Today The Hollywood Reporter posted an article, explaining how far the vampire crazyness has come in the past couple of years (aka since Twilight).

It’s funny how life is now divided into before and after Twilight!

The article is quite long, but it’s an interesting read.

By the numbers

Film: $3 billion

Publishing: $1.6 billion

Merchandising: $600 million

TV, DVDs: $1.2 billion

Other: $600 million

Hollywood has repeatedly peddled the apocalyptic threat from aliens, machines, comets, viruses and zombies, but who was watching the vampires?

Never exactly absent from the entertainment scene, those eternal bloodsuckers lately have infiltrated everything from big screens and little screens to bookstore shelves, clothing racks, download services, video games and video, record and jewelry stores.

Just this week, the Fox/New Regency “Twilight” parody “Vampires Suck” grossed $20 million, and 5 million regular viewers are rabidly following HBO’s newest hit, “True Blood,” as it swoops toward its season 3 finale Sept. 12. Meanwhile, Justin Cronin’s “The Passage,” Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn” and Charlaine Harris’ “Dead and Gone” hover on best-seller lists.

These charming, deadly immortals are everywhere. And as a result, they’re spilling as much green as red — about $7 billion since the “Twilight” film franchise bowed less than two years ago, according to THR estimates.

What started with some ancient, hysterical myths and a pair of spooky 19th century tales — John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1819) and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1897) — has bloomed into an entire inexhaustible industry. (Find out which vampire movies we’d like to see remade — and who should star — at the end of this article.)

“By starting with one simple mythological creature that’s been part of our literary universe for centuries, you can create a story that has it all: romance, horror, action, special effects, sex, epic love, wish fulfillment, romantic leading men, delicious bad-boy villains, female badasses, damsels in distress, death, monsters and, ultimately, the perfectly flawed hero who would give it all up if it meant they wouldn’t have to spend eternity alone,” says Julie Plec, writer and exec producer of the CW series “The Vampire Diaries.” It doesn’t get more universal than that.

That gets to the bloody heart of it. Because they’re not specific to genre, vampires have the freedom to roam not just across mediums but from romance to horror to political commentary to humor. Their versatility is endless, swinging from chaste innocence to sexy violence, so the potential audience is everyone.

No other subject has sunk its teeth into pop culture quite so pervasively.

Let’s start with the current king. Globally, the three “Twilight” films, released in 2008, 2009 and 2010, have a $1.76 billion cume at the global boxoffice. The first two each has grossed another $160 million or so in home video sales (the third hits Blu-ray/DVD in September). That’s more than $2 billion right there.

If the coming two installments of “Breaking Dawn” — which Summit will release in November 2011 and November 2012 — do similar business in theaters and the home-entertainment market, that would add another $1.7 billion to the coffers.

And that’s just from the movie versions of Meyer’s colossally successful book series.

In a continuation of the press junket from a couple of weeks ago, some fansites have posted more from their interview with Stephenie. I particularly like this one and I’m gonna quote my favourite part, but please do go on and read the entire thing

The link (with an audio file) is HERE

OK, most of you know that Breaking Dawn is my favorite part… and here Stephenie explains why much better than I ever could. Don’t laugh at me, but it made me cry! (Also, I have a soft spot for Anne of Green Gables )

LT: They all love talking about it. Um, so we were talking with them and we were talking about the character of Edward and kind of, it feels like in the end of New Moon, especially into Eclipse and especially in Breaking Dawn, it feels like his character changes a little bit. Or a lot maybe even. Um, how he goes from this strong, like as you said earlier, know-it-all to really almost a 180. Like simpering. Isn’t in control. Simpering is a bad word.

