Academy Award winner Bill Condon has been confirmed by Summit Entertainment as the director of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, based on the fourth novel in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. Melissa Rosenberg, who adapted the three previous books for the screen, is currently writing the screenplay.

Summit plans to break the fourth novel’s story into two movies, the first including Bella’s wedding, pregnancy, and delivery, and the second covers her transformation into a vampire and her child’s growth. Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner are set to return. Filming will likely begin this November.

Condon wrote and directed the films Dreamgirls, Kinsey, and Gods and Monsters, which won him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He was also nominated for another Academy Award for his screenplay for the movie Chicago. Condon’s current project, the indie movie Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, written by Slumdog Millionaire‘s Simon Beaufoy, has been put on hold until he is finished with Breaking Dawn. His planned Richard Prior bio-pic has also been put on hold indefinitely.

The upcoming third film in the Twilight series, Eclipse, comes out on June 30, 2010.

The final trailer for the third installment in the Twilight saga premiered on Oprah on Friday, and now it’s available online. Check it out below the official plot synopsis for the movie:

“In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between Edward and Jacob knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.”

Well, I’m not anticipating this very much. I’ve seen the first two, and did not enjoy either, although New Moon was slightly more watchable. Anyway, I hope all of you Twilight fans enjoyed this sneak peek.

The third film in the “Twilight” series was helmed by director David Slade (30 Days of Night) and opens in theaters and IMAX on June 30, 2010.

If anyone was worried that Taylor Lautner wouldn’t be able to find work outside of the Twilight movies, they can now rest at ease. 2010 will see Lautner starring in Valentine’s Day, working on Max Steel, and working with Twilight studio Summit Entertainment on Cancun.

Summit just recently picked up the action flick, and is set to put Lautner front and center as the film’s star. Lautner will also likely have a role in Cancun‘s production. The young actor has started a production company with his father, who is currently in talks to serve as the film’s producer along with Temple Hill’s Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen.

Seventeen-year-old Lautner will play a college kid who goes to Cancun with a girl friend, who ends up being taken hostage by a drug cartel. Lautner’s character will, of course, play the hero who has to save the girl and her friends.

Summit’s president of production Erik Feig and director of development Gillian Bohrer will oversee the project for the studio.

I’m convinced that the Twilight franchise really is aiming to take over the world.

First the book series took off in a way that, aside from Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, few book series see. Teenage girls immediately fell in love with Edward Cullen, and we soon saw shirts saying “My boyfriend is a vampire” and “I only date  guys that sparkle” come into stores.

Next came the first movie, which gave to fans of the book physical representations of their favorite characters to drool over. In a very short time, Robert Pattinson became one of the most obsessed over guys in Hollywood (personally, I don’t see it).

Now the Twilight fever just continues to spread.

Summit Entertainment recently announced a Twilight cast member tour that will be taking place in November, and the second film in the series, New Moon, will be released on November 20th.

But that’s not all.

Last week, the trailer for New Moon got over 25 million views, making it the number one most viewed trailer on Visible Measures’s top 10 online film trailers chart. The trailer has been in the top 10 for eight weeks, and this past week’s 25 million views crushed its previous record of 21 million views. The soundtrack for the second film has also done well already.

To add fuel to the fire that is Twilight, Summit will be re-releasing the first film in the series on November 19th, just in time to make sure that fans are fully pumped up for the release of New Moon the following day.

Finally, just in case fans aren’t fully satisfied getting their Twilight fix just from the page or the screen, they’ll soon be able to trek out to Washington state to dine at a new Twilight themed restaurant.

The Twilight books and films have already jump-started tourism to Forks, Washington, where the series takes place, and fans who go to Forks can visit the Twilight Lounge to see concerts and events planned for fans.

Forks residents Anne and Tom Root have announced that they’ll be adding to the tourist draw of the city by opening a family friendly restaurant named “Volterra,” after a city featured in the Twilight series.

What will be the next industry that’ll be able to capitalize on Twilight‘s success?

