'Breaking Dawn' Director Bill Condon Reaches Out To Fans

Over the weekend, director Bill Condon broke his silence on "Breaking Dawn," his upcoming adaptation of the fourth and final novel in the "Twilight" series. In an open letter posted on Facebook, Condon introduced himself to the legions of "Twilight" fans and spoke about his current level of familiarity with the adventures of Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

"I've read 'Breaking Dawn' twice, re-watched ['Twilight' and 'New Moon'] 2-3 times each, have all four CDs playing in my car, and have Catherine's notebook, Mark Cotta Vaz's companion books, and even Volume 1 of the graphic novel here on my desk," Condon said of his growing collection of "Twilight" research material. "I realize that this barely qualifies me for 'newborn' status in the universe you've been living inside for a few years now, but a guy's gotta start somewhere."

Condon, who admitted to being a fan of vampires since watching prime-time soap "Dark Shadows" as a kid, said that it's not difficult to see why "Twilight" has become such a fixture in popular culture. "For me, [Stephenie Meyer's] characters are simultaneously timeless, yet very modern," he said. "Rooted in a beautiful, real landscape with a great sense of place, Bella, Edward, Jacob, and the rest of the Forks/ La Push menagerie, experience emotions that are primal, and universal: desire, despair, jealousy — and it all comes to fruition in 'Breaking Dawn.' This is a final chapter in the best sense; not just wide in scope and scale, but emotionally charged and intense throughout."

The "Dreamgirls" director concluded his letter by inviting questions and comments from "Twilight" fans and promising that he plans to check in regularly with fans as he and his crew work to bring "Breaking Dawn" to the big screen. Unsurprisingly, more than 3,000 fans have replied to the letter since Friday, with many comments inquiring about dividing "Breaking Dawn" into two films and whether or not the movie will be shot in 3-D.

" 'Breaking Dawn' is the longest book out of the four books and just wanted to say will you please keep that in mind too," Summer Blake wrote on Facebook. "Please don't cut out half of what goes on to make the movie shorter."

"Would you be able to confirm or deny reports of 'Breaking Dawn' being in 3-D? I really hope it will not. I think it would destroy the series that so many people love," wrote Kathi on TwilightSource.com. "I do hope 'Breaking Dawn' is made into two movies to give the characters the proper amount of time to truly finish the journey."

Judging from initial responses, many fans have embraced Condon due to his forthcoming approach and his apparent understanding of the source material. On TwilightersAnonymous.com, Jenni Brid wrote: "Bill Condon knows how to draw the best out of his actors and can show the [true] depths of the characters. As a director, this man is a genius when there are so few of them in the world of film today."

Condon's open letter echoes the established tradition of "Twilight" directors speaking directly to the fans. Following the announcement of his involvement in "New Moon," director Chris Weitz wrote to fans to assuage fears regarding the departure of "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke. "I can say that I will devote myself to making the very best and most faithful version of 'New Moon' that can be brought to the screen," he wrote in 2008.

In 2009, "Eclipse" director David Slade reached out to fans by way of Twilight Lexicon to address controversial comments he made about the "Twilight" franchise, saying: "When I made these comments, I had neither seen the film nor read the books. I was promoting a comedy short film that I had made for Xbox and every pop culture subject was seen as a possible comedy target. I was being silly and none of the statements were from the heart."

Does Bill Condon's open letter give you more confidence in what he'll do with "Breaking Dawn"? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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'A Nightmare On Elm Street' Slashes Box-Office Competition

#1 "A Nightmare on Elm Street" ($32.2 million)
#2 "How to Train Your Dragon" ($10.8 million)
#3 "Date Night" ($7.6 million)
#4 "The Back-Up Plan" ($7.2 million)
#5 "Furry Vengeance" ($6.5 million)

Warner Bros. and New Line dreamed up a winning formula as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" won first place at the box office this weekend. The villainous Freddy Krueger's first big-screen outing in seven years carved an impressive $32.2 million chunk out of moviegoers' wallets, securing victory by a margin of over $20 million past the next closest competitor.