SM: There’s a lot of self-doubt that happens particularly after New Moon because this is someone who feels like he’s always had the answers and now he has screwed up worse than he’s ever screwed up in his entire life. And the one thing that he wanted more than anything else he destroyed her. And that was like so not what he was planning, so there is a lot of self-doubt. I feel like in Breaking Dawn the evolution completes where he goes from kind of like, not having hope or faith in himself, but faith in his ability to know everything. And he knows he’s right a lot. But he doesn’t have a lot of hope for anything and then he meets Bella and that throws everything into a mix and he screws up and he starts to doubt himself. In Breaking Dawn is the first time he really has faith and hope, like he comes around. He goes from being the worst pessimist to actually being an optimist, and for me that was a really big evolution. And it takes place a lot off screen in Breaking Dawn, because you know Bella is going through so much just here in her body it is very centered in her physically. And she has another battle, like she at this time has to say, “Edward, I can’t deal with you! I have something bigger to do here. Back off!” And so he becomes someone who believes at the end. Like the way she always has believed: “You and I are something special. This is gonna work out.” And he’s always felt like that she was wrong, and by the end he’s like: “You know what? I don’t even care what happens now ‘cause you’re right.” And see I always liked that about him, I liked that he was able to change. He’s one of those that changes. And Breaking Dawn for me was…on the surface there’s all this action, but for me it was all about Edward coming around. You know it’s hard for people though I think to watch the hot boy become the responsible dad because that’s not a sexy transition. Unless you have dated the hot boy and he has become the responsible dad to your children, and it’s really sexy. That’s not something that when you’re fourteen makes sense because dad is your father. But when it’s the father of your children it’s a whole other ballpark. A whole new level of sexy. You guys know. And that’s something that is not YA. It’s not a YA emotion and I always knew it was gonna go there.

(chatter)

SM: Oh my gosh it’s so sweet. It’s such a different level when you see them bond with their children. But I always knew this, that’s one of the reasons why it was hard to go YA because this was never gonna be…Remember Sweet Valley High? Okay, I’m really old.

Fansites: Yes!

SM: And those novels that like every…they’re still in high school. They’ve been there for 400 years and they’re still in high school. My books were theAnne of Green Gables where she grows up. She goes to college. She gets married. She has six kids. Her kids grow up. Her kids get married. I love the evolution. I love that they get to grow up and so for me the story was always…they were always gonna grow up.

Fansite: So it does change.

SM: And it does…It really changes. It’s not YA anymore in Breaking Dawn and that’s something that throws a lot of people.

Fansite: Totally.

SM: But I like letting them grow up. You feel bad when you make your characters stifle. They get to grow and change.

In a new article published today, Forbes gives a list of the highest paid authors in the world last year. The author of the Twilight Saga, our beloved Stephenie Meyer is second in the ranking. Well done, Stephenie!

Two words: TWILIGHT POWER!

Stephenie Meyer: $40 million

Last fall Meyer’s novels were fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh on USA Today’s bestseller lists. Her four-book series, Twilight, has sold 40 million copies in the U.S. and 100 million worldwide.

Her Twilight series has become such a juggernaut that despite not releasing a new title in 2009, she earned $40 million over the year. About $7 million of that came from movies adapted from the Twilight series. In June the third Twilightinstallment pulled in $175 million in its first six days, the most successful first week of any movie of 2010.

Did you have any of these Questions while reading ‘The Second Short Life of Bree Tanner’?

Where did Fred and Diego’s name come from?

How were Bree and Diego capable of their emotion having been newborns?

The Novella helps bring attention to how hard it is to be a newborn… Bella didn’t have a problem, so what are the differences?

Timelines… When did all the characters (Diego, Bree, Fred) come into play in correlation to The Twilight Saga?

Was Riley created while James was still alive?

If  yes, then you should head over to the TST to listen to another portion of their interview with SM. You can also go here to List to the other sites Junket clips as well.

Alright so everyone on here that knows me also knows that I am not the biggest SM fan at times but this interview has made me really appreciate her in ways that I didn’t. I always knew that Summit had way more say than she ever could for the movies, but this interview shows just how much Summit tries to change up the books for the movies and how much SM fights to keep it the same. It is an audio interview so I have posted the transcript below. I know it is long but every TwiHard should read this!

