didn’t fancy playing second fiddle to an animal.

Then she read John Grogan’s book, which reduced her to tears and she quickly realized it isn’t a silly story about the world’s worst dog.

Starring Aniston and Owen Wilson, the comedy/drama follows the couple over the course of their pet’s life as they build careers, have three children, make compromises, survive a tragedy and start to approach middle age.

The director, David Frankel, has a fair pedigree in the field of smart comedies: he helmed The Devil Wears Prada and episodes of Entourage and Sex and the City.

Frankel says he was initially reluctant to cast Jen, who’s 39, as her character ages from 22 to 40, until their first meeting. “When she came down the stairs, all of my anxiety went out the window,” he says. “Within five minutes I said, ‘It’s yours if you want to do it.’”

For Wilson, the movie marks a return to form after a year of personal hell. “Everything he went through in the last year really allowed for a beautiful performance,” says Aniston. “He arrives in this film.”

Marley and Me opens on January 1.

Originally posted here:
Jen and Owen: laughs and tears in Marley and Me

CINE BUZZ TV’s Darren McMullen sat down with Bond, James Bond recently to talk all things action, travel and women. Mr Daniel Craig talks about the latest adventure in the Bond franchise, Quantum Of Solace, which is setting box office records worldwide.

What’s it like to be JAMES BOND? Where on earth do they film all of the exotic scenes from the films? Has life changed after becoming 007? It’s all here.

Watch the Interview here

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We go one on one with Daniel Craig

When Bryan Brown starred in Aussie movie Winter of our Dreams back in 1981 with a young, starstruck actor no one had ever heard of in a supporting role, neither could have imagined they’d be working together, on a much, much bigger scale, all these years later.

The young bloke was Baz Luhrmann, who didn’t have much of a future in front of the camera
(he did appear in six episodes of A Country Practice), but he certainly made his mark behind the camera.

A fan of Brown’s ever since their first collaboration 27 years ago, the director cast the veteran actor as the scheming cattle baron King Carney in his romantic epic Australia.
Carney sets out to ruin Nicole Kidman’s Lady Sarah Ashley so he can seize her ranch Faraway Downs, the only property he doesn’t own in that part of the Northern Territory.

“It was good fun to play a character as colourful as Carney,” says Brown. “He

While most of the stars of Twilight are likely to be inundated with offers, Jackson Rathbone had already figured out what he’ll be doing for the next few months: pursuing his musical career.

Jackson, who plays Jasper, and his jazz/rock band 100 Monkeys are set to release their first EP and album, and will have a regular gig at the L.A. bar called the 24K Lounge.

Not that he’ll be neglecting acting. The 23-year-old plays a hippie in the Rob Schneider comedy Big Stan, now screening here; he’s completed the Donnie Darko sequel, S. Darko, as a nerd who falls in love with Darko’s younger sister; and he’s been in London shooting the Clive Barker horror film Dread.

Born in Singapore and raised in Texas, Rathbone (pictured with co-star Ashley Greene) loved playing Jasper, a vampire from the Civil War era who has the peculiar ability to control the emotions of people around him.

“I tried to keep it very stoic, calm and centred, to keep up the values that I believed Jasper was instilled with, when he was a kid,” he says. “I think those were fairly similar to the ones I grew up with.”

As for juggling two careers, he says, “I

Could an Oscar, which has eluded Kate Winslet ever since her breakthrough role in Titanic, finally be within her grasp?

Some pundits believe she has a strong chance of taking the best actress honours this year, with performances in two movies likely to appeal to Academy voters.

In Revolutionary Road, she re-teams with Leonardo DiCaprio in the tale of an unhappy couple in the 1950s who move to France to try to save their marriage.

Her character April is “steely, strong and brittle, capable of great highs and lows as well as massive uncertainty,” according to Variety. Directed by her Oscar-winning husband Sam Mendes, it opens here in January.

As Hannah Schmitz in The Reader, she really gets to show her mettle, aging from a sexy thirtysomething who seduces a teenager (pictured) to an elderly woman on trial for war crimes because of her work as a prison guard at Auschwitz.

