The first film has been in theaters for a little over 24 hours now, but Summit Entertainment hasn't wasted any time in officially announcing the follow up to Twilight (which took in a whopping $35 million on Friday alone), based on the second book in the series, New Moon. Here's the press release Cinematical just received:

"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."

Starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together...even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward's nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella."

So, Twilight fans, what would you like to see with New Moon?

Who doesn't love a good pop quiz? Vampires, that's who! (Actually the answer was "students," but stay with me here.) So as a way to welcome the highly-anticipated vamp-themed Twilight into plasmaplexes, we thought it would be transfusing to introduce a nifty new gizmo. For us, anyway: A movie quiz. Click on in and dazzle to a dozen vexing questions about Cinema de Vampire. And then feel free to share your thoughts on everything from Nosferatu to the Twilight kids and every ghoul in between.

There's a pretty strict embargo on Twilight reviews until opening day, this Friday, which is why you haven't seen everyone and their ageless vampire boyfriend shoveling out review upon review in advance of one of this fall's biggest films. For those who don't run in movie world circles, an embargo means the studio has asked all of us to kindly not post our reviews till opening day -- and since we're good like that, fly like that and hip like that, we respect them. That said, Twilight screened for critics a couple weeks ago, and again last night -- and my Twitter has been lighting up with all sorts of feedback. I won't say who these comments are coming from since some belong to other prominent film critics and movie bloggers, but the majority of buzz seems pretty all over the board. Here's a taste:

"Not that it was great, but I actually enjoyed Twilight more than Quantum of Solace (bracing for impact...)"

"TWILIGHT: cheap looking and often hilarious. DARK SHADOWS at DEGRASSI JR HIGH. With half the budget."

"Wow. Twilight not bad. "

"Twilight, seen. It wasn't terrible... Wasn't great, either. I hate movies that are painfully mediocre. They are worse than bad movies."

" It's a sad, sad day when "Twilight" has better action than the latest James Bond movie."

"If you want to hang out with a lot of teenage girls and sexually frustrated middle-aged women, get yourself to a "Twilight" screening!"

It's important to note that all these comments came from men, who are probably not exactly the target audience. I know a lot of folks have been giving Twilight a hard time, but when it's all said and done, I think we'll have the beginnings of a very popular and lucrative movie franchise on our hands. Stay tuned Twilight-ers, the first of two Cinematical reviews will arrive first thing Friday.

More Twilight
Interview with Twilight Director Catherine Hardwicke
Poll: How Much Will Twilight Make This Weekend?

As William Goss noted yesterday, Guillermo Del Toro must be allergic to sleep. He's moving forward with another producing project on his insanely busy slate -- The Champions, a big screen version of the British television series of the 60s. Variety reports that Christopher McQuarrie will be penning the script for United Artists, and acting as a producer alongside Del Toro, Tom Cruise, and Paula Wagner. Del Toro optioned the project last November, and seemingly mindful of the anniversary, has brought on McQuarrie.

Frankly, I'm surprised The Champions hasn't been grabbed long before now, since everyone is dying to have a franchise of superheroes. The series (which ran for a single year) followed a team of government agents who were rescued from a plane crash in the Himalayas by an advanced civilization. As if rescue wasn't nice enough, the super civilization gave them superpowers. Yeah, this is totally going to end up a franchise.

Del Toro has apparently found himself a writer as happy to be sans sleep as he is -- McQuarrie is a hot property at UA after Valkyrie. In addition to The Champions, he'll also be penning and producing The Monster of Florence. Based on Douglas Preston's book, it will follow his investigation into the serial killer nicknamed the Monster of Florence, Italy's version of Jack the Ripper. Preston discovered that one of the murders had been committed on his just-purchased Italian property, and decided to pair up with Italian journalist Mario Spezi to try and solve the case. Their well-meaning investigation ended up embroiled in controversy, arrests, and all kinds of tense insanity that should make for a really enjoyable crime movie -- and be easy peasy for the writer of The Usual Suspects.

The week you Twilight fans have been waiting for has finally arrived, and in just a few days from now entire worlds will collide! Yup, I'm talking about civilized people who decided to skip on over to see Quantum of Solace in its second week versus TWILIGHT FANS GALORE! Tons of screaming pre-teen girls and their equally-as-obsessed mothers storming movie theaters across the country, demanding their Bella, their Edward ... their blood!

We kid, but it's always fun to ponder how well a hotly-anticipated film will do in its opening weekend. Could Twilight beat Quantum of Solace's $70 million take? Is that even possible? Or does the Twilight fanbase appear larger than it really is? When it's all said and done, what if Twilight fails to top $40 million in its opening weekend? Would that be considered a failure? And if not, what would be considered a failure? If Twilight doesn't meet a certain number at the box office this weekend, could those three Twilight sequels currently in development be in jeopardy? So many questions, so many different possibilities -- how well do you think Twilight will do this weekend?

"It was all a dream! It was all a dream! It was all probably a coke-induced dream!"

My friend pointed me towards this clever YouTube video by the Fine Brothers, in which the duo do exactly what they set out to: reveal one hundred movie endings within four minutes. It's like the logical extension to that spoiler T-shirt that made the rounds a while back, and while the Meg Ryan streak they demonstrate (you'll see) is telling enough (not to mention the sports movie bits), I could see them pulling pretty much off the same thing with Drew Barrymore -- not that it's their fault, more so the industry's. (Oh, and this video is pretty much exactly what I get for not having seen Wild Things by this point in my life.)

And for those so inclined as to watch the same thing, only with the brothers naked, click here and, um, enjoy. (SPOILER ALERT! They're not wearing clothes!)

Look to the right side of this post and tell me that you could possibly ignore that movie. I know that I can't, and that's what I've decided to share with you everything I just dug up on a little flick called Sharks in Venice (the trailer -- attached below the jump -- has Shark as singular, while IMDb lists both; already, the thrills!).

All I know is that none other than Stephen "Bio-Dome" Baldwin stars as an archaeologist who is forced by the Mafia to recover an underwater treasure ... one hidden beneath the very canals that are now swarming with sharks! But of course!

(Okay, maybe just one shark, which would be only slightly less bad.) (OK, bad-ass.)

If the IMDb message boards are to be believed, this puppy is sure making an odd bid for awards glory by premiering Stateside on the Sci-Fi Channel this December 14th, before hitting DVD the following January. However, bear in mind that supporting Sharks in Venice might be just what it takes to get that Meg project back off the ground. If you believe, clap your hands!

[Thanks to DVD Active for making my life that much closer to complete, and be sure to check out the trailer embedded below.]

It's a Watchmen week! New photos and posters are hitting the Internet this week, presumably in anticipation of the second trailer that's attached to Quantum of Solace. Yesterday Erik posted a new Rorschach-themed poster that had popped up on Yahoo! Movies over the weekend, now we have six new ones (including an extra Rorschach) to accompany it.

Warner Bros. released the six character posters all across the Internet -- and we were able to collect most of them here in our gallery, except for the one the boys most want to see. Silk Spectre is over on your left, watermarked to MTV's Splash Page, but if you click her, you'll be taken to her full length version. I'm as straight as can be, but even I can't take my eyes off her latex. Wow.

Please give a visit and a nod to the other sites that were graced with these cool images -- my personal favorite of the bunch, The Comedian, was posted over at the always awesome Hero Complex (who will have more Watchmen images later today). Dr. Manhattan was posted in a tiny, low-res version at Entertainment Weekly. (Come on, where's the big version, guys?) The really cool Ozymandias poster, costarring Bubastis, debuted over at Wired. Nite Owl comes by way of Access Hollywood, accompanied there by an automatic video of Patrick Wilson. And everyone's favorite vigilante, Rorschach, got his second poster of the week courtesy of USA Today.

They really are pretty glorious to look upon. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to furiously exercise in order to wake up resembling Malin Akerman.



[via Superhero Hype, who did the collecting]

It's the 6th of November, and that means we get a brand new Watchmen video. This one comes embedded courtesy of MySpace, and hopefully it will be working better by the time you read this, as I still haven't gotten to watch the whole thing without a glitch. No, the thorny question of "Did you change the ending?!" is not addressed ... come on, they do these too far in advance to cater to our whims. No, this one is all about the girls of Watchmen -- because despite the masculine sounding title, there's girls in this story, and they kick some major butt. Watch as Zack Snyder introduce you to Silk Spectre the First and Second, as played by Carla Gugino and Malin Akerman.

The girls aren't the only Watchmen characters you can meet this week -- be sure to pop onto the official site and be properly introduced to the Comedian. He's front and center, impossible to miss, and would make a charming addition to your desktop.

Of all the showings, of all the movies, of all the days, of all the theaters, of all the towns in all the world -- she walks into mine. Maybe six years old, dragging a jacket and followed close by her probable brother (I'd say around twelve). They come in and sit beside who appears to be their oldest brother (eighteen perhaps?) and their mother, who continues to text and talk away through the movie they already missed nearly an hour of.

And they're all sitting a row away from me.