Often scenes from the books are changed or left out all together for the flow of the movie. Stephenie explains how and why she picks her battles when it comes to depicting her books into movies. When do you choose your battles? In seeing the movie and the book. You have the book, they have a vision. They throw out a line, and you’re like “They would have never said that”

SM: It’s really difficult. Because you do have to choose which ones you won’t bow down on. And I know that even when I really say “Okay, I cannot live with that” It’s still 1 out of 10 I’ll get it. When I really throw a fit. Which is rare. It is really rare because I realize ya know, they’re making a movie. When they come to me for advice, I’m happy say things. There are very few things that I will….and its things that just feel so wrong, that there’s no other way. And some of them are such small little things that, like with the…(?) we were talking about. A lot of that was (?) related. It’s harder than you would think. It’s funny. Some things you take for granted in movies. And it’s amazing how difficult
some things are to do. One of the reasons we were back there was because, there was one blocking issue I had. And nobody else cared, but for me, it was such a key blocking thing. It physically had to look this way. That one, I was like “I really have to have this. I can’t see this like this” & everyone was like really?

Alison: All the fans would have cared. Not one fan would have been happy with that.

SM: The one thing I scheduled my whole schedule around in Eclipse was I had to be there for the tent scene was number one. That was on the calendar. And I had the other scenes in order of priority, and I had those dates booked. I was already going to Vancouver and they had a weather problem. They filmed it when I wasn’t there. So I’m like “Okay, I’m not gonna panic.” But in the original version, Jacob gets into the sleeping bag (whispers) and doesn’t touch her.

Alison: Like just his legs are gonna keep her warm from the bottom of the sleeping bag?

SM: It’s impossible to keep someone warm when doing that. And then you have the extra added thing. This is the girl he is in love with and he’s in a sleeping bag with her….I mean, come on. I was just like, “what…why aren’t you touching her? Why isn’t he touching her?” People are going to freak out.

Alison: Everybody would have freaked out

SM: It doesn’t make sense that he would do that and you’d sit there and say “why? He’s supposed to be warming her up, right?” Even if you had no baggage from reading the books, you would still have the same reaction. It was interesting, because the original script for it, I was fine with but then they tweaked the script because they felt like one part of the conversation got a lot more in depth in the original we kind of already knew. You know, you have the whole rehash when Edward’s talking about “when I first met her” and they pulled that and instead went with the later part of the scene where Jacob’s like “how did you cope?” And I think the emotionality of it just went through the roof.

Kim: The dialogue between Rob and Jake, I mean Edward and Jacob

Alison: And it was so long, and I loved how long it was

SM: Yeah! I love that they just let it happen. I think that, that was Rob’s best day of shooting. It was so funny, did you guys hear all the rumors about the problems? Rob was only supposed to be there for the last day. The first two were Jacob and Bella scenes where the wig had been a problem. The last day was the tent was the tent and that was it & it was a pretty easy shoot. The only problem for that day was that Kristen had the stomach flu and luckily, she was supposed to lay there, but between every like scene, oh, she was so sick. And Taylor, he was over digging around, grabbing garbage cans. Why is Taylor taking the garbage? Takes them over there so she could puke in them. It was so sweet. Everybody was taking care of her and everything, but it was a hard day. You look at actors and a lot of people are like “I wanna be an actor” it’s so hard and then to sit there. She’s wanting to puke and she’s all feverish, and she’s having to do the shivering. She was a work horse that day. That was our only drama was that poor Kristen got sick, and I think it was food poisoning. But it was a great shoot. It was one of those days where at the end you’re like “We really killed it today! It’s gonna be great!” It was a great day.

HOW SHE WILL OVERSEE ALL THIS AS A PRODUCER IN ‘BREAKING DAWN’

Alison: What made you decide to put the producer hat on for Breaking Dawn? And what do you think you’ll bring to that last movie?

