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The only way to properly send off one massively popular movie franchise is to start another.
The Twilight Saga comes to a close this weekend with the release of Breaking Dawn Part 2, so where will the fanbase turn for more fantastical love triangles between beautiful young characters from completely different worlds? Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is hoping that fans look no further than the upcoming adaptation of The Host, based on her novel of the same name. All Meyer and writer-director Andrew Niccol (In Time) will have to do is sell Twilight fans on a sci-fi story that involves humanity being possessed by invading alien "souls," while still utilizing a tragic central character who has two men in love with her. Should be easy. After all, if Meyer can create a rabid franchise by dabbling in the world of vampires and werewolves, why can't she find the same success in the world of parasitic alien creatures who take over human souls?
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watch the trailer >> Posted 11.14.12 by Ryan -
Author Stephenie Meyer is, of course, best known for her Twilight series about vampires and werewolves and love. But she doesn't just write about the supernatural and romance. She has a book about aliens and romance, too.
Meyer's follow-up to The Twilight Saga was The Host, which she describes as "science fiction for people who don't like science fiction." The story takes place in a world where humans have become hosts to unseen invaders. These aliens take over the humans' minds while leaving their bodies intact.
A movie based on the book is due out at the end of March 2013, and the first pics have been released. More surprisingly, the first trailer for the movie has just arrived online, as well. "But wait," you may ask, "didn't The Host just start shooting? How did they already cut a trailer?" Well it turns out that sometimes, if you're clever, you can cut a trailer without any footage from the movie at all.
Watch the trailer and see the pics >> Posted 03.22.12 by Mandy -
Move over vampires and zombies, the age of the live-action fairytale has taken over as Hollywood's latest obsession. Two live action Snow White movies are set to to arrive this year — Universal Studios' Snow White and the Huntsman and Relativity Media's Mirror, Mirror. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is set to spoof the Brothers Grimm tale early next year after being delayed from March until January 2013. Now Disney, which started the trend with 2010's blockbuster Alice in Wonderland, is developing a life-action version of Sleeping Beauty titled Maleficent and yet another riff on Snow White.
Maleficient will focus on the Disney villainess as the lead character and has had Angelina Jolie attached to play the role since 2009. While Jolie was reportedly set to start work on an untitled thriller with director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita, The Professional) in April, it looks like that will have to wait for Maleficient. "I haven't acted in two years [since 2010's The Tourist], and I haven't done anything else since this [directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey]. The next thing I am looking at is a Disney movie," Jolie told THR.
ronan to play a kung fu-fighting Snow white >> Posted 02.14.12 by Ryan -
Deadline reports that German actress Diane Kruger (Unknown, Inglourious Basterds) is in talks to play The Seeker in the upcoming movie adaptation of Twilight author Stephenie Meyer's other novel, The Host. Her character is "a member of 'the souls' who have invaded Earth and taken control of the planet's inhabiting humans."
Kruger will star alongside Saoirse Ronan who plays Melanie, The Wanderer and rebel soul, as well as William Hurt and Max Irons.
more about The Host Posted 01.23.12 by reelz -
A release date has been set for a new movie based on a Stephenie Meyer book. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) this one doesn't involve vampires.
Open Road Films, an upstart distributor, announced today it has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the movie adaptation of Meyer's 2008 "adult" novel The Host and will release the movie March 29, 2013.
According to Open Road, principal photography is scheduled to start in February 2012 in Louisiana and New Mexico. The sci-fi movie stars Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, The Lovely Bones) and is being written and directed by Andrew Niccol.
read the synopsis >> Posted 06.27.11 by Chris -
Actress Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) was first rumored for a part in The Hobbit in January. A month later, Ronan admitted that "nothing has actually been confirmed yet" though she said "I’d love to get a role."
Production on the two-part prequel to the The Lord of the Rings trilogy began in March, but Ronan told The Belfast Telegraph that she won't be appearing in The Hobbit.