Director Stephen Daldry (The Hours) originally wanted to cast Nicole Kidman but offered the role to Kate after Nic became pregnant during the filming of Australia. The Reader, which co-stars Ralph Fiennes, debuts here in February.

Kate has been nominated for an Oscar five times: best actress for Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Little Children; and supporting actress for Iris and Sense and Sensibility.

The 2008 best actress derby is rated by many pundits as the most competitive in years. Apart from Kate, the contenders could include Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Angelina Jolie (Changeling) and Meryl Streep (Doubt).

We do know one thing: Academy rules prevent any actor from being nominated twice in the same category in the same year. So Kate won’t know until the noms are announced whether voters have decided she’s better in The Reader or Revolutionary Road…or neither.

See more here:
Kate Winslet presses her claims for Oscar gold

If you enjoy the movie Twilight, chances are the follow-up, New Moon, will be even more exciting and eventful.

The sequel promises to be a much bigger, darker and more elaborate movie, filled with werewolves, Bella being attacked by Jasper, a near-suicidal Edward retreating to Rome, Laurent travelling to Alaska, and an expanded role for Jacob as a lover and fighter.

Director Catherine Hardwicke has said she expects New Moon will cost twice as much as the first movie, which had a modest $37 million budget.

Evidently she hasn’t signed on to make the sequel, although she has an option. I think Summit would be mad to entertain any thoughts of hiring a new director.

Reese Witherspoon laughs at internet rumours that she and Vince Vaughn didn’t hit it off during the filming of Four Holidays.

For the actress who’s had to get used to tabloid speculation and scrutiny after her marriage break-up, it was just another case of false reporting.

“Every co-star I ever work with I’m either having an affair with him, I’m about to get married to him, we’re having a baby or we absolutely cannot stand each other,” she says.

The truth is she and Vaughn co-produced the movie and re-wrote the script with director Seth Gordon.

They play a happily unmarried couple whose plans for an overseas holiday are scuppered, forcing them to spend Christmas Day with all four sets of their parents and assorted relatives.

The top-notch cast includes Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Voight and Sissy Spacek.

The only problem Vince and Reese had was their height difference- he’s nearly 2m tall, she’s a petite 1.57m. They solved that by having Reese stand on a box or ramp, and in their dancing scene he lifted her off her feet.

Launching in the US today, Four Holidays is tipped to earn about $35 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday– which may not be enough to take the top spot from Twilight in its second weekend. The comedy opens here on December 4.

Also opening in the US today is Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, which pundits predict will make around $22 million, appealing chiefly to older audiences. That could be a conservative estimate if Oprah’s recent endorsement persuades her viewers to go.

Young males are expected to turn out to watch Jason Statham kick butt in Transporter 3.

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Reese and Vince create sparks in Four Holidays

Jennifer Carpenter doesn’t like horror movies– which sounds a bit rich for an actress who starred in the chilling The Exorcism of Emily Rose and plays the sister of a serial killer in TV’s Dexter.

But she has a neat answer on why she took the lead role in Quarantine, a remake of a Spanish horror movie.

“I think people who like horror movies, like to see people who don’t like to be scared be scared - and I’m one of them,” she says.

Besides, Quarantine appealed to her as a gripping tale about a TV reporter (that’s her) and cameraman (Steve Harris) who get trapped in an apartment building.

It turns out one of the residents has a rare strain of rabies, so the authorities seal the building and cut off all phone, internet and TV access. Imitiating the Blair Witch Project, the scarifying events inside are captured on the cameraman’s video.

Unusually, the movie was shot in sequence, enabling the cast to rachet up their emotions as the plot builds towards the climax.

Carpenter is proud of the movie. “I’m sick of going to movies and like two minutes in thinking, ‘God, they stole my money again,’” she says. “You won’t have that experience here. This movie pays off. It’s really excellent. I’m really happy with it.”

Source:
Jennifer Carpenter loved being in Quarantine

Peter Facinelli, Twilight’s kindly Dr Cullen, was convinced the movie was destined to be a hit as soon as his 11-year-old daughter saw it.

Figuring she’d be a good barometer of Twilighters everywhere, Facinelli was both relieved and gratified when his daughter and 15-year-old niece both said they loved the film and found it truthful to the book.

