It turns out even decades of laughter through the form of hundreds of felt puppets can’t beat the Kristen Stewart pregnancy movie. After having one of the most intense marketing campaigns that Disney has ever executed for The Muppets, Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 still managed to beat the film in the box office by over $10 million during the holiday weekend.

The vampy melodrama got the #1 spot for the second weekend in a row with $42 million this weekend, while Muppets (which made $42 in total since it opened on Wednesday) was only able to pull in an estimated $29 million. It looks like vampires really are more popular than singing frogs and pigs. Shame.

Also hitting theaters this weekend, Sony’s Arthur Christmas fell flat with an estimated $12.7 opening weekend. Speaking of falling flat, Scorsese’s Hugo had an even weaker opening, as it came in 5th place with just over $11 million.

These films could very well do better as we draw closer to the holidays, but don’t expect to see much in the form of sequels for these family classics. Those films may not have performed as well as they could have, but what did was the Weinstein’s My Week with Marilyn which pulled off just over $2 million for its first weekend.

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As if it were a surprise. The penultimate film in the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn: Part 1, opening in just over 4,000 screens across the nation, managed to pick up just under $140 Million in the domestic box office. It also got just over $280 Million worldwide.

With a production budget of $110 Million, and making $15 Million more than the opening weekend of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, Summit is sitting pretty high and mighty at this point. Also opening this weekend, Warner’s Happy Feet Two, which came in at #2 with $22 Million.

As expected, the rest of the box office took a bit of a hit due to all the vampire-on-werewolf action. Last weekend’s #1 hit Immortals took more than a 60% drop and only grossed an estimated $12 Million. Adam Sandler’s unfortunate new flick Jack and Jill came in right behind with just under $12 Million.

We expect Breaking Dawn to continue its success throughout the week, and possibly next weekend. Disney’s Muppets opens wide on Thanksgiving Day, so don’t expect to see the Twilight kids walk away completely unscathed after Kermit has his way with them.

For those who are clamoring for their vampire-on-werewolf action, look no further, as the first full trailer for Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 hit the internets today. This time, things get a little less romantic, and a little more like The Omen, as Bella’s pregnancy gets a bit scary. Here’s the premise for the first part of this story.

In the highly anticipated next chapter of the blockbuster The Twilight Saga, the new found married bliss of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is cut short when a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.

After their wedding, Bella and Edward travel to Rio de Janeiro for their honeymoon, where they finally give in to their passions. Bella soon discovers she is pregnant, and during a nearly fatal childbirth, Edward finally fulfills her wish to become immortal.

But the arrival of their remarkable daughter, Renesmee, sets in motion a perilous chain of events that pits the Cullens and their allies against the Volturi, the fearsome council of vampire leaders, setting the stage for an all-out battle.

The suspenseful and deeply romantic Breaking Dawn continues the epic tale of supernatural fantasy and passionate love that has made The Twilight Saga a worldwide phenomenon.

Finally, for those who want a full review of the entire Twilight series so far, here’s Family Guy’s Chris Griffin to explain it all. Check out the new trailer after the jump and catch Breaking Dawn: Part 1 in theaters on November 18th.

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This weekend we got the first look at the final Twilight film adaptation at the MTV Movie Awards. The story was broken up into two films with Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2.

The second and last film is releasing later this year and has a bit of a detailed back story, so be sure to keep up with this heavy plot.

In the highly anticipated next chapter of the blockbuster The Twilight Saga, the new found married bliss of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is cut short when a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.

After their wedding, Bella and Edward travel to Rio de Janeiro for their honeymoon, where they finally give in to their passions. Bella soon discovers she is pregnant, and during a nearly fatal childbirth, Edward finally fulfills her wish to become immortal.

But the arrival of their remarkable daughter, Renesmee, sets in motion a perilous chain of events that pits the Cullens and their allies against the Volturi, the fearsome council of vampire leaders, setting the stage for an all-out battle.