SM: I don’t think it’s gonna change that much. I do feel like, I mean Breaking Dawn is tricky. It’s real tricky. Now, I feel like we have more of a handle on it. Because the script and with Bill Condon. I am more calm, but originally, I was very much on the fence. Maybe we shouldn’t make this into a movie, ya know. Some things can’t be made into a movie and come across exactly the right way. So it was a big struggle for me to go forward. I knew it would disappoint a lot of people, and that was really one of the main instances, that people would be like “What?” I didn’t want to disappoint people. So I was concerned. And still my plan was and still is, to be there every day. And so as the producer, can do that. So it’s really a lot about being….in the room. And it’s going to be a lot of upheaval in my life, but I felt like it was important. And then also, it’s the last one. So I kinda feel like, I’m going to commit to this for this year, I’ll get it done, and then I won’t do that again. And then also. I get to be more involved with it. Ya know, I think we will have a little more of the same music, which will be a big deal. Instead of hearing about the decisions afterward. We will be there when they are being made. That’s gonna help. With Eclipse, I was pretty much, right on the line with producing. I was very much involved with the script and a lot of the choices. So it’s not a huge difference, but it’ll be really, an interesting experience.

Kim: Well we breathed a sigh of relief when we heard you were producing.

SM: I don’t know if those sighs are a little bit premature. I’m not sure that there will be that much more that I can do. um…..but, I keep fighting. I can’t quite make myself give up, so.

Alison: We do appreciate it.

Read full article.

AMAAAAAZING!!!

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: an Eclipse Novella has sold more than 1 million U.S. copies since its release on June 5, making it the year’s best-selling book in under a month.

The novella is written from the viewpoint of Bree Tanner, a newborn vampire Stephenie Meyer introduced inEclipse, the third installment of her mega-selling The Twilight Saga.

Nearly 100 million copies of The Twilight Saga have been sold worldwide, according to publisher Little, Brown

Source

During the APLive interview on the Eclipse Premiere Red Carpet, Stephenie Meyer commented on what she thought the perfect time to break Breaking Dawn into 2 movies would be:

“Eyes open and they are red – CUT!”

Doesn’t she look great, by the way?

This is according to the Associated Press, I swear!

Robert Pattinson isn’t the only famous vampire in his family.

Genealogists say the 24-year-old “Twilight” star is related to Vlad the Impaler, widely cited as the inspiration for the main character in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”

Researchers at Ancestry.com discovered that Pattinson and the Transylvanian leader (real name: Vlad III Dracula) are connected through their relationship to the British royal family. Prince William and Prince Harry are Pattinson’s distant cousins; Vlad the Impaler was their distant uncle.

“Tracing Pattinson’s family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to the Twilight Saga,” said Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com. “Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson’s life — making his story just as supernatural as the one he’s playing on screen.”

Also connected to the prince’s lineage and therefore to Dracula? Stephenie Meyer, the author of the “Twilight” series.

In a new interview with representatives from four Twilight fan websites, Stephenie Meyer gives us some info on her plans for Midnight Sun!!! From what I get, it looks like the book it’s going to happen! In a long time, but it will! Please everyone, pray with me!!!

Click to hear the interview: sm_midnightsun

You can also read it here:

If for some reason you would rather read the interview…

Meghan: What we’ll do is just start here, you’ll do one question and keep going around…

Letters to Twilight: No pressure!

(Laughing)

Meghan: So alright, go for it!

Stephenie: Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Do you all have your tape recorders on?

All: (Nodding and saying yes!)