With Jackie Earle Haley starring as the scarred-and-clawed horror icon, "Nightmare" earned approximately $9,665 per screen over 3,332 locations this past weekend and $1.6 million from midnight showings on Thursday alone. As a result, the movie made back nearly the entirety of its reported $35 million production budget. Whether or not the movie can repeat that success in the coming weeks is another story, as reviews for "Nightmare" have been less than dreamy with a 14 percent fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

But "Elm Street" wasn't the true critical nightmare of the weekend, a distinction that belonged to Summit Entertainment's "Furry Vengeance." The family comedy stars Brendan Fraser as a real estate developer seeking to convert a forest into a major housing development, prompting the titular revenge scheme from the forest's furry inhabitants. Fraser's latest bowed in fifth place with only $6.5 million in 2,997 locations. Adding insult to injury is the film's 2 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the review aggregator's all-time lowest rankings.

Holdovers "How to Train Your Dragon," "Date Night" and "The Back-Up Plan" finished the weekend in second, third and fourth places respectively.

Comic book adaptations "The Losers" and "Kick-Ass" dropped off by 36.2 percent and 52.4 percent respectively, but comics flourished on an international level as the foreign release of "Iron Man 2" earned the Marvel Studios sequel a reported $100.2 million overseas.

Upcoming Releases:

Robert Downey Jr. and director Jon Favreau's "Iron Man 2" is the only major wide release on schedule for next weekend, virtually guaranteeing victory for the Marvel Studios superhero flick.

Check out everything we've got on "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

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Robert Downey Jr. Says His Own Father Looms Over 'Iron Man 2' Character

It is no accident one of the world's biggest movie stars, Robert Downey Jr., maintains that notation after his name. The "Iron Man" star is, of course his father's namesake. But fans may not know that the "Sr." Downey is a noted indie filmmaker. Once filming began on "Iron Man 2," the iconic director, Downey Jr. said, was never far from his mind.

"Well, sure, any time your dad is revered," the 45-year-old actor told MTV News. "I mean, I grew up with people saying, 'Hey, that's Bob Downey's kid' — and understandably so."

The actor's father has a backstory worthy of the big screen: He served in the Army, played minor-league baseball (striking out Yogi Berra in a game), held the title of Golden Gloves boxing champion and was working as an off-Broadway playwright by age 22. In the 1960s, he made a name for himself writing and directing experimental films like "Balls Bluff" and "No More Excuses," but it was the brilliant 1969 advertising spoof "Putney Swope" (Robert Jr. was 4) that really put him on the map. Thirty years later, he would direct his son in "Hugo Pool," his last wide-release film.

"He was a great innovator and a heck of a filmmaker," Downey said of his dad, now 73.

In the "Iron Man" follow-up, Downey's Tony Stark is similarly grappling with the memory of his father, a respected weapons manufacturer who left his son with vast wealth, power and lots of unanswered questions. "In Tony's case, it's really this massive looming shadow of his dad's posthumous perfection," Downey said of the plot. "That's a tough thing for him to live up to.

"The big idea, the theme, was legacy — a double legacy," he continued. "There's the legacy that he is fondly attempting to continue, and there's the legacy that is attempting to be subverted by some old foes. And then there's the legacy that he has no idea about, which, of course, the Marvel universe provides."

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Will 'Predators' Make Adrien Brody An Action Hero?

Bring up the "Alien vs. Predator" movies in a conversation with Adrien Brody, star of this summer's "Predators" franchise reboot , and he states one simple fact — immediately.

"This isn't that," he promised. "This isn't that."

In a recent interview with MTV News, Brody echoed the sentiments of "Alien" filmmaker Ridley Scott, arguing that though "AVP" films may have put both franchises on the ropes, a return to roots can make things right.

"Everybody went into this with the intention of trying to make something that harkens back to the original," Brody said of "Predators," due July 9. Produced by Robert Rodriguez, the film co-stars Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo and Alice Braga. "[We wanted to bring back] the elements of suspense and withholding."

"The tone of it is dark," the Oscar-winner added. "The actors are great. They're very committed to the backstory of their own characters; [we'll see] whether that comes across onscreen or not. I think it gives it a texture that's based in reality, and then you can be on an alien planet and do all of these things — but we have to believe what we are encountering."

Brody recalled his first encounter with the sci-fi thriller.

"I snuck in to 'Predator' when I was 14," the actor recalled. "I was in the front row with my buddies and we were smoking in the theater and, like, total scrawny little juvenile delinquents," Brody laughed, remembering the 1987 classic that launched the franchise. "I was in awe. First of all, Schwarzenegger was epic, and the action was sick. It was, like, almost pornographic.