“It’s the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet in a vampire world,” the actor, pictured centre, said on CBS’s Early Show.

“The story is told through Kristen Stewart’s character, so I think every girl is going through the journey that she is going through and she falls in love with this beautiful guy that they can’t be together for some odd reason - he’s a vampire and wants to kill her.”

One of the oldest cast members at 34, Facinelli didn’t find it much of a stretch to play the Cullen family’s patriach– especially as the book and movie make it clear he’s their adopted father.

And he relished the challenge of playing a vampire who tries to live as a human.

“He wasn’t very happy being a vampire so he kind of held on to every part of humanity that he could,” he says. “He formed this coven of vampires that are trying to live human in this little town. And he’s the local doctor and that is his way of giving back to humanity.”

Rob Pattinson hasn’t been everyone’s choice as the perfect Edward, but Facinelli is a fan, likening him to the “Elvis meets James Dean of the vampire world.”

Source:
Twilight’s Dr Cullen knew he was on a winner

Peter Facinelli, Twilight’s kindly Dr Cullen, was convinced the movie was destined to be a hit as soon as his 11-year-old daughter saw it.

Figuring she’d be a good barometer of Twilighters everywhere, Facinelli was both relieved and gratified when his daughter and 15-year-old niece both said they loved the film and found it truthful to the book.

“It’s the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet in a vampire world,” the actor, pictured centre, said on CBS’s Early Show.

“The story is told through Kristen Stewart’s character, so I think every girl is going through the journey that she is going through and she falls in love with this beautiful guy that they can’t be together for some odd reason - he’s a vampire and wants to kill her.”

One of the oldest cast members at 34, Facinelli didn’t find it much of a stretch to play the Cullen family’s patriach– especially as the book and movie make it clear he’s their adopted father.

And he relished the challenge of playing a vampire who tries to live as a human.

“He wasn’t very happy being a vampire so he kind of held on to every part of humanity that he could,” he says. “He formed this coven of vampires that are trying to live human in this little town. And he’s the local doctor and that is his way of giving back to humanity.”

Rob Pattinson hasn’t been everyone’s choice as the perfect Edward, but Facinelli is a fan, likening him to the “Elvis meets James Dean of the vampire world.”

See the original post:
Twilight’s Dr Cullen had the prescription for a hit

Nicole Kidman often gets an unfair press, but an attack on her casting in Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia by a London columnist is way, way over the top.

Slamming Nic as one of the world’s most over-rated actors. the Times’ Melanie Reed claims females– all of them, apparently–won’t go to see Australia simply because she’s in it.

“Kidman is one of those women who turns other women off,” the bitchy Reed says. “She is exquisitely accomplished at being awful.”

Mad Melanie names Cold Mountain, To Die For and Eyes Wide Shut among Nicole’s so-called worst performances– overlooking the fact that millions of people enjoyed them.

And she ignores The Hours, for which Nicole deservedly won an Oscar, and Moulin Rouge!, which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Prejudice and ignorance are not the hallmarks of a professional journalist, Melanie. And it isn’t even clear from her article whether she’d actually seen Australia when she wrote the poisonous article.

The Times’ critic Anne Barrowlcough didn’t pan Nicole’s acting, and she hailed the movie as depicting an Australia of the 1940s that is “at once compellingly beautiful and breathtakingly cruel.”

Her review concludes, “Australian audiences

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a masterpiece, a moving treatise on death, loss, loneliness and love.

So says Variety’s Anne Thompson in one of the first reviews of David Fincher’s ambitious movie, which stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

She tips Oscar nominations for both actors and praises the CGI work as a seismic shift in film-making.

Pitt is the title character, who, at birth, resembles a small E.T., with the mind and body of an 80-year-old.

Button ages backwards, and as a handsome young man embarks on passionate affairs with Cate’s Daisy and Tilda Swinton’s sophisticated Elizabeth.

“The movie is sadly beautiful, of a piece, as impeccably wrought as its ornate clock that runs counterclockwise,” says Thompson. “It may pack a more powerful punch the older you are and the more people you have lost.”

Scripted by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), the movie reportedly cost $150 million. Will it make money?