Stephenie: First question, because we are going to deal with this right now, is Midnight Sun! Right? So we don’t have to…

All: (Lot’s of blabbering…)

Stephenie: I know that’s what everyone cares about.  I also know that the right answer would be for me to say “Oh yah, it’s done! And it’ll be out next month!”  But that’s not true.  It’s also not true that I’ve got a ton of work done on it, and that’s what I’m working on.  What’s true is that I’m really burned out on vampires.  And, I don’t want to write it badly.  So I want to wait until I’m excited about the material again, and I’m excited about Edward, and that it’s something that’s motivating.  You know, when a story is keeping me up at night, and I’m waking up at 4 am in the morning and thinking ‘Yes! That is what is what should happen in this moment!’  Then that is when I can write with happiness! So, right now it feels like homework… it really does.  And when things feel like homework they go very, very slowly for me.  So it’s still not a “It’s not gonna happen!” I want to do it when I can do it right.  You know, I have my share of human stubbornness, and I have to tell you, it’s a little bit hard when people are like “This is the only thing you can do, and it’s the only thing we care about!”  And, you’re kind of like a three year old, you want to be like “I’m gonna do what I wanna do!” Yah.  “You’re not the boss of me!”  So my mom has backed off a little bit.  Actually, I was at The Fray concert, and I was hanging out with the guys backstage.  They’re really cool, and I was talking to Isaac about it.  He was like, “I really want you to do that!”  And I was like “Oh my gosh!  Come on!”  You know I can’t get away from it anywhere.  And, we talked about stubbornness and reverse psychology.  I have this great thing he signed for me, it says “To Stephenie, Don’t work on that stupid book! Nobody wants it anyway!”  I have it by my computer.  That really is the right direction to go with me, because I’m like “Huh!  Maybe I should do it!  I’ll show you!”   Psychology!  Anyway, that’s Midnight Sun!  so, that should disappoint everyone!

TwilightSeriesTheories: I don’t think so!

Stephenie: Ok!  so now we’re done!  (Laughing) So, I’ll see you guys later!

All: (Laughing)

LetterstoTwilight: That’s totally understandable.

Twilight Series Theories: I would rather wait.

Twilight Source: We’re not reading it until it’s done.

Twilight Series Theories: I haven’t read it!

Letters to Twilight: You haven’t!

Stephenie: The people I worry about are the haters. You know, that like to talk about what a horrible writer I am and all that stuff.  When I do write it they’re going to say “Oh, this was worse than the first half because now she did it badly!”  No matter what I do it’s going to be that way.  There’s a mental block there.  You know what people are going to say, so I have wait until it’s just me and the book again.  Then I can feel excited about it!  You know, sometimes I’ll sit and think about the car chase, that we don’t get to see from Bella’s perspective.  I have that one completely mapped out in my head.  That one wouldn’t be hard to get down. Stuff like that, it gets exciting. Cars.  Ya know!  The first car he steals I have picked out, and then the second one.  It get’s messy!  It’s gonna be great!  You have to get excited about things!  But, that’s Midnight Sun!

Source1 and Source2

David Slade, Melissa Rosenberg & Wyck Godfrey go into the background of the movies in this press interview. Very Interesting! Wyck came up with Edward’s “Does he own a shirt?” line, which is so great to Team Edward fans. Also they talk about a few scenes they plan to put on the Eclipse DVD!  Right at the end of the interview, Rosenberg make some comments on future Twilight Saga movies. Go read it and see what you think she is saying.
Here are a few portions that I thought were particularly interesting from the interview:
(Click here to read it all.)

Q: David, what were the specific changes you wanted to make, going into the film?

David: With Edward, I really wanted to make sure this character was dangerous. In the last movie, he had played a different character arc, but in this movie, I wanted to bring out the carnivore in him. That had to come throughout the film, and he hadn’t really done that so much. That was the main thing. I tried to look at every scene, with that in mind. Underlying everything is danger. That was the intention.

Q: Do you have any special features or extras planned for the DVD?

Wyck: There’s the nude scene we shot that wasn’t in the book. No. I don’t know. With any film, you go through the process of editing it down to its fighting weight and, ultimately, you’re going to have some scenes that didn’t end up in the movie.

David: There were a number of scenes which just felt excessive, in terms of beating the same story, but some of them were really nice.

David: What happens is that the film has its own momentum from the script. When you start going, by the time you hit the third act, you’re just blasting along, and that scene just came to a stop. But, it’s a beautiful scene that’s beautifully performed, and it’ll be a nice little bonus for fans of the book.

