Sources for Entertainment Weekly have given the site a list of three Academy Award-nominated directors who are in the running to direct the Twilight Saga finale; Breaking Dawn. Apparently, three of the “top-notch” directors in the running are: Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation), Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Milk) and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). It’s a strangely diverse selection, particularly for the franchise in question.

I’m not familiar with Bill Condon’s work, but Miss Coppola seems a more obvious choice than Van Sant, what with her kinda “dreamy” atmospheres. If you watch The Virgin Suicides, you can imagine her directing this. I’d just pray that Breaking Dawn would manage to be as good. I trust Coppola though, particularly after witnessing the brilliant Lost in Translation. Would Breaking Dawn be a mistake for her, or a salvation for the series? And will David Slade (30 Days of Night – another unexpected choice) turn the series round with Eclipse? We’ll have to stay tuned.

In other director-related news, Shock Till You Drop has also been contacted by their sources – in relation to Paranormal Activity 2. Akiva Goldsman is the man seemingly most likely to direct, in what would be his first helming of a feature film. He has previously produced films like I Am Legend and Constantine, and has written and directed for TV show Fringe. According to IMDb, he also played Vulcan Council Member #1 in Star Trek, which is always a good accolade to have. I don’t think he’s a terribly obvious choice for Paranormal, but someone who’s worked on Fringe might have the horror know-how…will they? I want more “scary” bits in this one than many, many minutes of the characters standing around talking about scary bits. Please.

EDIT: Deadline now tells us that Akiva Goldsman being pulled in to direct Paranormal 2 is an untrue rumour. He’s instead joined the project as an executive producer (but I think we may have known that before?). Ah well.

And finally, James Bobin has been confirmed as the director of The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made, says The Hollywood Reporter. Very good news. He was in talks for this job back in January. Additionally, Jason Segel, who wrote the script, will play the “human lead” in the film. I hope he’s not in it too much – I’d rather it focused on the actual Muppets. Oh, and Segel needlessly felt the need to get his genitals out more than once in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Let’s hope Kermit, Gonzo and friends are safe from this kind of exposure.

Summit Entertainment will be taking a leaf out of Harry Potter’s book and will be splitting the final Twilight film, Breaking Dawn, into two films. According to Deadline Hollywood Summit aim to begin filming later this year, and Melissa Rosenberg (who has written the scripts for all the Twilight films) is currently in the process of adapting the book into screenplay form. They also mention that Summit are looking for “high end” directors to take on Breaking Dawn, which will be filmed back-to-back.

Splitting the film makes sense financially as Summit stand to make another $700+ million (yes, New Moon made over $700 million), and as the Twilight franchise is the main breadwinner for Summit they will need to milk it for all it’s worth.

It is also wise for Summit to be looking for ‘high end’ directors, considering the film could come off as laughable with a poor director in charge. For instance, (spoilers) Bella (Kristen Stewart) becomes pregnant and the baby ends up breaking most of her bones as it has inherited a vampire’s inhuman strength. Then, after Edward (Robert Pattinson) as given Bella a C-Section with his teeth, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) ‘imprints’ on the baby, which basically means he falls in love with it. I haven’t seen any of the films so far, but I may see Breaking Dawn simply to see how they handle it.

Summit Entertainment have released the first poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon which features Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black.

In other Twilight saga news Pattinson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Summit will be moving ahead with a fourth film.

It looks like Summit Entertainment are betting on Twilight making tonnes of money when it is released next month, as they have acquired rights to the next three novels in Stephenie Meyer’s vampire series, and have also hired Twilight writer Melissa Rosenberg to write the scripts, based on the books “New Moon” and “Eclipse”. It is interesting to note that the fourth book “Breaking Dawn” has not attached a writer. This is most likely because Summit want to see how things go with the trilogy before setting off on a fourth adventure.

In other news, the soundtrack to Twilight became #1 on the Billboard 200 this week, becoming the third No. 1 soundtrack this year after Juno and Mamma Mia! It also knocked AC/DC off in the process. [You can get your copy by clicking here]