Pointing to the challenge of marketing a melancholy film about life and death, Thompson concludes, “This movie needs all the help it can get, from anyone who loves movies and wants the studios to take more risky bets like this one.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opens on Boxing Day.

Read more here:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: “sadly beautiful”

The Sex and the City sequel could start shooting in the middle of next year and be ready for release in 2010– if the filmmakers can settle on the storyline in the next couple of months.

So says executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker, who seems confident they’ll move ahead.

After tossing around many potential plot ideas, Parker and writer/director Michael Patrick King have found one they agree on. She offers no clues, except to rule out motherhood as an angle.

Most loved it, a small minority hated it, and quite a few have very mixed emotions.

Twilight has sparked strong reactions from cinemagoers in the US, judging by the chatter on numerous websites.

The majority of fans, according to the LA Times, believe the movie is faithful to the book, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are hot, showing plenty of sexual tension, and all the Cullens are great.

The detractors pointed to perceived flaws like the cheesy special effects, an unconvincing meadow scene, Rob wrestling with the American accent and Kristen blinking too much.

Just as it’s done everywhere else in the world, Quantum of Solace has rewritten the James Bond record books in Australia.

The 22nd Bond adventure has grabbed $11.6 million since its debut last Wednesday.

The 4-day tally of $9.58 million eclipsed Casino Royale’s first weekend by 44% and means it’s already beaten the latter’s opening week of $9.37 million.

That represents Sony’s second highest opening weekend of all time in Oz, behind the original Spider-Man.

Worldwide, the Daniel Craig starrer has amassed $418.5 million, including $109.4 million in its first 10 days in the US.

In Oz, Bond’s arrival left few scraps for the films already in release. Nights in Rodanthe took $530,000 in its third weekend (down 44%), to bring its tally to nearly $3.8 million.

Raunchy comedy Sex Drive rang up $442,000 in its second outing (easing by a moderate 33%), banking $1.42 million so far.

Read more from the original source:
Bond makes a killing in Oz

When I Am Legend smashed the opening weekend record for a vampire picture in the US, devouring $77.2 million, nobody could have imagined a low-budget vamp romance/thriller coming anywhere near close to that benchmark.

After all, Twilight boasts no superstars of Will Smith’s calibre, and the vampires have no fangs.

What it does have is the hot duo of Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart along with a bunch of other, good-looking fresh faces, and a fanatical army of Twi-hards who have propelled the movie to unimagined heights.

Twilight raked in an estimated $70.5 million in the US over the weekend, pulling in a much broader audience than the teen girls who adore Stephenie Meyer’s books.

Exit polls showed 75% of cinemagoers were female, but 45% were aged 25 and above. No wonder, as we reported yesterday, that Summit Entertainment confirmed the sequel, New Moon, will go ahead.

Twilight ended the one-week reign of Quantum of Solace, which tumbled by nearly 60% to $27.4 million in its second weekend, for a total of $109.5 million.

The vampires took a big bite out of the potential audience for Disney’s animated tale Bolt 3D, which mustered $27 million. The canine comedy, which features the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, opens here on January 1.

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Twilight, you’re a legend!

I bet the only people who weren’t shocked by Twilight’s humungous opening in the US last weekend were the fanatical army of Twi-hards.

I’m sure they never doubted director Catherine Hardwicke and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg’s ability to capture on screen the swooning romance, magic and suspense of Stephenie Meyer’s novel.

And is there a hotter duo right now than Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, along with the movie’s other fresh, good-looking faces?

Twilight raked in an estimated $70.5 million in the US over the weekend, pulling in a much broader audience than the teen girls who adore Stephenie’s books.

Exit polls showed 75% of cinemagoers were female, but 45% were aged over 25, and 63% said they planned on seeing the film again.

No wonder, as we reported yesterday, that Summit Entertainment confirmed the sequel, New Moon, will go ahead.

Twilight ended the one-week reign of Quantum of Solace, which tumbled by nearly 60% to $27.4 million in its second weekend, for a total of $109.5 million.

The vampires took a big bite out of the potential audience for Disney’s animated tale Bolt 3D, which mustered $27 million. The canine comedy, which features the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus, opens here on January 1.