We’ve got the first trailer for you to check out after the jump, so hit that, and be sure to hit Breaking Dawn Part 1 in theaters November 18th.

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Now that Henry Cavill has been selected to play Superman in Zack Snyder’s next film, we’re going to be seeing more and more of him. Case in point are these latest picks from the upcoming film Immortals.

In them, Cavill and Twilight alum Kellan Lutz take care of business and often do it without shirts. Yes ladies, this post is pretty much mostly for you.

In case you’re not familiar with Immortals, it concerns the ruthless King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) who “leads his bloodthirsty army on a murderous rampage across Greece to find a deadly weapon that will destroy humanity. A mortal chosen by Zeus named Theseus (Cavill) must lead the fight against Hyperion and his evil army with the fate of mankind and the Gods at stake.”

Check out all the pics after the jump. Look for Immortals, which is directed by Tarsem Singh and also features John Hurt, Isabel Lucas and Stephen Dorff, to hit theaters on November 11th (in 3D) and even more from Henry Cavill starting today and for the rest of our natural lives.

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You know her best as Sayeed’s hot yet ill-fated love interest Shannon in Lost and as a daughter who’s father “has a particular set of skills” in Taken. Now, Maggie Grace is set to jump into another role: a vampire who threatens Kristen Stewart’s Bella in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.

According to the report, Grace will play the role of Irina in the final installments of the Stephenie Meyer novel, which Bill Condon is directing as two separate films. In case you don’t know or haven’t read the books, Irina is a member of the Denali coven of vampires who are considered cousins to the Cullens as they are the only others who don’t prey on humans.

Sadly, things go wrong as they often do and when Irina blames the Cullens for the death of her lover, she plots revenge. . . and things go downhill from there.

Part one of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will be released by Summit Entertainment on November 18, 2011. The second will hit theaters late in 2012.

We’re less than 2 months away from the third film in the Twilight Saga, titled Eclipse, to hit theaters, but that won’t slow down Summit Entertainment, as they’ve already locked the final film, Breaking Dawn, in with a release date of November 18, 2011.

Between this release date and news of Academy Award winning director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) joining the project, we’re getting a good amount of answers for a film that was once called by producers “unfilmable.” Questions we still need answered? Will this book be adapted into two films, much like the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows? Also, can we expect the same 3D treatment that just about every other film next year will be getting?

This new release date puts Dawn up against some pretty heavy hitters, including Real Steel starring Hugh Jackman, from comedy director Shawn Levy, as well as Relativity Media’s Immortals in 3D, Happy Feet 2 in 3D, and the Shrek spinoff, Puss in Boots.

It’s no doubt that Dawn will take the weekend, if not the month of November in the box office, but the questions now lie with the production. Can Summit and Condon film the “unfilmable”? We should find out later this year, as Breaking Dawn starts shooting this fall.

About a month ago, we brought you the first look at this summer biggest vampire film based on a bestselling novel with Twilight: Eclipse. The film is the second to last in the series, which is followed by Breaking Dawn, which can’t seem to find a director or structure.

The trailer for the film seems to focus more on the action of the film, and less on the drama, which is a nice switch from the previous films. In this one, Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and his pack of family members must team up with the Edward (Rob Pattinson) and the Cullens to take down the rest of the vampire nation.

Of course, there is plenty of Edward-Bella-Jacob drama mixed in there, but it’s nice to think of a Twilight film to be about more than just an awkward love triangle.

Check out the first full trailer of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse after the jump, and be sure to catch it in theaters everywhere on June 30th.

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Now that the trailer has hit for the third Twilight installment, Eclipse, Summit has begun the hunt for the lucky soul to sit in the director’s chair for the final dose of Twilight: Breaking Dawn. According to Entertainment Weekly, they’re aiming high and want no less than someone with an Oscar nomination or two under their belt.

Summit has reportedly approached Sofia Coppola, Gus Van Sant, and Bill Condon with offers.   It’s still very hush hush, however, as only Van Sant’s representatives would confirm first contact. Summit declined to comment.   Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg’s script outline is due next week, so it’s unlikely any serious offers can be made until  everyone knows how the iffy bits are going to be handled.

Stephanie Meyer will also have to weigh in, as she has approval over every hire Summit makes.  Any Twilighters know whether she prefers Marie Antoinette to Dreamgirls? What does she think of Good Will Hunting?

Of course, it may end up being none of these fine people. When Chris Weitz dropped out of the series after helming New Moon, the list of possible Eclipse directors was long and interesting:  Drew Barrymore, Juan Antonio Bayona, Paul Weitz, and James Mangold were all name dropped before David Slade climbed on board.

With that in mind, do you think we can convince David Cronenberg consider the gig?  If so, Breaking Dawn would officially be the first Twilight film I’d be camped out to see.

This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt are again joined by Elisabeth Rappe and, as usual, launch into discussions of various topics including Twilight’s vampire baby, that Breaking Dawn may be unfilmable, Conan O’Brian, Jay Leno and NBC and the Spider-Man reboot. They also discuss Stuart Townsend leaving Thor, the casting of Blake Lively in Green Lantern, who should play Sinestro in Green Lantern and a whole lot more.

The trio also made some new picks this week including Matt’s pick of Aziz Ansari’s standup video Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, Elisabeth’s pick of Lesbian Vampire Killers and Chris’ pick of Katherine Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which is new on Blu-ray this week and also one of Chris’ top ten films of 2009.

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.

While Twilight: New Moon has been sweeping the nation since it’s release last year, and Eclipse already in the can, producers of the franchise realize that they need to look forward to the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to think the films would get this far, as producers are now stumped on how to film some of the outrageous moments of the final book.

For those like myself who have no intention on reading the books, [SPOILERS BE HERE] in the final book Bella becomes pregnant with Edward’s baby, and while pregnant, the baby grows at an accelerated rate. The baby begins to claw it’s way out of the womb, before Edward uses his teeth to perform a makeshift cesarean. They later discover that the baby has psychic powers and werewolf Jacob falls in love with it.

It looks like producers over at Summit finally read Breaking Dawn for the first time and realized that they may be screwed. From the L.A. Times:

Wyck Godfrey, the producer of all the films in the “Twilight” saga, admits that the creative team still doesn’t know how they’ll handle the character in the “Breaking Dawn” movie, but said that the plan is absolutely for the production to go forward — as either one or two installments — with an eye toward beginning to shoot in Vancouver this fall. All three stars are signed for “Breaking Dawn,” he said, meaning that Stewart and Pattinson will be dealing with the joys and woes of interspecies parenting and newly minted heartthrob Taylor Lautner will return as often-shirtless shape-shifter Jacob Black.

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With New Moon making over $230 million in the US and nearly $500 million worldwide, it was only a matter of time before the studio decided to try and milk the franchise for even more, and you really can’t blame them. There are two more books left in Stephenie Meyer’s series, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.

The film adaptation for Eclipse was shot alongside New Moon, Donner and Jackson style, and will hit theaters next year. Now it looks like Summit Entertainment will be splitting Breaking Dawn into two separate films. Some may or may not know what goes down in Meyer’s final book, but things get pretty intense.

In nearly 800 pages, the entire story gets tossed on it’s head, with characters falling in love with offspring, and a few more characters dying off. It makes sense to split a book that large into two films, in order to stay true to the source.

This strategy isn’t completely unheard of in Hollywood. The most recent example would be J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter films. The final book was 759 pages long (4 more than Breaking Dawn) and will be split into two films, one to be released in November of 2010, and the second in July of 2011.

Breaking Dawn won’t get a release until well into 2011, but before then Eclipse will be in theaters on June 30, 2010.