"I never, in my wildest dreams, would have imagined that I would be honored with them passing that gauntlet to me," Brody said of his unlikely action hero status. "I think when young guys see this movie, they'll get it. Hopefully they'll see not only that I fit the role really well, but they'll also see that anything is possible."

Check out everything we've got on "Predators."

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'Glee' Star Dianna Agron Joins Cast Of 'I Am Number Four'

Jayma Mays and Cory Monteith are doing it. Now Dianna Agron is the latest "Glee" star to transition from the massively successful Fox TV series to the big screen. The actress best known as Quinn Fabray will make her feature debut as the female romantic lead opposite "Beastly" star Alex Pettyfer in the sci-fi film "I Am Number Four," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Though her character's name has not been released, Agron will reportedly play "a girl dating a high school jock who falls for Number Four (Pettyfer) and becomes his confidant." The cast already includes Teresa Palmer, who will play the character Number Six, and "District 9" star Sharlto Copley, who will play Four's mentor.

The film is an adaptation of the not-yet-released young-adult sci-fi novel of the same name by James Frey and Jobie Hughes. It follows a group of nine aliens who hide out on Earth after their own planet, Lorien, is destroyed by a rival race of aliens. The nine who escape are all teenagers who are beginning to develop special powers. The titular Number Four disguises himself as a high schooler while he and the rest of the survivors assimilate, but he then discovers they are still being hunted by their enemy race.

D.J. Caruso ("Eagle Eye") is directing the big-budget project, and both Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg are producing. Principal photography is set to begin in Pittsburgh in May for a tentative 2011 release date.

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From 'Prince Of Persia' To 'Beastly,' What Are The Ingredients For A Summer Blockbuster?

Summertime, and the living is ... queasy? It certainly is if you're a studio executive with hundreds of millions of dollars riding on the hope that somebody out there wants to see your movie.

Every year, studio suits adhere to certain recipes for perceived summer success. With that in mind and the year's most-contested season upon us, here are the five ingredients that seem to be making up the 2010 crop of hopeful summer hits:

Give it a "name": When it comes to getting a greenlight in Hollywood today, it's all about the name. If people remember the "Sex and the City" TV show, there's a built-in audience for the movie (May 27). "Marmaduke" (June 4) may be a bit on the obscure side for most children today, but parents who remember the comic strip could take their kids to the June 4 flick. Whether the names "Prince of Persia" (May 28) and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (July 16) will pull in more dough than wholly original films about Persian princes and magic is anyone's guess, but this much is certain: From "Predators" (July 9) to "The Last Airbender" (July 2) to "The Karate Kid" and "The A-Team" (both June 11), everything old is new again.

The Auteur Theory: Some may argue that the days when an audience would pay to see a film simply because a name like Hitchcock, Kubrick or Wilder is attached to it are long gone. But studios are certainly aware of modern-day geniuses like Christopher Nolan ("Inception" on July 16), Ridley Scott ("Robin Hood" on May 14th) and Edgar Wright ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" on August 13). In fact, with the Internet making even huger celebrities out of the folks behind the camera, perhaps an alternate auteur theory is beginning to emerge: If an indistinguishable journeyman has his name on the film, audiences are often wise to avoid it.

Extreme makeovers: Remember that scene in "Beauty and the Beast" where the monster got tattoos and body piercings? Wasn't the car chase in "Fantasia" cool? How about the part in "The Karate Kid" where Daniel-san learned ... kung-fu? Of course you don't remember any of those scenes — because they never happened! Um, yet. Get yourself ready for those very sights as "Beastly" (July 30) puts a new-century spin on the classic love tale, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" takes the Mickey Mouse vignette from "Fantasia" and goes full-length, and "The Karate Kid" (June 11) reboots and relocates to China. Coming next summer: "Top Gun" retold with kids on skateboards.

The next big thing: If recent history has taught us anything, it's that filmmakers are better off buying low on folks like Seth Rogen, Robert Pattinson and Megan Fox and working to make them overnight superstars than shelling out the big bucks for a "name." That strategy is in play this summer as folks like Alex Pettyfer ("Beastly"), Jaden Smith ("Karate Kid"), Noah Ringer ("The Last Airbender") and Adam G. Sevani ("Step Up 3-D," out August 6) are all starring in roles that would have once been reserved for established stars.