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The world enters a new Twilight zone

True to their word, Summit Entertainment made their decision on a sequel to Twilight the day after the vampire romance opened in the US- and it’s a go!

That was inevitable after Twilight rang up an estimated $33 million on opening day, way above most pundits’ expectations.

That stunning figure, which includes $7.5 million from midnight sessions, points to a weekend tally of around $70 million.

On Saturday, Summit issued a media release announcing it’s moving ahead with the sequel, New Moon. It gave no details but Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is already working on the script, and you can bet Catherine Hardwicke will direct the next instalment.

Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson issued a statement to fans after learning the sequel will go ahead, thanking them for their support, saying “you’ve blown away all of our expectations.”

Stephenie Meyer’s second novel sees Edward decide to leave the town of Forks to try to keep Bella safe from the evil vampires. Bella becomes depressed and seeks comfort with Jacob Black.

After hearing Bella has died, Edward flees to Italy to see the Volturi, peace-keeping vampires who could kill Edward, enabling him to leave of a world without Bella.

Twilight will be the highest-grossing film ever by a female director in the US, beating Mimi Leder’s Deep Impact, which made $41.1 million in 1998, and could become the biggest vampire film of all time in the US.

Read the original here:
Twilight is a blockbuster, and New Moon rises!

True to their word, Summit Entertainment made their decision on a sequel to Twilight the day after the vampire romance opened in the US- and it’s a go!

That was inevitable after Twilight rang up an estimated $35.7 million on opening day, way above pundits’ expectations.

That stunning figure, which includes $7.5 million from midnight sessions, points to a weekend tally of around $70 million.

On Saturday, Summit issued a media release announcing it’s moving ahead with the sequel, New Moon. It gave no details but Twilight screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is already working on the script, and you can bet Catherine Hardwicke will direct the next instalment.

Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson issued a statement to fans after learning the sequel will go ahead, thanking them for their support, saying “you’ve blown away all of our expectations.”

Stephenie Meyer’s second novel sees Edward decide to leave the town of Forks to try to keep Bella safe from the evil vampires. Bella becomes depressed and seeks comfort with Jacob Black.

After hearing Bella has died, Edward flees to Italy to see the Volturi, peace-keeping vampires who could kill Edward, enabling him to leave of a world without Bella.

Twilight will be the highest-grossing film ever by a female director in the US, beating Mimi Leder’s Deep Impact, which made $41.1 million in 1998, and could become the biggest vampire film of all time in the US.

Continued here:
Twilight’s a blockbuster, and New Moon rises!

From midnight Thursday US time, millions of Twi-hards will start rolling up as the long-awaited movie launches on more than 3,300 cinemas across the States.

How many? Well, pundits’ predictions for Twilight’s opening weekend range from $44 million up to $70 million. Anything in that ballpark would be a great result for a film which cost just $37 million.

Yesterday afternoon, online ticketing services reported 2,000 sessions were sold out, including 600 midnight shows, and Twilight had reached No. 7 on Fandango’s top 10 list of advance ticket sales, beating Sex and the City.

Reviews have been mixed, predictably, with a 44% approval rating among critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes. I don’t think that will dissuade any Twilight fans. As Kristen Stewart says, the vampire romance has “everything that a young girl would sort of connect with. And you have a really strong female lead, it’s sort of complicated and really crazy and scary and convoluted and sexy at the same time.”

Ashley Greene, who plays Alice, believes guys will be hooked by the vampires, the fights and the ramped-up baseball scenes.

“When it boils down to it, it’s a really kind of epic love story,” she says. “It’s the story about two people who just can’t bear to be away from each other and I think everybody wants that, and everybody relates to that. Then you throw in the superhero powers and the glory of being a vampire and it just hits on every level.”

If Twilight hits big, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg says she expects the studio Summit to move quickly on the sequel, New Moon.

Also debuting in the US today is Bolt, Disney’s 3D animated tale of the dog who stars in a popular TV show, escapes from Hollywood and is shipped off to New York. Featuring the voices of Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, the canine caper is tipped to make about $40 million; it opens here on January 1.

Twilight: let the mayhem begin!