'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' DVD - Summit Ent,

If you happen to live in some of the United States' most major metropolitan areas and you are a Twilight fan, a new incentive to attend some of the midnight The Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD release parties across the nation has just presented itself.

Summit Entertainment, Twilight film studio and owner of the Official Twilight Twitter page, has just announced a wealth of planned cast and filmmaker appearances for some of these New Moon release parties, and the list is as follows (with talent and city listed):

• Peter Facinelli ("Carlisle") in New York City
• Edi Gathegi ("Laurent") in Pittsburgh
• Chaske Spencer ("Sam") and Tyson Houseman ("Quil") in Atlanta
• Melissa Rosenberg (screenwriter) in Seattle
• Justin Chon ("Eric"), Christian Serratos ("Angela"), and Michael Welch ("Mike") in Salt Lake City
• Charlie Bewley ("Demetri") in Denver
• Elizabeth Reaser ("Esme") in Phoenix
• Kiowa Gordon ("Embry") and Tinsel Korey ("Emily") in Cincinnati
• Daniel Cudmore ("Felix") in Houston
• Chris Weitz (director) and Nikki Reed ("Rosalie") in Los Angeles

Specific venues in these cities are not listed, but if you show up at a party in one of these locations, you might just get to see a New Moon star live and in person!

Also new in the New Moon world are a few new clips from the DVD, released by various sources, that show new material and behind-the-scenes content from the film.

For instance, a new deleted scene from the picture, featuring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson is available here, while MySpace and Access Hollywood have delivered the following two clips.

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'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' - Summit Ent.

A few months ago, it was announced that The Twilight Saga: New Moon was up for Fandango's ShoWest Fan Choice Award, and that its competition ring was pretty vast (including the following films: 2012, Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Avatar, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian, Star Trek, The Blind Side, The Hangover, The Proposal, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Up, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

Today, MTV announced that New Moon beat out its competition with a whopping sixty-six percent of the total user vote.

MTV also quoted a Fandango representative to say that while many people might've expected Avatar (which has raked in ticket sales to the tune of over  two billion dollars) to win, "never bet against the passion, loyalty and dedication of the vociferous 'Twilight' fans."

Too true.

Twilight won the award last year also.

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'Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 1' - Hachette Book Group

Remember the first time you read Twilight? You were probably consumed by the settings, the characters, and the romance, and you were likely surprised by your passion for and involvement with the story. Chances are, you even became subject to the thoughts and emotions that Bella felt as she described meeting her first and perfect love, Edward Cullen. 

Well, Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 1 offers that very intensity . . . that inertia into this fantastic world that you wanted to be a part of in whichever way possible. 

Released today, the book really transforms the story of Twilight. Even the prologue is given a new face with the graphical accompaniments offered by Young Kim, designer of this book.

In the forward acknowledgment, Stephenie Meyer states that she not only loves the book but that when it was being created, "Young . . . would send me a new set of drawings . . . and suddenly I would be feeling all the same things I felt that first summer while I was writing their story."

Twilight fans who read this book will probably enjoy the same experience - a return to that first encounter with the story of these characters.

What I liked about Twilight: The Graphic Novel was the way that Young Kim decided to depict the scenes we've known and loved for all this time. The book has the unique advantage of being the first thing that precisely coupled physical, visible features for the characters with the words and phrases that Stephenie Meyer presented us in her book. Young Kim, in making the Graphic Novel, seemingly did not take this opportunity for granted (or lightly).

Little nuanced details, like the rocking chair in Bella's bedroom and the curls in Jessica Stanley's hair, became an unspoken (but beautifully done) part of the story in this book. Instead of describing Jasper Hale's height and hair color, the book presents that character in observable form (and so on for other features). Twilight fans have an advantage here because we already know what to look for, but it's written and drawn so that even the most avid of us all will be pleasantly surprised - especially by the caliber of Kim's artwork.

Also, Young Kim has done well to leave critical moments in Bella's thoughts right there on the page when they couldn't (or shouldn't) be drawn out. For instance, the day after Bella and Edward have finally spoken for the first time in Biology class, Bella thinks (and this is written out in the Graphic Novel) "despite all the snow and ice, I was eager to get to school. If I was being honest with myself, I knew it was because I would see Edward Cullen. And that was very, very stupid."

In a recent interview that Young Kim did with USA Today, she stated that "It is always difficult to visualize text, since everyone has a different interpretation of it, but I tried to be as faithful as possible to the descriptions in the book, and Stephenie's review and input were greatly helpful."

The words, phrases, thoughts, and pictures chosen to be a part of this book were clearly cherry-picked with incredible respect for the material at hand as well as Stephenie Meyer and her beautiful words.

My favorite thing about the book is how certain pages were chosen to be in color. I won't spoil anything (because it was so exhilarating each time a color page came up), but I will say that the scenes and details chosen for color printing were so appropriate and lovely.

Not only will Twilight fans be pleased with the results of Young Kim's work in Twilight: The Graphic Novel Volume 1, but chances are, they'll find that it offers an escape into the world of Forks like that which was only experienced in reading Twilight for the first time. It is a well done and methodical bit of tribute to Twilight that we can all enjoy.

Twilight: The Graphic Novel: Volume 1 was released today, and it is available at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, Target, and other locations.

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'Breaking Dawn' by Stephenie Meyer - Hatchette Books

One of the things Twilight fans most look forward to is that moment when the reality that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn is coming to fruition sets in.

Until then, we speculate about the varying potentialities for the film: two films versus one; 3-D or not 3-D; Portland or Vancouver; who will direct this movie (or these movies)?

Well, Entertainment Weekly has a very interesting new bit of insight as to the last bit at least and reports that a decision as to which filming location will be chosen is still in the works.