It's probably not going to work out with The Hobbit unfortunately because I would have been working for about a year on it and there were other projects that I was very interested in, but [director] Pete [Jackson] and [his producer wife] Fran [Walsh] have been very good about it and very understanding. I'll have to just go back down to New Zealand for a holiday and hang out with the hobbits.
Ronan was recently cast in the lead role of The Host, the adaptation of the novel by Twilight author Stephanie Meyer, which is likely one of those "other projects" Ronan was talking about. The Irish actress was reportedly set to play woodland elf Itaril in The Hobbit. Ronan's replacement in the movie is unknown.
Posted 05.07.11 by Ryan -
Twilight author Stephenie Meyer has another adaptation in the works, and it now has it's starring actress. Saoirse Ronan, most recently in the title role in Hanna, will be playing the roles of both Melanie, and the alien Soul Wanderer that implants in her. Ronan, with her ability to show the vulnerability within a strong-willed character, seems an excellent choice for the role.
The story of The Host, which Meyer describes as science fiction for people who don't like science fiction, would not seem to translate to film as easily as the Twilight series, with its aliens who invade the bodies and psyches of humans. Meyers was sold on the idea of a movie version by producers Nick Weschler, Steve Schwartz, and Paula Mae Schwartz who also collaborated on the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
The project has a script written by Andrew Niccol, with Meyers, herself, being hands on during the process. There is no director for The Host, as of yet. Susanna White was rumored to helm the project as recently as this February, but she is no longer attached.
Posted 05.03.11 by Mandy -
If you've watched the recently released preview clips or the trailer for the upcoming thriller Hanna and thought, "is this like a teenage Bourne or something?" there is a reason. While Hanna and the movies do concern two expertly trained assassins, Hanna is directed by Joe Wright (Atonement), who had nothing to do with the Bourne movies. However, Hanna and the Bourne movies do share the same fight choreographer in Jeff Imada.
G4TV's Attack of the Show has revealed a behind the scenes featurette titled "Hanna: The Art of Attack" which features interviews with Wright and Imada as well as Hanna actors Saoirse Ronan and Eric Bana as they discuss some of the movie's fight scenes without (hopefully) spoiling them.
watch the video clip >> Posted 04.08.11 by Ryan -
Today's Challenge: Arthur and Hanna both open nationwide today. Can you find the movie link that connects leading ladies Jennifer Garner and Saoirse Ronan?
Our first Facebook movie game, ClusterFlick, plays off that old "six degrees of separation" theory — you know, the one that has a certain Kevin at the center of the Hollywood universe. It's easy to play, but not so easy to win. The goal is to use the major cast of movies to get from Point A to Point B in the smallest number of moves.
Play ClusterFlick >>
Posted 04.08.11 by reelz -
At this rate, audiences will be able to see almost all of director Joe Wright's Hanna with the amount of preview clips being released.
The movie stars Saoirse Ronan as the title character, who is raised by her ex-CIA father (Eric Bana) in the wilds of Finland to be a teenage assassin and ends up being hunted by a ruthless CIA agent (Cate Blanchett). Two clips were released last month showing Ronan escaping from a CIA compound, and, last week, two more clips showed Ronan undergoing a psych evaluation in the compound, and another of her on the run.
Last month, Ronan described her attraction to the role, which re-teams the actress with Wright, her director from 2007's Atonement.
I want all the roles that I play to hold challenges. With lots of action and a layered character, Hanna had them for me. It’s unlike any other drama that I’ve done. Here is a teenager who has been raised in a forest and has gotten all her education from her father; she’s never even met anyone else before. We meet her as she goes out on her own, and when she does she is fascinated by everyone and everything she comes across. My favorite quality of hers is that she is non-judgmental; she shows an open mind to, and a fascination with, everything. She’s a bit of a freak. But, I like that; I like freaks. Hanna discovers life for the first time, so the movie is not just about a girl who kicks butt — though she certainly does!
watch the clips >> Posted 03.28.11 by Ryan