Those days are a thing of the past, and I can tell you exactly when the winds of change started. It was with one movie. A box-office smash from a famous director known for making horror films, starring a cast of attractive twenty-somethings. The flick is Scream, a reinvention of the slasher wheel that was marketed toward the fangirls as much as it was for the fanboys. Gone were the days when a genre-type film was advertised with daring artwork. Now it was about the poster having more of a Vanity Fair look, a more glamorous touch to them. There is no arguing that this strategy worked in spades, as Hollywood struck oil with a old selling point for a new generation. Today’s advertising is about grappling your attention with a hot young actor who is going to be starring in the film.

Money talks, as the Kevin Williamson penned project made well over one hundred million dollars in domestic ticket sales. The floodgates opened and every young star wanted to be in the next big thing. Jennifer Love Hewitt in I Know What You Did Last Summer, Josh Hartnett in The Faculty, and Katie Holmes in Disturbing Behavior are prime examples.

Incredible things can happen when you find that magic in a bottle that is a great story with an attractive cast. The new millennium has found this potent formula again in the film versions of Stephanie Meyer’s best selling novels that have touched the pop culture zeitgeist like nothing I have seen before. Was this what it was like when The Beatles invaded America in the 1960′s?

Summit Entertainment and Creation Entertainment came to Los Angeles, California for three days of all things Twilight. I’ve have been to many of these kinds of events, and aside from Comic-Con, I have never seen such a huge auditorium full of hardcore fans. The room was wide open and from left to right; it looked like the setting for a small concert. It was appropriate because the stars of this series are like rock gods to these girls.

I will be the first to admit that I am not the demographic for the Twilight films, but I can really appreciate the magnitude of what the franchise has accomplished, especially in the economic times that we live in.

Keep your eyes peeled for our coverage of the Los Angeles Premiere of Eclipse and interviews with its stars in the coming weeks.

Click on the pictures for a larger image.

“There was little question last week that the second chapter of Stephenie Meyers’ supernatural romance drama The Twilight Saga: New Moon with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson would open big, but after setting a new midnight record on Thursday and a new single day record on Friday with $72.7 million, it has left even the most jaded critic of the franchise flabbergasted at how well the movie performed. In its first three days, New Moon grossed an estimated $140.7 million, the third biggest opening weekend domestically of all time with a per-site average of just under $35,000 per venue, the fourth largest per-theater average for a wide release. The movie also surpassed the previous November opening record for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by a wide margin. Essentially, it grossed almost exactly twice the opening weekend gross of the first Twilight exactly a year ago. The first installment went on to gross roughly $190 million, but with so much clear frontloading to Friday, it’s difficult to tell how well the sequel will hold up compared to the original movie. With Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up, it should be able to at least get to $300 million in its theatrical run, which once again puts it up against the “Harry Potter” franchise, the sixth installment which is currently the #2 movie of the year with $301.8 million. On top of that, the Chris Weitz-directed epic took in $118.1 million internationally in 25 markets for a total global take in just three days of $258.8 million.”

Source: Coming Soon

New Moon

Synopsis: Eclipse starts out with a mysterious string of murders in Seattle. Edward thinks that these are newborn vampire attacks. This makes Charlie very careful about where Bella goes. Edward and Bella fill out college applications and Bella is making plans on when she will become a vampire. Jacob Black, Bella’s werewolf friend, becomes a major role in this novel as Bella starts to hang around with him. It is only until one day when she visits him when he tells her that he loves her and forcefully kisses her. She is not pleased and punched him, but because he’s a werewolf, she breaks her hand. Then, they have and on-and-off friendship throughout the book. When Bella claims a few days later that she “wants Edward” Edward proposes to her, and says that he will turn her into a vampire if she agrees to marry him first. The band of new born vampires are lead by Victoria, and they are coming closer. However, the Cullens and the Wolf Pack have a plan. They will all come together and fight the vampires to make Bella and everyone else safe. In the end, the Cullens and Wolf Pack have no casualties, and Victoria and her gang is defeated. Jake is furious about Bella’s desicion to become a vampire, so he runs off. But Bella is so happy to be with Edward, which will soon be forever.

Source: Coming Soon

Synopsis: The supernatural tale of star-crossed lovers continues as the Cullen family flees Forks in order to protect Bella (Kristen Stewart), and the heartbroken high-school senior discovers that vampires aren’t the only creatures in town. Realizing that Bella will never be safe as long as he’s around, Edward (Robert Pattinson) makes the difficult decision to leave his beloved behind shortly after her 18th birthday. Reeling from her loss, Bella embraces self-destruction after being comforted by Edward’s image during a moment of mortal peril. But as heavy-hearted as Bella may be, her old friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) distracts her from her sorrows by helping her renovate a weather-beaten motorbike. When Bella encounters a former adversary with a sizable grudge, she’s rescued from harm at the last second by pack of enormous, ferocious wolves. Subsequently delving into the history of the Quileutes, Bella discovers the secrets of Jacob’s tribe while looking forward to a reunion with Edward that may have deadly consequences.

Source: AITH