Update: You can now pre-order the DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon ready for its February 11, 2012 release.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 has only just been released onto the big screen but Summit Entertainment are already planning ahead for the eventual DVD and Blu-ray release. No official release date has been set (it’ll probably be March or April given the release date window for previous films in the franchise), but the studio has unveiled the DVD/Blu-ray covers, along with details on the special features.

Below are the DVD and Blu-ray covers:

DVD and Blu-ray special features include:

- 6-part Documentary (viewable in both standard and PIP modes)
- Bella & Edward’s Personal Wedding Video
- Becoming Jacob
- Jump to…(character specific favorite scenes)
- Audio Commentary with Bill Condon

In The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson), plus those they love, must deal with the chain of consequences brought on by a marriage, honeymoon, and the tumultuous birth of a child…which brings an unforeseen and shocking development for Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

Update: You can now pre-order the DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon ready for its February 11, 2012 release.

Read similar posts to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 DVD and Blu-ray details released at Filmonic

This time next week The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will be making a killing at the box office, but will Oscar winning writer Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Gods and Monsters) be able to deliver the franchise with its first critical hit as director?

Here’s a summary of the first batch of reviews and reactions:

According to Movie Exclusive with Part 1 series screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg “makes the split right where it belongs” and Bill Condon “has taken the ‘Twilight’ franchise in a new and exciting direction” which is “easily the most emotionally satisfying of any of the films so far” and leaves “you with bated breath for the concluding film due one year later.” That’s where the glowing praise ends, though.

Screen Daily says Melissa Rosenberg “does a decent job of distilling some of the main conflicts from the 750-page novel” but thinks director Bill Condon is a “subpar director of spatial action”, citing a fight between the wolves and the Cullen clan that ends up being “a jumbled mess with a shrugging emotional impact.”

The Hollywood Reporter thinks splitting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two films was justified given the “massive amount of narrative”, but thinks Breaking Dawn – Part 1 could have been covered in 40 minutes instead of two hours. The reviewer says the movie “feels both bloated and as anemic as Bella herself becomes while enduring her pregnancy.”

Variety says the movie is a “downgrade” from Eclipse action-wise and “two nocturnal wolves-vs.-vamps combat scenes are essentially thrill-free, and so underlit that one is inclined to suspect slapdash CGI”. Bill Condon “takes the reins capably enough” but “his approach suffers from a certain stylistic anonymity that seems endemic to the material.” The review suggests Breaking Dawn would have “benefited from a dash of Cronenbergian body-horror” and “a willingness to push past a PG-13 rating”, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

W.L. Swarts describes the acting of the three leads as “honed” but they deliver nothing new as “we’ve seen Kristen Stewart shake and look pained, we’ve seen Robert Pattinson look confused and we’ve seen Taylor Lautner look upset and strong.” The character of Bella also lacks development as she does “not become more sophisticated, more intuitive or more interesting, she is just pregnant.” Despite this Michael Sheen “resurfaces to remind viewers what a dramatic powerhouse he can be” as Volturi leader Aro and there is praise for the soundtrack which “is an actual special effect that helps tell the story”.

Plenty more reviews will be surfacing over the upcoming week, but it looks like it’ll get the same response as the previous films. The fans will love it and it’ll make millions, but critics and regular movie-goers will be left wondering what the hype is all about.

Read similar posts to First reviews for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 at Filmonic

Following the 15 second preview we saw last week, Summit Entertainment has released the full second trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. We see more of the Bella/Edward wedding and the subsequent honeymoon, but the main focus of the trailer is on the half-vampire, half-human child that’s growing inside Bella’s womb.

Watch below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

In the highly anticipated next chapter of the blockbuster The Twilight Saga, the newfound married bliss of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is cut short when a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.

After their wedding, Bella and Edward travel to Rio de Janeiro for their honeymoon, where they finally give in to their passions. Bella soon discovers she is pregnant, and during a nearly fatal childbirth, Edward finally fulfills her wish to become immortal.

But the arrival of their remarkable daughter, Renesmee, sets in motion a perilous chain of events that pits the Cullens and their allies against the Volturi, the fearsome council of vampire leaders, setting the stage for an all-out battle.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and opens November 18th, 2011.

Read similar posts to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 trailer at Filmonic

With the summer blockbusters out of the way Summit Entertainment has begun to ramp up marketing for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. In preparation for the release of a new trailer next week they’ve released a 15 second preview, and debuted two new posters via Yahoo!.

Here’s the official synopsis:

In the highly anticipated next chapter of the blockbuster The Twilight Saga, the newfound married bliss of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is cut short when a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.

After their wedding, Bella and Edward travel to Rio de Janeiro for their honeymoon, where they finally give in to their passions. Bella soon discovers she is pregnant, and during a nearly fatal childbirth, Edward finally fulfills her wish to become immortal.

But the arrival of their remarkable daughter, Renesmee, sets in motion a perilous chain of events that pits the Cullens and their allies against the Volturi, the fearsome council of vampire leaders, setting the stage for an all-out battle.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and opens November 18th, 2011.

Read similar posts to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 trailer preview and posters at Filmonic

Summit Entertainment have released the first official teaser trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, and they’ve somehow made a wedding appear epic. Well, they’ve tried to anyway.

From the trailer Breaking Dawn looks similar to the previous films, but that was expected. Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are still madly in love, but what’s different this time is that over the course of the trailer Bella Swan ends up with not one, but two vampires inside of her.

Watch below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

In the highly anticipated next chapter of the blockbuster The Twilight Saga, the newfound married bliss of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is cut short when a series of betrayals and misfortunes threatens to destroy their world.

After their wedding, Bella and Edward travel to Rio de Janeiro for their honeymoon, where they finally give in to their passions. Bella soon discovers she is pregnant, and during a nearly fatal childbirth, Edward finally fulfills her wish to become immortal.

But the arrival of their remarkable daughter, Renesmee, sets in motion a perilous chain of events that pits the Cullens and their allies against the Volturi, the fearsome council of vampire leaders, setting the stage for an all-out battle.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and opens November 18th, 2011.

Read similar posts to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 teaser at Filmonic

According to Deadline Lost and Taken actress Maggie Grace has joined the cast of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Grace will play Irina, a member of the Denali coven, who are considered cousins to the Cullen clan as the only other “vegetarian” vampire group. When Irina blames the Cullens for the death of her lover, her actions set in motion a terrifying chain of events.

Maggie Grace was last seen in Knight and Day and recently signed up to star in space thriller Lock Out with Guy Pearce.

Dreamgirls director Bill Condon will direct both Breaking Dawn films simultaneously Deathly Hallows-style, and both will star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz will also be reprising their roles.

Melissa Rosenberg, who has written the scripts for all the films, has been working on the screenplay over the past few months ready for filming later this year.

Summit Entertainment will release The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 on November 18, 2011, followed by Breaking Dawn – Part 2 on November 16, 2012.

Read similar posts to Maggie Grace joins The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn at Filmonic

Summit Entertainment has set The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 release date for November 16th 2012, which means fans have to wait a whole year for the final film as Part I will be released November 18th 2011. Not even the Harry Potter fans have to wait that long for their conclusion.

Bill Condon will direct both films simultaneously Deathly Hallows-style, and both will star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz will also be reprising their roles.

Melissa Rosenberg, who has written the scripts for all the films, has been working on the screenplay over the past few months ready for filming later this year.

Read similar posts to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 release date set at Filmonic

Summit today confirmed what most had been guessing for a while: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn will be split into two films.

Bill Condon will direct both films simultaneously Deathly Hallows-style, and both will star Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz will also be reprising their roles.

The first Breaking Dawn film will be released in November 2011, with the second probably being released sometime in summer 2012.

Read similar posts to Breaking Dawn will be split in two films at Filmonic

Following the hiring of Bill Condon as director Summit Entertainment has given The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn a November 2011 release date. November 18th to be exact.

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and the rest of the cast will begin filming later this year. No official word on whether it will be split into two films yet, but Deadline say that it will most likely be the case, with Condon directing both.

The release date is basically the same one Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I has this year, which is just another similarity between the two franchises. In 2011 Breaking Dawn will be opening the same day as Happy Feet 2 and Hugh Jackman’s Real Steel.

You can watch the trailer for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which will be released next month, below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wMegIT3-Dc

Read similar posts to Breaking Dawn release date at Filmonic

Earlier this month we heard that Oscar winning director Bill Condon was in talks to direct the final Twilight film, Breaking Dawn. Now it has been made official. The man behind Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls, and the Chicago screenplay will be taking his first steps into the world of movie franchises via Twilight.

From EW:

“I’m very excited to get the chance to bring the climax of this saga to life on-screen. As fans of the series know, this is a one-of-a-kind book – and we’re hoping to create an equally unique cinematic experience.”

Summit hasn’t decided whether the film will be split into two parts yet. If they do they will need to sign new deals with Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and the rest of the cast as they are only signed up for 4 movies.

Even if Summit end up paying the cast a bit extra it will be worth it. New Moon made over $700 million worldwide and Eclipse will probably made a similar amount. Whatever they decide it is likely that Breaking Dawn will begin shooting later this year in Vancouver.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse will be released on June 30th.

Read similar posts to Bill Condon confirmed as Breaking Dawn director at Filmonic