The last big thing: But the statement above shouldn't trick you into thinking that Mark Wahlberg is taking a barista job at Starbucks to make ends meet. Instead, the superstar is teaming with equally high-priced A-lister Will Ferrell for "The Other Guys" (August 6), Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are still finding work in the likes of "Knight and Day" (June 25), and Angelina Jolie adds some spice to the season with "Salt" (July 23). Mix in the middle-aged mockery of Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups" (June 25), and it's clear that the death of the star vehicle has been greatly exaggerated.

What movies are you most excited to see this summer? Let us know in the comments below!

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'Nightmare On Elm Street': The Reviews Are In!

Freddy is back, for a new "Nightmare," or an old one, depending on how you view these things. This latest "A Nightmare on Elm Street" — the ninth of the horror franchise — is a remake of the 1984 original, faithfully recreating gory murders past. But a new Freddy has entered the fray: Doing all that bloody butchery is Jackie Earle Haley, replacing Robert Englund in the role of the scar-faced, scissor-handed, dream-hopping psycho.

Will 2010's "Nightmare" mark the rebirth of a beloved series that had fallen on hard times (see the abomination that was 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason") will it prove to be another misguided effort to breathe life into a franchise that was better left in peace? Well, the flick arrived in theaters Friday (April 30) and the reviews are in. Check 'em out and decide for yourself!

Let's start with the hard-core fans and, of course, with Freddy himself. How does the new version of the classic killer stack up? "Haley, who has become the master of playing dark characters, takes his Freddy to some wicked and terrible places as he chases down his victims," writes Heather Wixson of DreadCentral.com. "While he doesn't have that certain charisma that only comes from being Robert Englund himself, Haley does give the character a cold viciousness that has been lacking in the franchise since 1994's 'New Nightmare.' Haley's Freddy is pissed and disturbed and doesn't have time for one-liners or sight gags. He's just here for revenge. And it was nice to see Freddy finally have a little menace back behind the glove."

That's a solid endorsement from the horror aficionados, but not everyone agreed. Haley "is betrayed first by the [makeup], which makes him look like a wet alien cat," writes Drew McWeeny on HitFix.com. "It's not scary. It's not memorable. And for most of the film, it's barely visible. And yet, they hew so closely to his wardrobe that it just strikes me as a redesign for no reason. He's given way too many one-liners here, and his performance never walks that line of did-he-or-didn't-he that the script wants to suggest, so the result is pretty much one-note and never manages to bring anything fresh or interesting to our understanding of Krueger as a character."

It's not just the question of Haley's Freddy that has divided reviewers. The efforts of director Samuel Bayer have been both slammed and praised. Time 's Richard Corliss falls into the latter camp. "Bayer, who directed such music videos as Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' brings a craftsman's loving attention to every aspect of the movie, from the opening credits (which appear in a child's script, like an S.O.S. jotted desperately on a sidewalk, and where the sign 'Badham Pre-School' turns into 'Bad School') to flicked references to old scare movies like [David] Cronenberg's 'Shivers' (a somnolent teen in a bathtub, her legs asprawl, with Freddy's claw rising briefly, teasingly)," he writes. "Bayer isn't Orson Welles, exactly, but he has plenty of assurance and the props to back it up."

There's also the question of the folks on whom Bayer trains his camera, including Kellan Lutz and Rooney Mara. "The atrocious acting, even for a horror movie, just gets worse and worse to the point where every scene in between the fairly regular dream sequences and kills is as boring as a soap opera," writes Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net. "After a number of the characters are quickly disposed of in their dreams without much effort, it essentially leaves Rooney Mara to utter all her lines through gritted teeth and Kyle Gallner to mope around, both of them trying to stay awake while putting us to sleep."

We'll give the final word to our own Kurt Loder. "So Freddy is no longer the lovable wisecracker we once knew; and after a quarter of a century and seven previous films in the original 'Nightmare' series, he can no longer really terrify us the way he once did, either," he writes. "Which raises the unavoidable question: Why did the filmmakers feel the need to do such a formulaic remake? Why did they think anyone would feel a need to watch it?"

The critics are split on whether the new "Nightmare" is formulaic or fun. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Check out everything we've got on "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

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