What can we say, there’s a brand new preview of the trailer for the upcoming third chapter in The Twilight saga, which is better known as Eclipse, and we’ve got it for you today. Courtesy of the fine folks at Extra, the teaser doesn’t really give us all that much to go on because, basically, it’s just a preview.

Still, what it does do is provide yet another reason to show shots of the cast of the film, which includes all your favorites such as Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, and have them walking, standing, talking and otherwise looking as good as possible. The preview also clues us in just a bit on some plot points of the film, which, if you’ve read the book, you probably already know by heart.

Still, seeing even this short preview reminds us in some way why these movies are just so damn popular. They feature attractive people going through emotional times and doing it with a certain sense of urgency.

While I’m not much of a fan of these books or movies, I can certainly understand the appeal to their target audience. People love them and these characters and in the end, that’s all that really matters.

Check out the new teaser after the jump. The full trailer will debut on Friday at 9AM ET. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse hits theaters June 30th.

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UPDATE: Apparently, the image wasn’t supposed to be let out of the proverbial bag yet so at the request of Summit Entertainment, we’ve taken it down. But fear not, we’ll be back with it, and more, when we can.

Over at FearNet they’ve got the first pic of Bryce Dallas Howard as the vampire Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. She takes over the role occupied by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two films.

In this new pic, it looks like Howard is looking to sink her teeth into Robert Pattinson’s Edward and have him for a nice snack. Edward, obviously, doesn’t look to happy about it.

According to the site:

The new image shows Victoria (Howard) with her hands around Edward’s (Pattinson) head, preparing to kill him the old-fashioned way: by tearing his head clean off. Victoria’s boy-toy Riley (Xavier Samuel) is also present, restraining Edward who kneels in pain.

Twilight devotees will notice that nothing exactly like this happens in the book, although Edward does face off with the vengeful Victoria in the snow, so it seems as though screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has taken some creative liberties to raise the stakes in the third, and more suspenseful, film installment.

Well, there you go. For more pics from the upcoming film, head on over to Screencrave and also check back right here for further updates on Eclipse as we get them. In the meantime, click through to see the full image.

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This clearly falls into the “no surprise” category as Columbia Pictures has confirmed that Dan Brown’s novel, The Lost Symbol, will get the big screen treatment. The third film in the Robert Langdon series, this time we find Langdon traversing the mysteries of the Freemasons in Washington D.C.

Scribe Steven Knight is set to adapt the screenplay from the novel which sold over 1 million copies in the first day. Knight’s other credits include drafts for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Shutter Island as well as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

While both Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are set to return no word on whether Tom Hanks has committed to the project. That said, I find it highly unlikely that he would not reprise the title role of Robert Langdon.

While the second installment of the series, Angels and Demons, performed less then The Da Vinci Code, $486 Million compared to $768, the resounding popularity of  The Lost Symbol is sure to help.  Moreover, The Da Vinci Code was wrapped in controversy which had people eager to check out what all the fuss was about by seeing the film. Angels and Demons had little to no controversy surrounding it. Regardless, a $400 + million take is by no means a failure.

I, for one, was not blown away by either film. However, they were serviceable thrillers with solid production value. While all these stories involve enigmas at some level, there’s no mystery as to why they’re popular and I’ll certainly check out The Lost Symbol when it hit theaters.

This week more than one thing involving Conan seems to be getting settled. Yesterday, we told you about Conan O’Brien making a deal with NBC to step away from The Tonight Show. Now, word comes from Deadline Hollywood that Millennium Films, Lionsgate and Paradox Entertainment have chosen an actor to take on the role of Conan the Barbarian in their brand new Conan movie — and that actor is Jason Momoa.

Momoa, who has appeared in Stargate Atlantis and also stars in HBO’s Game of Thrones, reportedly beat Kellan Lutz of Twilight fame for chance to play the titular hero. Apparently, Conan director Marcus Nispel was sold on Momoa, and won over the filmmakers by shooting some test scenes that allowed Momoa to wield a sword and behave very “Schwarzenegger-like.”

The film, which re-boots the Conan franchise and tells the origin of Robert E. Howard’s famous character, is now on course for a March 15 production start in Bulgaria. No word yet on additional casting or a release date but we have heard that producers have reached out to Mickey Rourke to play Conan’s father in the film. More on that as it develops.

The Hobbit has been on everyone’s radar since the success of the Lord of the Rings films, but has been a long time coming. After New Line was sued by both director Peter Jackson and Tolkien’s heirs, Jackson is now reporting yet another delay to Variety.

Stating that writing on The Hobbit, which will be a two-part film, is slowing down production, Jackson said that he hopes that he along with Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens and director Guillermo del Toro will finish writing by the beginning of next year. Production would then start by the middle of next summer, a few months later than expected.

With Jackson as writer/producer and Del Toro at the helm, The Hobbit is sure to be worth the wait. However, fans of both the literature and the “Rings” trilogy are sure to be antsy to return to Middle Earth as soon as possible, so this latest delay won’t make them very happy.