Twilight fans, get ready to swoon. You might just be able to see your favorite cast members face to face.

Summit Entertainment has announced that the cast of The Twilight Saga: New Moon will be doing a nationwide tour in November.

The tour will open with a star-studded public even on November 6th in Los Angeles. Fans will be able to attend a Q&A session with cast members, as well as getting a first-hand experience of the movie’s soundtrack with performances by several of the bands on the album.

The tour will cover 15 cities, with each stop offering fans the opportunity to participate in Twilight related activities, prize giveaways, and Q&A forums. Select stops will be treated to the soundtrack performances that the L.A. crowd will be getting.

Fans can also acquire VIP passes, and those who do so will have access to a VIP only event with cast members at their respective mall.

In order to register to be part of the activities, fans need to go to Hot Topic or Nordstrom at 8:00 AM on October 31st at participating malls. Once registered, fans will be able to come back to meet select cast members on the scheduled date and time for that location. VIP passes are given on a first-come-first-served basis.

For more information on how to obtain passes for the events, go to www.hottopic.com or www.nordstrom.com/newmoon.

The cast tour runs from November 6th to November 19th, and appearing cast members may vary from location to location based on availability.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON cast tour will visit the following mall locations:

November 6 – Hollywood & Highland Center (Los Angeles, CA) *

November 8 – Park Meadows (Denver, CO)

November 9 – Natick Collection (Boston, MA) *

November 9 –Mall Location TBD – Check hottopic.com for update (Chicago, IL) *

November 9 – Fair Oaks Mall (Washington, DC)

November 10 – Houston Galleria (Houston, TX)

November 11 – Mall of America (Minneapolis, MN) *

November 11 – Cherry Hill Mall (Philadelphia, PA) *

November 11 – Stonestown Galleria (San Francisco, CA)

November 12 – Mall of Georgia (Atlanta, GA)

November 12 – Westfield Southcenter (Seattle, WA) *

November 13 – Dadeland Mall (Miami, FL)

November 13 – Scottsdale Fashion Square (Phoenix, AZ)

November 14 – Fashion Place (Salt Lake City, UT) *

November 19 – Times Square (New York, NY)

*Denotes a performance by a band featured on THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON soundtrack.

While the days dwindle away slowly towards the upcoming November 20th release date of the Twilight Saga: New Moon, each week there is something new for all fangirls to chew on. This week it is the group posters of the upcoming Summit Entertainment film that could have you drooling for more. Below is three posters, one with Bella and the Cullens, the second is Jacob and the werewolves and the last is Jane and the Volturi. Stay on here for all the latest Twilight clips, images and more:

Justin Lin, director behind Fast & Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Annapolis will be teaming with producer Neal H. Moritz to reboot the fantasy adventure film series Highlander for Summit Entertainment.

People forget after 20 years’ worth of lesser sequels and spinoffs that the original Highlander was a pretty high profile film starring Christopher Lambert (at the man’s peak) alongside Sean Connery. Original producer Peter Davis is returning to hand the torch over to the new filmmakers.

Highlander, like the original film, will focus on a race of immortals that wage war upon each other through time. It’s a concept that’s broad enough to be attacked from a fresh angle by a talented writer, and luckily we’ve got two pretty decent ones on our hands: Iron Man and Punisher: War Zone writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.

Like the original film, the reboot (remake? I hesitate to say anymore) will follow Scottish warrior Connor MacLeod, though it’s highly doubtful that Christopher Lambert will be returning. I’d like to see him return in a mentoring role, though, because the man did shepherd the series through two decades of sequels.

Stay posted for more news on Justin Lin’s Highlander as it develops.

Straight from the folks at Trailer Addict is the newest clip from the upcoming film from Summit Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios, Astro Boy. In this clip Astro Boy is still new to his powers, yet what he quickly discovers is that others wants him, or his parts, to themselves. Starring the voice talents of Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nicolas Cage and many others, this manga adaptation will blast into theaters on October 23rd of this year. Check out the clip below: