Looks like....no doesn't look like, "Twilight" did blow out the competition at the box office this weekend by raking in $70 million. With that in mind, it has Summit Entertainment talking sequel.
Here's the official word from Summit Entertainment:
SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES TWILIGHT SEQUEL - NEW MOON
Los Angeles, CA November 22, 2008 — Summit Entertainment announced today that the studio is officially moving forward with the production of NEW MOON, the second installment of its filmed franchise TWILIGHT, the action-packed, modern day vampire love story. The movie will be based on the second novel in author Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series titled, New Moon. The first movie in the TWILIGHT franchise, the self-titled TWILIGHT, arrived in theaters this weekend to sold-out showings.
Stephenie Meyer stated, "I don't think any other author has had a more positive experience with the makers of her movie adaptation than I have had with Summit Entertainment. I'm thrilled to have the chance to work with them again on NEW MOON."
Last night in Los Angeles, KoreAM magazine celebrated its Unforgettable event that highlights achievement of Korean Americans in the U.S. Hosted by Margaret Cho, various Korean American came through the red carpet to show their pride in being American and in particular Korean. Up and coming actor Aaron Yoo took to the carpet and talked to this blogger about his experiences in Hollywood.
For Aaron Yoo, this young actor started his career as a cinematographer then moved into acting in 2003 with his first role in "Ed" as a student. His major breakthrough in film came in the form of the independent feature "Rocket Science." However, the film that propelled him to mainstream America was "Disturbia" starring Shia LaBouf in which he played Shia's best friend.
Aaron Yoo in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist."
From Disturbia, moved onto the sleeper hit "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." Yoo played Thom, the gay leader of Nick's (Michael Cera) punk rock band The Jerk Offs. Interestingly enough, this character didn't perpetuate the flamboyant stereotype that gays are perceived in movies and tv.
As I caught Aaron on the red carpet for the KoreAM event, this rising star had a lot to say about being Korean American in the entertainment industry, his upcoming role in the remake of "Friday The Thirteenth" and turning the tables on my by asking about what kind of video camera to get since he's going on a trip.
Check out the full interview clip of Aaron. He's such a hoot to talk to!
In a recent interview I did with Justin Chon, he feels that he's helping break stereotypes of Americans of Asian decent in Hollywood. Apparently, his role as Eric Yorkie in "Twilight" supposedly was an Anglo but the casting directors took a gamble and gave him the part.
Justin Chon signing autographs at the Twilight Premiere in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.
I also asked Chon if there's a possibility that there is some type of glass ceiling for Asians. Justin responded that there is some to a degree but change is coming. Hopefully, there comes a point in Hollywood, where a role a person receives is based upon their ability to play that part instead of defaulting to race.
Check out my interview with Justin Chon at the KoreAM Unforgettable event that celebrates Korean Americans in the U.S.
Fans who've waited so long for the debut of Twilight and made sure to by their tickets online are already hoping for a sequel. According to movietickets.com, respondents overwhelmingly want to see another Twilight in the works.
Movietickets.com asked respondents to vote on the following question:
Would you like to see a "Twilight" sequel?
1. Yes (94%)
2. No (6%)
Total Votes on MovieTickets.com: 6,944
Twilight makes top 5 presellers of All-Time at movietickets.com
TOP-5 PRESELLER OF ALL-TIME
"Twilight" finished at the No. 5 slot on MovieTickets.com's Top-5 Presellers of All-Time, one spot ahead of "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" and one behind "The Dark Knight."
Last night was a joyous event as Christmas came early in Hollywood with Reese Witherspoon and cast members of Warner Bros'/New Line's "Four Christmases" celebrated its world premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theater.
"Four Christmases" is about an unhappy couple that are stranded in the city by the Christmas morning fog that ruins their exotic vacation plans. Having to deal with the cards they are given, they must now celebrate their Christmas with relatives that they have been avoiding during the past holidays.
With flocked Christmas trees abound on the red carpet, it felt like Christmas was here already. Even the stars looked like they donned their Christmas best to attend a christmas dinner. With three of the young cast members attending, they had smiles for all the photogs to shoot. The tween and pre-teen talent included True Bella, Skyler Gisondo and Zak Boggan.
Mary Steenburgen wore a glittery black number while the star of the film, Reese Witherspoon donned a one piece evening dress accented with gold topped off with a muted gold necklace. For co-star Katy Mixon, she opted with a hot pink skin tight dress which caused all the photogs to hoot and holler trying to get her attention to pose for the cameras. She definitely wooed the crowd as a few photogs shouted, "Let me see the back of the dress." Hmm...is that what they only wanted to see. Bad boys on the carpet.
Sissy Spacek had her lovely country demeanor while she was accompanied by daughter Shuyler. Veteran actor Robert Duvall looked all stoic as he posed for the cameras. It was a bit funny when one photog kept asking Mr. Duvall to take one step to the side but Duvall just kept looking straight at the photog's camera. Mr. Photog stop complaining, you got a Duvall headshot!
Twilight movie tickets are selling fast. The phenomenon is ready to take a bite out of the box office this weekend. My good friends at movietickets.com have shared with me some of the interesting ticket fun facts about the ticket sales for the film as of November 20, 2008. Check it out!
SELLOUTS
As of 12 p.m. ET today, MovieTickets.com has sold out 896 performances for "Twilight" in North America, including more than 375 yesterday alone.
TOP-15
"Twilight" moved into the No. 14 slot today for MovieTickets.com's Top-15 Presellers of All-Time, one spot ahead of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and one behind "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
Robert Pattinson has a slight smile as Twilight is about to hit the big screen.
MovieTickets.com Top-15 Pre-Sale List of All-Time
1. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
3. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
4. The Dark Knight
5. Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. Matrix Reloaded
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
9. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
10. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
11. Sex and the City: The Movie
12. Spider-Man 3
13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
14. Twilight
15. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Paramore's edgy sound heightens the excitement for "Twilight."
While passing the time for the LA Premiere of "Twilight" to begin the publicity firm handling the premiere, gave us a fun fact sheet to peruse through. I thought I'd share with with all you:
Book Highlights: • The series of 4 books has sold 25 million copies worldwide. Translation rights have been sold in 37 countries. • The series is a New York Times Best Seller and has been on the best seller list for 65 weeks. Selected as the New York Times Editor’s Choice. • On USA Today’s Best Seller list for 103 weeks (TWILIGHT spent 6 weeks at #1). • BREAKING DAWN, the fourth book in the series and released on August 2, sold 1.3 million books in the first 24 hours. • For seven straight weeks after BREAKING DAWN was released, all four books in the series were on USA Today’s Top 5 Best Seller List. • The week BREAKING DAWN was released, TWILIGHT (released in 2005) had its best week ever and sold an additional 120,000 copies. • After being on the New York Times Best Seller list for 2 weeks, the TWILIGHT MOVIE COMPANION is #1 on the “How To” paperback list.
Online Highlights: • Recognition of the book has generated over 350 fan sites all over the world, including TwilightLexicon.com & TwilightMoms.com. • The official film website has received over 11MM views since October. • The trailers have garnered over 12MM views on MySpace, which is a record. • TWILIGHT has the most friends on MySpace of any film, second only to X2 (beating both 300 and TRANSFORMERS). • The debut of the final trailer in the TWILIGHT widget and on MySpace Trailer Park on Thursday, 10/16, generated over 3.5 million views in the first 48 hours, • There have been over 110,000 adoptions of the TWILIGHT widget. • TWILIGHT is the #1 most searched movie on IMDb Pro’s MOVIEMeter. Stars Robert Pattinson is #1 on their STARMeter, ranking higher than Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt and Kristen Stewart is #2, higher than Angelina Jolie. • There was so much response to the TWILIGHT casting photos when they were initially posted, MTV.com’s server crashed. The response was very similar to in numbers to the likes of Harry Potter and Spider-Man franchises. • When EntertainmentTonight.com posted the second teaser trailer on their website, they received more views than any of their breaking news stories. • Both Fandango and MovieTickets.com, the two online movie ticketing providers, have each reported over 200 hundred sold-out shows a week before release.
Publicity Highlights: • Fan base generated thunderous applause and worldwide publicity at Comic-con International – with thousands of eager fans camping out the night before to see the cast and crew present new footage. • The 1st Entertainment Weekly TWILIGHT Saga cover was the best-selling cover of the year for them, surpassing their Dark Knight and Harry Potter covers. • The first EW cover was so successful; they did another triple TWILIGHT cover. It is rare for EW to feature the same film twice on their cover. • In late August, Extra aired their segment from Ashley Greene and Rachelle Lefevre’s H Magazine photo shoot, and it was the second-highest rated show in primetime, next to Ugly Betty. Additionally, they posted the segment to their website and got three times the traffic they get on the Jonas Brothers. • Vanity Fair featured an entire cast spread in their December issue – one of over 50 magazine features on the film. • Ticket sales for the Rome International Film Festival sold out in a few hours, prompting festival organizers to add another screening. In Spain, over 1,000 screaming fans tried to get into a presentation at the Sitges Film Festival, more than 3 times the maximum occupancy.