Wyck: I think there’s going to be a lot of classic behind-the-scenes stuff, where you’re going to get to see how we did most of the action and stunts in the movie, and a lot of the CG process. That stuff will flesh out the experience for audiences that do like to go behind the camera and see how it’s all done.

Melissa: It’s interesting, when I did the first Twilight movie, I actually wrote it before it was cast. I was writing in a vacuum, and it actually had a lot of humor in it. And then, we realized, as we got it on actors, that it just wasn’t appropriate. But, now the actors are more comfortable with it and I think the story lends itself to that. Wyck actually came up with the best line in the movie, “Does he own a shirt?” There’s a confidence level in the storytelling now.

And this:

Q: With the wealth of backstory and appetite for more Twilight, would you see doing movies on Alice or any of the other characters, with Stephenie’s approval?

Melissa: I think she’s going to do that. I would look at anything she wrote. If this series is going to expand, it will be by her doing.

Q: Will it always be book first?

Melissa: I would think it would be. I haven’t even thought of it, but I would think it would have to be book first.

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRATES THE LUNAR ECLIPSE WITH “TWILIGHT NIGHT” ON JUNE 26th

12 Nationwide Evening Events to Provide Families, Friends and Fansthe Opportunity to See the First Two Films in THE TWILIGHT SAGA Under the Stars

Moviefone.com to Live-Stream Twilight Night
Bringing Experience to Fans Everywhere

Los Angeles, CA June 18, 2010 – In celebration of the lunar eclipse on the evening of June 26th, Summit Entertainment is inviting everyone across the nation to “TWILIGHT Night,” a 12-city event including outdoor screenings of TWILIGHT and THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON. The family and community-oriented events are the perfect chance for those new to the film franchise as well as moviegoers in general to immerse themselves in THE TWILIGHT SAGA phenomenon just in time for the highly anticipated theatrical release of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, the third installment of Summit Entertainment’s TWILIGHT SAGA film franchise, on June 30th.

The excitement of THE TWILIGHT SAGA will be delivered directly to fans in their hometowns and online with “TWILIGHT Night” special events. Moviefone will live-stream events from Philadelphia and San Diego at www.moviefone.com/twilightnight which will include interviews with cast, fan reactions, special guests and sneak peeks of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE, allowing those unable to attend to still take part in the celebration. In addition, each event will include special cast member appearances as well as engaging activities to be enjoyed prior to the outdoor evening film screenings, including a red carpet and photo booth, both provided by Moviefone.

For more information about the nationwide screenings and to see if one is in your hometown, visit http://eclipsethemovie.com.

Events are currently scheduled to take place in the following cities and venues. Doors open at 6:00 PM local time in each city. Attendance will be accommodated on a first come, first served basis. See local event information for additional instructions.*

Atlanta
Atlantic Station
171 17th St NW
Atlanta, GA

Dallas
AT&T Plaza at the American Airlines Center
2500 Victory Ave
Dallas, TX

Denver
Sloan’s Lake Park
17th Ave and Sheridan
Denver, CO

Miami
Gusman Center Performing Arts
174 East Flagler Street
Miami, FL

Philadelphia
The Piazza
North Second Street and Germantown Avenue, Below Girard
Philadelphia, PA

Phoenix
Desert Ridge Shopping Center
21001 North Tatum Blvd.
Phoenix, AZ

Portland
Colonel Summers City Park
Portland, OR

Salt Lake City
Movie in the Park
Fairmont Park located
2361 South 900 East
Salt Lake City, UT

St. Louis
St. Louis Union Station
1820 Market Street
St. Louis, MO

San Diego
Park at the Park (Downtown)
10th & K
San Diego, CA

Seattle
Fremont Outdoor Movies
3501 Phinney Ave N.
Seattle, WA

Washington DC
National Harbor Plaza
163 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD

*Cities, venues and times are subject to change. Visit http://eclipsethemovie.com for the most current information.