The Hobbit films have reported release dates of December 2011 and December 2012, with no word as to whether the recent delays will push back these dates.

With both Chris and Matt extremely busy and the American Thanksgiving this week, you know what that means? The Canadians are taking over The Flickcast (are you with me Sal?).

Having celebrated Thanksgiving weeks ago, we’re in the clear to keep the geek news coming while our neighbors to the South take a few days off.  So be prepared to face sentences ending with “eh”, weird dialect (can you say “aboot”) and an abundance of unnecessary apologizing.  Alright, maybe I’m overstating all that but let me take a moment to wish a very Happy upcoming Thanksgiving from all of us up North.

Now, let’s get to that geek news I was talking aboot. Speaking with Collider, writer J. Michael Stracynski commented on one of our highly anticipated film adaptions, Max Brooks’ World War Z. Even having written five drafts of the film Stracynski only had one response as to whether the script was finished, “One never knows.”

He did however mention that a director (no name was given) was attached to the project and Paramount was looking to get the film done having invested so much money in development so far. Given the unique first person narrative of the story Stracynski took a somewhat simple approach to adapting the book for film:

“A series of interviews, so I basically said, ‘Well, who did those interviews?’ And you tell the story of the guy who works for the UN going around the planet interviewing folks to see what happened to them and report on what happened. Through his eyes, you see flashbacks of those storylines.”

The great thing about this is that Stracynski is one of the best character-driven writers in the industry in my opinion.  As great as the zombies will be, the characters should be as equally entertaining to watch. We can’t wait to see World War Z move forward and will keep you posted as more news develops, eh!

If you’ve ever wanted to see L. Frank Baum’s classic Wizard of Oz in comic book form, you’re in luck because Marvel has done just that. . . again. Releasing today, the company presents issue number one of their eight issue The Marvelous Land of Oz limited series. Want to know more? Of course you do. So, here’s all the scoop from the official press release.

And, as always, we’ve got some cool art from the comic to share with you as well after the jump. Check it out!

Marvel is proud to present your first look behind the scenes of The Marvelous Land of Oz #1, the hotly-anticipated sequel to the New York Times best-selling The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in an all-new free sketchbook RIGHT HERE. Courtesy of Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, get an in-depth look at L. Frank Baum’s masterpiece as the critically acclaimed team of Eric Shanower and artist Skottie Young provide exclusive commentary on their stunning adaptation! With a slew of new characters, never before seen artwork, and commentary by the creators themselves, this sketchbook is a must read!

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This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt have to go it alone again. They take on a bunch of new, and returning, topics including Fantastic Fest in Austin, new television shows including Cougar Town, Community, FlashForward and returning shows like The Big Bang Theory, Lost, Fringe and Dollhouse.

In addition, they discuss Ryan Reynolds confirmation of his appearance in Green Lantern and Deadpool, the career of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Billy Crystal’s recent projects, Megan Fox on Saturday Night Live, Transformers 3, the A-Team reboot, and much more.

Plus, Chris and Matt make some great picks this week including Matt’s pick of the indie comic The Stuff of Legend and Chris’ pick of Scott Sigler’s sci-fi/horror novel Infected.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

Thanks for listening.

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Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s movie machine keeps humming along as another of her novels has been grabbed by producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz. The trio, fresh from adapting Cormac McCarthy’s The Road to the big screen, reportedly used their own funds to acquire Meyer’s The Host, her first adult novel. In addition, the producers have tapped Andrew Niccol (Gattica, The Truman Show) to pen the script and direct.

In case you’re only familiar with Meyer’s Twilight novels, The Host follows a similar pattern and is a bittersweet love story set in a near future Earth which has been assimilated by an alien species of benevolent parasites. These creatures call themselves “Souls.” One such soul, the Wanderer, is fused with a dying human named Melanie Stryder, in an attempt to locate the last pocket of surviving humans on Earth.

According to the report, Meyer had, in the past, refused all offers to bring The Host to the big screen. But apparently, these producers came to the table with the right combination of deal and vision for the project which finally made her agree. Having never read The Host, nor any of the Twilight novels, all I can say is this must be good news for those of you who have. Judging from fan’s reaction to those books and films, I have little doubt The Host will meet with similar success — especially if the film somehow features Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

Summit releases the second adaptation of Meyers’ vampire series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, on Nov. 20.

As sometimes happens when fans of a film are as fanatical as those who love The Twilight Saga are, trailers and other promotional materials tend to get “leaked” online before their official premieres. Once again, it has happened with the latest trailer for the upcoming The Twilight Saga: New Moon — now featuring, as the embedded link points out: “no fan girl screaming.” Thank goodness for that.

In this new trailer we get a lot of the familiar stuff fans of these films know and love: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and lots of fighting, skin, sad faces, teen angst and the first real glimpse of the fabled Volturi. In other words, the trailer is everything you can hope for and more — especially if you’re a big fan of these books and movies.

Check out the trailer after the break. Of course, as if you didn’t already know, The Twilight Saga: New Moon hits theaters on November 20th. That’s only 67 days away. Don’t worry, you can make it.

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