Will 'The Host' inherit the 'Twilight' audience?

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 comes out this Friday in over 4,000 theatres. Before the movie, audiences will see a trailer for The Host, which recently surfaced on the Internet. Like the Twilight series, the movie is based on a romance novel by Stephenie Meyer. Unlike Twilight, the book is not part of a franchise. The release date has been pushed back a few times, and distributor Open Road now plans to open the film March 29th. I think it's a smart decision to wait until the Twilight series has concluded to release the movie. Fans may not have prioritized seeing The Host just before or after a Breaking Dawn, but come March, they will be in Twilight withdrawal and welcome another adaptation of Meyer's work.

 

 

The sci-fi romance takes place in a future where alien parasites have taken over the bodies of all humans, turning the irises of their eyes bright blue. One girl, Melanie, (Saoirse Ronan of The Lovely Bones) manages to escape implantation, falling in love with a fellow human rebel (Max Irons, the son of Jeremy Irons). However, the girl is finally taken and the soul of an alien or "Wanderer" is put into her body. It doesn't take. Both souls are still alive in the body, and there ends up being a love triangle, as both Melanie and the Wanderer share the same love for the boy.

The trailer shows off some great special effects, especially the technology that "heals" an injured Melanie. While a lot of the narrative in The Host takes place inside the head of Melanie/Wanderer, the trailer, at least, fills in the gaps with voiceover and excerpted monologues. Will aliens have the same pull as vampires? Moreover, will Open Road successfully market the film and mobilize the Twilight audience?

 

Five things to know about 'Breaking Dawn' after watching the trailer

By Sarah Sluis

The first three Twilight movies have grossed roughly $1.8 billion worldwide. Not bad for a love triangle between a human, a vampire, and a werewolf. The fourth book has been split into two movies, and Summit recently released the second, more revealing trailer for Breaking Dawn Part I. The trailer does not disappoint. Here are five things to know about the latest installment to the Twilight franchise.

1. It's the most sexual Twilight movie yet. After Bella and Edward get married, the couple makes out underneath waterfalls, on their honeymoon bed, and pretty much everywhere else. Considering the first movie had no more than a chaste kiss, the contents of the trailer are pretty shocking. Author Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, which has a strict no-sex-before-marriage policy. Now that Bella and Edward have tied the knot, it appears that the two will have no problem expressing their love on-screen.

2. Bella gets pregnant with a vampire fetus that breaks her bones and wants to eat her. While this is just alluded to in the first trailer, the second features lots of arguing about the bloodsucker growing inside her womb. Of course, Edward could always turn her into a vampire to make her live forever, something he just might be tempted to do if the vampire baby saps the life away from her... (plot hint). If you don't think the Twilight series is ridiculous enough already, just keep saying "vampire baby" to yourself over and over.

3. It will have a gory childbirth scene. People on the Internet are actually excited about this, and I'm at a loss to imagine how the filmmakers will translate the scene onto film. Spoiler alert: Bella has to give birth via emergency C-section and nearly dies, and word is the novel doesn't spare any details.

4. It uses the same child-adult romance technique that was so creepy in The Time Traveler's Wife. Poor werewolf Jacob never managed to land Bella. Why not go after her child? After seeing their daughter Renesmee (a portmanteau of Renee and Esme), he "imprints" on her. They will be friends until she reaches a mature age, when they will then become romantically involved. I guess Meyer was trying to wrap things up and needed to allude to what would happen to Renesmee and Jacob, so she created the imprinting thing to give the audience closure on the Jacob story. I still don't like it, and the choice alienated many of her fans, too.

5. Part I will probably be better than Part II. A lot of the big action points occur leading up to the birth of Edward and Bella's child. After that, the plot continues, but it's talkier and involves some weak, phantom threats. I wouldn't be surprised if the penultimate episode of the series becomes the most popular movie, the reverse of what happened with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, the highest grossing movie of that series.

Breaking Dawn Part I comes out November 18, 2011.

Why is Bill Condon directing 'Breaking Dawn'?

By Sarah Sluis

Over at Summit, the decision-makers have made an interesting left turn in the Twilight series: hiring a "prestige" director. While Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz, and David Slade, who have helmed the first three installments, all have well-regarded indie movies under their belt, the final choice for Breaking Dawn is none other than Bill Condon. Weitz was an Oscar nominee, but Condon has actually been nominated twice and won once.

Condon is a writer/director who helmed Dreamgirls, Kinsey, and Gods & Monsters. He also wrote the screenplay for Chicago, the Oscar winner for Best Picture. Condon wasn't the only director with a history of high-profile, artsy films to be recruited for the final two installments (most likely Breaking Dawn will be split into two films--why not double the revenue?). Summit apparently approached Stephen Daldry (The Reader), Gus Van Sant (Milk), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) and Fernando Meirelles (City of God) before settling on Condon as the frontrunner.

Perhaps Summit feels that since its audience will be a few years older by the final films, they'll expect more from the movies. The plot for the final movie appears more complicated, too [SPOILERS AHEAD]. The Wikipedia synopsis reveals that Bella gives birth to Edward's child in the final book. In order to prevent the child from dying, they must turn her into a vampire, making the baby a uniquely sentient being that the author herself thought would be difficult to bring to screen. Maybe she just hadn't seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, though, to be honest, I found the old-baby in that movie really creepy-looking.

In the meantime, Twihards will have Eclipse to look forward to this summer (less than a year after New Moon) and production stills from Breaking Dawn when it starts filming this fall.