new moon

Back in the summer, word popped up of Paramount's decision to dip into the 'ol toy box again and pull out another potential action figure-to-film franchise: Max Steel. According to Variety, it looks like the studio has their eyes set on Taylor Lautner of The Twilight Saga: New Moon fame for the titular, 19-year-old superhuman secret agent. No director has been lined up yet, but writers Chad Damiani and JP Lavin (whose Capeshooters adaptation is set up at Warner Bros. with Bryan Singer producing) are working on the script.

Maybe I was just a little too old when the action figure and subsequent computer-animated TV series came out, but frankly, I don't really see the huge appeal here -- an extreme sports athlete gets infused with nanotechnology, essentially turning him into a barely legal Inspector Gadget with superpowers. Something tells me Paramount is betting on Lautner's tummy muscles to sell this concept to those outside the 10-year-old boy demographic.

Thanks to Ain't It Cool News for pointing out that YouTube is currently running the entire Max Steel series online. Enter the uncanny valley of severely dated computer animation, if you dare. Seriously, ReBoot has aged better than this.

Ever since President Obama wore that Three Wolf Moon t-shirt, we've seen countless parodies of it -- and the latest now comes in the form of a Twilight-related spoof trailer starring Aubrey Plaza and John Gemberling. Like the SNL spoof trailer from last week (in which Taylor Swift falls for Frankenstein instead of a vampire), this spoof trailer shows you what happens when Bella (Plaza) falls for a nasty fat dude who constantly pimps out a Three Wolf Moon t-shirt. Cute? Kinda. I do like how they have the one kid running around shirtless, though. That made me chuckle.

Watch the trailer after the jump, via College Humor.

By: Monika Bartyzel (originally posted on Cinematical)

Forget about crop circles -- those are as passe as lame-o's hitting the dance floor to jive to the funky chicken. There's a new crop-destroyer to contend with, and it doesn't just plow down strange circles of land. It professes love for young, suddenly muscled studlets and sparkling boys with a taste for blood. In one of the strangest twists of fandom and movie marketing yet, New Moon has inspired a "Team Jacob" and "Team Jacob" proclamations in maize.

Black Island Farms in Utah has gotten into the Twilight craze by creating puntacular mazes in maize, where fans can stroll through the corn-filled faces of both Jacob and Edward. Vampires, werewolves, whatever floats your boat, they'll deliver! No surprise that it's in Stephenie Meyer's home state of Utah, and I imagine that as utterly over-the-top as this is, it'll probably do good business even if the patrons can't see that they're actually walking through the hotties' faces.

Go Team Crazy!

[via Just Jared]

Tickets for midnight screenings of The Twilight Saga: New Moon are now on sale more than two months prior to its November 20th release. Carmike Cinemas has placed tickets on sale for the midnight screenings through Fandango at 63 theaters in smaller markets throughout the country. The move follows along the lines of what AMC Entertainment did recently with James Cameron's Avatar, placing midnight screening tickets online in select markets.

We have the complete list of theaters after the jump for those who want to get the hop-skippity on those midnight screenings, though those of you in larger markets will have to wait a little while longer to snag your tickets. Thems the breaks ...

The long-awaited 14-second preview of the latest New Moon trailer should be enough proof that we, as a society, have completely lost our freaking minds. But you have to hand it to Summit Entertainment for teasing the Twilight fanbase just enough with half a photo here, 14 seconds over there -- by this point, I wouldn't be surprised if some Twi-hard freaked and broke into Summit's offices demanding to see more. It could be like the sequel to Fanboys ... only way lamer.

Anyway, the full New Moon trailer will be attached to Bandslam in theaters this Friday (don't you love how Summit even uses Twilight to get people to see their other movies, too?), and it should arrive online shortly thereafter. But if you're itching to see Bella get a little closer to Jacob, then check out the 14-second piece of nothing after the jump.

Above: The spaceship from District 9

Now that we've entered the month of June, folks are beginning to geek out about this year's Comic Con in San Diego, which looks to be already setting up some pretty awesome (and geektastic) treats for all those who make the trek out there. In a new story over at the New York Times, they reveal that Peter Jackson will make his first ever trip to San Diego Comic Con this year in order to help promote the upcoming flick District 9, which he's producing. Jackson will be joined by that film's director (and Jackson apprentice) Neill Blomkamp.

The film, which looks to be an extension of sorts of Blomkamp's fantastic short film Alive in Joburg (watch it here), tells of an alien race that's forced to live in a slum-like environment on earth while government examines the situation further. (Watch the Cloverfield-like trailer over here.) There's no word on whether Jackson will reveal any nuggets of coolness regarding his other upcoming movies like The Lovely Bones or the first Tintin film, though even if he doesn't I bet the Comic Con crowd will grill him to pieces during Q&A time.

Check out some of the clever outdoor marketing for District 9 in the gallery below (via Flickr).



After the Jump: Will James Cameron Bring Avatar to Comic Con?

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.

By: Jessica Barnes

By: William Goss

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.

Click image below to view entire poster

Summit Entertainment has released the first official movie poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which, as you can see above, is all sorts of mysterious and daunting and, like, "Pshhh, fine -- go with him; I don't care!" Thankfully the studio didn't throw up the film's title in a different font and, instead, decided to give us some actual characters this time. And it's not hard to figure out what the main to-do in this film is; the poster makes that pretty clear. Bella (Kristen Stewart) is devastated when her boo Edward (Robert Pattinson) up and bolts ... and so, naturally, she begins to grow closer to someone else. That someone is Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), and Jacob comes from a long line of ancient werewolves.

(I know, right -- this chick Bella likes to swing with the weird ones, totally. Tell me about it.)

Of course, as Bella grows closer to Jacob (and the werewolves, who are the vampires' mortal enemies), Bella soon finds her loyalties tested ... and something tells us she can't just drop both these dudes for Kenny, the video store clerk and part-time Nintendo champion. (Note: The character of Kenny does not exist in the books, but I'd be glad to write him in for the next film if Summit will let me.) Check out the full poster below, and watch the MTV Movie Awards on May 31 to see the first full clip from New Moon, which hits theaters on November 20th.