According to them, at least three, very high profile directors have been vetted for the post of directing the fourth portion of the Saga.

"Sources tell EW that the studio has reached out to at least three top-notch directors, including Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Gus Van Sant (Milk), and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) to gauge their interest in what is likely to be two movies."

They also reported that Van Sant's representatives confirmed him as having been approached for the picture.

Twilight Lexicon makes a really good point about this issue, saying "Summit will tell us details about Breaking Dawn after the Eclipse major marketing wave is over" because "like most companies, they like to focus their marketing and newscycle on one major product at a time."

A lot of folks speculated that the news would come after a successful showing for New Moon, but it makes sense that announcement of this sort of magnitude would be held off until The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has had its day (or weeks, months) in the theater.

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'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' trailer screencap

Okay, so if you were wondering whether that was an engagement ring on Bella (Kristen Stewart)'s finger in the meadow scene from the first The Twilight Saga: Eclipse trailer, wonder no more.

MTV's Hollywood Crush has an interview with Tish Monaghan, costume designer for the film, and she has confirmed the fact that there was indeed a ring on that finger.

Additionally, Monaghan talked about other aspects of costuming for the movie, including the more casual nature of Edward (Robert Pattinson)'s wardrobe.

"Rob only wore the suit in the last film because of a continuity theme," the costume designer explained. "He wore it for Bella's party, and then he never changed. In 'Eclipse,' he is back at school, and dressing generally, more casual and more relaxed."

She went on to explain the take and process for selecting wardrobe pieces for the various characters, and you can read the full interview here!

Thanks: His Golden Eyes

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'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' - Summit Ent.

Since the DVD for The Twilight Saga: New Moon is less than a week from release (available starting at midnight on March 20th, but you already knew that), there are a ton of promotional, behind-the-scenes videos from the film making their ways to the surface.

Some of the videos show scenes in action and what the actors and director Chris Weitz had to say about them, while others show various set details - the costuming of Bella (Kristen Stewart in the film) for instance.

It seems that a lot of these pieces are related to the six-part behind-the-scenes documentary available on all editions of the New Moon DVD, but of course there is no way to be sure of that until the actual DVDs are available for perusal.

In the meantime, though, you can also head over here and check out a sneak peek at some of the DVD menu options.

Oh, and as a reminder, locations for midnight release parties for the New Moon DVD are now searchable through the Official New Moon website.

Thanks: Thinking of Rob

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'Twilight' - Summit Ent.

Since the beginning, producer Wyck Godfrey has been involved in the production process on the three films: Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

In a new interview (which you can listen to in full here), Godfrey talked about how he and Summit Entertainment came to be responsible for the development of these films . . . and how the budgets for these three films rank.

Godfrey also talked about his perception on the three film directors: Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz, and David Slade.

"That's something we felt very strongly about . . . when you've got the same characters, same locations . . . you want a different visual style."

"For me at least, what Catherine was able to do with Twilight was capture that insular obsessive love. It was a very subjective movie, you really felt like you were with this girl . . . you know, the details of Edward's face, it was so inside the mind of a teenage girl. Very intimate," he said.

"With New Moon, you know, I feel like Edward's ripped away from her, and in a sense the coldness of Edward is replaced by the warmth of Jacob . . . so Chris was someone that I thought could . . . open up the movie a little bit more. . . . The movie visually needed to expand . . . We wanted a little bit more of an epic quality to New Moon," he continued about the second.

"David Slade, I think for me, what he's brought to Eclipse is the sense of danger and sort of the darkness that takes place as she has to evaluate what becoming a newborn vampire will be . . . as Bella decides ultimately what she's going to become, she comes face to face with Victoria and the newborns . . . I knew he'd be able to handle the film visually," Godfrey explained about the third.

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Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart - AP Photo

It's hardly surprising, to anyone, that the cast of actors and actresses in the Twilight series has become influential members of film society.

According to Forbes, that influence may be a little mightier than we previously suspected.

Along with the cast of Harry Potter, Twilight's group made one of the biggest showings on the list of 'Top Box-Office Teens', with Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner all ranking highly upon it.

About Dakota Fanning, Forbes says that her "films have earned a whopping $2 billion at the box office."

At number four on the list is Fanning's The Runaways and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse co-star Kristen Stewart, whose films, Forbes estimates, have brought in "a total $1.5 billion at the box office." "Although Stewart, 19, is now best known for the role of Bella in Twilight, she's actually been acting since 2002 when she co-starred with Jodie Foster in the thriller Panic Room. The film earned $200 million at the box office."

Taylor Lautner made the list as well. "The 18-year-old ranks fourth with $900 million in box-office earnings. Much of that comes from New Moon, but Lautner also co-starred in the recent romantic hit Valentine's Day, which has earned $125 million at the box office so far. Lautner is now the hottest thing in Hollywood."

Thanks: Twilight Moms

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'Little Ashes'

In January of this year, it was announced that Robert Pattinson's Little Ashes was nominated for a GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Award for "Outstanding Film."

In Little Ashes, Pattinson portrays the elusive Salvador Dali, a Spanish painter famed for his intoxicating and extraordinary work.

The winners of this year's GLAAD awards have been announced, and Little Ashes did indeed take home the prize for "Outstanding Film."

The movie was released to theaters last May and has recently been made available on DVD.

Little Ashes also stars Javier Beltran and was directed by Paul Morrison and produced by Carlo Dusi.

Thanks: Twilight Moms

See also:
'Little Ashes' director Paul Morrison talks about the film, the cast, and the future: an exclusive
Producer Carlo Dusi on 'Little Ashes', 'The Absinthe Drinkers', Robert Pattinson, & Peter Facinelli
Sneak peak of Robert Pattinson as Salvador Dali (video here)

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