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Taylor Lautner Making 8-Figures Per Movie; Will Produce & Star In 2 Studio Tentpoles During 2011; Now Casting His Love Interest

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday January 11, 2011 @ 9:10pm PSTTags: Fox 2000, New Regency, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Lautner Incarceron, Taylor Lautner Twilight Saga, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Twilight Saga

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that the Taylor Lautner juggernaut continues in Hollywood as this 18-year-old Twilight Saga action star and teen heartthrob just keeps booking movie after movie. Last year’s highest paid teenage actor (for a reported $7.5 million pay day in Universal’s Stretch Armstrong with Hasbro and Imagine) is starting off the new year by producing and starring in 2 new studio tentpoles during 2011. I can scoop that Fox 2000 and New Regency each coughed up an 8-digit paycheck to work with 8-pack-abs Tay-Tay for his two only available time slots this year. Meanwhile, three top producers including Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes are circling Taylor to star in their movies for 2012 and beyond. That’s because of Lautner’s enormous Twi-hard fan base and aggressive promotion of his films, and not because of any solo box office he’s done yet.

Fox 2000 and the filmmakers now are looking to cast his love interest in Incarceron, and I’m told the frontrunners are Blake Lively, Jennifer Lawrence, and Emma Watson. John Palermo Productions will produce (Wolverine, Drive) with Lautner’s own Quick Six production banner., Lautner will play the lead role from Catherine Fisher’s sci-fi/fantasy novel which last March went to Fox in a rights bidding war after the book was published in the U.S. this November and jumped onto The New York Times bestseller list. Lautner plays a character who lives his entire life in a savage and futuristic prison society. The screenwriting duo of Adam Cooper and Bill Collage are writing. (They are also scripting Moby Dick for Timur Bekmanbetov and Moses for FOX and producer Peter Chernin. So why not for Lautner, too?)

The 2nd Lautner vehicle is an as–yet-unnamed international spy thriller set up at New Regency described to me as “The Bourne Identity for the next generation.” The story is loosely based on the exploits of Juval Aviv, a former Israeli Mossad agent who was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-nominated Munich. Lautner will produce with Alexandra Milchan (who is currently producing The Wolf Of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio), daughter of Israeli mogul Arnon Milchan who is New Regency’s founder.

Taylor is scheduled to finish shooting the Twilight Saga’s Breaking Dawn this spring. And Fox 2000 and New Regency grabbed his two available slots for 2011. But insiders tell me that several producers are now trying to woo him to their projects: The team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Hairspray) who have an untitled project; Scott Stuber who has Demon Wars, a book written by bestselling author R.A. Slavatore. Lautner would play a reluctant hero in this epic fantasy adventure confronting the dark tides of destiny in his search for justice and peace; and Michael Bay whose production company Platinum Dunes is aggressively trying to make a movie this year with Taylor’s limited availability.

All this — and yet Taylor won’t even turn 19 until February 11th, and Hollywood won’t find out the kid’s non-Twilight Saga box office power until Lionsgate releases its thriller Abduction later this year on September 23rd.

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Robert Pattinson To Star In David Cronenberg’s ‘Cosmopolis’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday January 5, 2011 @ 2:48pm PSTTags: Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg, Movie Deals, Movies, Robert Pattinson, Twilight Saga
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Pattinson has booked his first major lead for when he completes The Twilight Saga. Pattinson will star in Cosmopolis, the Don DeLillo novel adaptation that David Cronenberg wrote and will direct. Pattinson, who just starred with Reese Witherspoon … Read More »

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Yes, Amy Adams Confirmed For Janis Joplin

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 15, 2010 @ 8:36pm PDTTags: Amy Adams, Biopic, Fearnet, Fernando Meirelles, Movie Casting, Twilight Saga, Wyck Godfrey


amy janet

Today the website Fearnet had an interview with film producer Wyck Godfrey about the Twilight Saga, and the subject of a long-in-the-works Janis Joplin biopic came up. Godfrey mentioned in passing that Amy Adams would play the 1960s singer. … Read More »

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‘ECLIPSE’ KEEPS BREAKING RECORDS: Twilight Saga Threequel Sets Best Ever Wednesday Opening Of $68.5M; Thursday $24.2M; Six-Day July Fourth Holiday Estimated At $178M; Twi-Hards Mob Theaters In U.S., Canada, Overseas

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 1, 2010 @ 8:02am PDTTags: David Slade, Eclipse, Hollywood History, Horror, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Rosenberg, Movies, Robert Pattinson, Stephenie Meyer, Summer Movies, Taylor Lautner, Twilight, Twilight Saga, Vampires, Werewolves

twilight-saga-eclipse-poster10TH UPDATE, THURSDAY 11 PM: No. 1 at the North American box office was the Twilight Saga: Eclipse with what looks like $24.2M today for a new cume of $92.8M and $110M for 5 days with a total of $178M for the 6-day July Fouth Holiday since Wednesday. That would put the pic just shy of Spider-Man 2 which holds the July 4th holiday record with $180M.

9TH UPDATE, THURSDAY 3:30 PM: Summit Entertainment is disclosing that THE TWILIGHT SAGA: Eclipse had “an incredible start” internationally. Despite great weather and the World Cup, Eclipse launched with an estimated $19M from 22 markets. The only major territories that opened on June 30th were Italy, Brazil, and Russia. Other majors like Spain, Australia and Mexico launch today. France, Germany, S. Korea and Japan will launch in the weeks to come. Here are some highlights of opening day results: Eclipse Kicks Off Big International Run

8TH UPDATE, THURSDAY 8 AM: I can report now that the 3rd film in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga series of novels is off to a record-breaking start at the North American box office. Summit Entertainment’s ECLIPSE opened to $68.5 million today which shattered the best-ever $62 million for a Wednesday single day opening set last summer by Paramount’s Transformers 2. That $68.5M included Eclipse‘s record-setting $30M from Wednesday 12:01 AM and 3 AM showings at more than 4,000 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. Eclipse also registered the biggest single day opening during the summer play period, besting The Dark Knight‘s $67.2M. But the Twilight saga’s 2nd film, New Moon, still holds the largest single day opening record of $72 million. Eclipse is playing in 4,416 domestic locations, which sets another record for the biggest ever release in Hollywood history, surpassing Iron Man 2‘s 4,380 venues. 

eclipse orange2Stay tuned for the David Slade-directed Eclipse starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner from Melissa Rosenberg’s script to set more records over this 6-day July 4th holiday weekend. I’ve learned that 57% of the audience attending opening day did so because of the “subject matter”, while 36% did so because of the actor in the lead role, and 15% because of the actress in the lead role. Eclipse received a Cinemascore overall grade of “A” with 92% of moviegoers giving the pic an A or B. Read More »

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‘Twilight Saga’ And ‘True Blood’ Vampiresses Sink Teeth Into ‘Catch .44′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday July 1, 2010 @ 5:11am PDTTags: Actors, Bruce Willis, Movie Casting, True Blood, Twilight Saga
Mike Fleming

nikki-reedtrue_blood-jessica-deborah_ann_wollThe indie Catch .44 has added two actresses transitioning from sultry vampire roles. Twilight Saga’s Nikki Reed and True Blood’s Deborah Ann Woll have signed on opposite Bruce Willis, Malin Ackerman and … Read More »

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‘Twilight’ Saga Facebook Page Now Has More Fans Than ‘Iron Man’, ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Transformers’, ‘Toy Story’ Combined

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday June 25, 2010 @ 6:22pm PDTTags: Harry Potter, Iron Man, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Toy Story, Transformers, Twilight, Twilight Fans, Twilight Saga


eclipse premiere

THE TWILIGHT SAGA Facebook page now has 6.665 million fans. (Above, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart sign autographs at last night’s Eclipse premiere.) It’s the largest of all the film pages, with more fans than Iron Man, Harry Potter, Transformers, and Toy Story … Read More »

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