Despite his lackluster film Abduction failing to convince the moviegoing public that Taylor Lautner could be a convincing action star, studios are continuing to push him on us in action roles. The latest news comes from Deadline, who reports that Lautner is being eyed for the lead role in Tracers, a parkour-based action thriller set in New York City. More below.

The story for Tracers sounds shockingly similar to the upcoming Joseph Gordon-Levitt film Premium Rush, in which JGL plays a bike messenger tasked with delivering a package through New York. Here’s the logline for the Lautner movie:

Lautner will play Cam, a messenger in New York City who is a wiz on a bike but who’s in debt to an organized crime gang. He crashes his bike into a sexy stranger and is seduced by her and the thrill of the world of parkour that she introduces him to.

Give me a break. A sexy stranger just happens to introduce him to the world of parkour? What is this, 2006? What executives out there still think that parkour is the hot new thing that kids are doing? This sounds terrible, but my only hope is that it’s so bad, it’s fun to watch.

Daniel Benmayor (Bruc, the Manhunt) is directing, and Tracers comes from the producers of Twilight and Dear John. Anyone think this has a chance at being legitimately good? It’s going to take a lot of convincing for me.

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About 4 of the 117 minutes that make up The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will capture your attention.  Those 4 minutes are nearly ruined, too, when someone opens their mouth; which ends up being a frequent, and indirectly funny, occurrence.

The story is quite simple in this installment: Vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and human Bella (Kristen Stewart) are finally getting hitched.  Everyone is happy about this.  Even the werewolf, Jacob (Taylor Lautner) seems to be cool with it, despite his eternal hard-on for Bella.  That is until he learns Bella wants Edward to try to impregnate her prior to changing her to a full-blown vamp (apparently that’s not good).  So Jacob then continues his pouting and the on-going supernatural cock fight for the average & boring looking girl rages on.

While on the honeymoon at a secluded island off the shores of Brazil, Edward reluctantly honors Bella’s wishes to try to give her a child.  He worries though (seems that’s all he does in these damn flicks) that the “fetus” may be something no one has ever seen or dealt with before, therefore, harming Bella.  Well, the virile vamp pulls it off which leads to Bella having dire complications; sparking a possible breach of the treaty between the Cullen clan and the Werewolves.

Sorry Twi-hards, this installment sets the franchise way back and now deserves the clichéd ribbing many people do when talking about this product.  This is easily the worst film in the now four picture franchise.  Improvements were being made with each sequel.  New Moon proved that this adapted story from Stephenie Meyer’s popular novels could in fact be cinematical.  And Eclipse’s totality as a feature length film changed a lot of hater’s minds including yours truly.  The direction that Breaking Dawn took, well, took all the life out of the series.  Sure the loyal will eat this crap up, but chances are they are force feeding themselves (i.e. willing their mind & heart to like it).

The screenplay is handled like a romantic-comedy without any rhyme or reason.  Serving shallow dialogue all around and having the characters mock themselves just isn’t working here.  And the choice of a soundtrack is way out of place, for the tone of what this should have been (dramatic) is confused as the director and performers.  Based on the material given here, Pattinson and Stewart are sadly unable to carry this movie as they are asked to do.  Taylor Lautner enters and tries to anchor this down, but the most intriguing character is also hampered with more terrible dialogue and piss-poor timing.  No one has evolved and that’s kind of the point of a progressing story.  And there is no help from the supporting cast as they are given nothing to do except act – which in this case translates to stand and look concerned – as a warm (and cold) body count (I’m Team Jasper by the way).

So that 4 minutes mentioned above happens in the last 15 minutes, involving a brief werewolf and vampire clash outside the Cullen house.  Right before that sequence, there’s a decent dramatic pitch with Bella going into labor.  As stated before though, just when they’re on the path to passable filmmaking, someone opens their mouth and the direction goes to hell.  The only thing that could have improved this piece is having Beavis and Butt-Head sitting on a couch providing sarcastic commentary (you’re welcome Mike Judge).

One thing that is noteworthy is this particular flick tackles and depicts some mature situations.  There’s an awful amount of time dedicated toward the Edward & Bella honeymoon – a.k.a. vamp baby-making.  Let’s just say they are suggestive scenes that mainly see Kristen Stewart prancing around in quasi-sexy lingerie and tastefully having sex with Mopey the vampire.  So perhaps a chat with your teenage daughter may be warranted after this.  That is, if this installment doesn’t completely turn them off.

If one can overlook the bad acting and lazy story, what this product really needed was a solid edit.  I’m all for a movie taking its time but lingering on superficial scenes that fail to dial up any emotion and/or have a purpose is literally laughable.  By doing so, this direction plays – and projects – something resembling the spoof nature of Vampire Sucks rather than what one saw in the previous two Twilight sequels.

Overall, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is dead on arrival.  In sequel terms, this represents a B-movie horror flick that continues to spawn more installments that debut on the SyFy channel.  And that’s never a good thing, kids.  Everyone has gone backwards here, losing the momentum that Eclipse fought hard to attain.

And if you’re still into this – which is to say you enjoy subpar filmmaking and stories – be sure to stay after the credits for a teaser.

RATING:  1 out of 5 

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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.

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This is definitely something no one could have predicted a few weeks ago, I mean The Lion King, a 17 year old animated movie becoming the highest grosser of the month. But, you know, there was nothing even remotely close to it besides Contagion in September so we could also attribute that to lackluster sales for mostly lackluster movies. Anyway, you guys probably wonder how the other movies performed and that comes right after the break.

Okay, The Lion King 3D is kicking some serious ass for a second weekend in a row with $21.9 million for an astonishing $62.9 after 11 days. By comparison, Contagion has made $57.6 million after 18 days. Thanks to all this new found money, the classic animated feature is now at $391.5 million in North America, going from 24th to 12th place on the all time US table in the past two weeks. Even better news, the initial 2 weeks only theater engagement that this movie had has been extended and The Lion King 3D will be here next weekend, with a bit of luck in first place again.

The rest of the top 5 is filled with new entries starting with Moneyball in 2nd. The Brad Pitt sports drama wasn’t strong enough to upset The Lion King but it was good none the less. $19.5 million is a decent result for the genre and when it comes to baseball movies openings it ranks 2nd just behind The Benchwarmers. Moneyball reportedly cost $50 million to produce and with the current opening in mind, I’m expecting it will finish with over $80 million in North America. I could say that profitability on this flick is very likely.

Next up Dolphin Tale was 3rd with $19.1 million, very impressive and even more so considering this went up against The Lion King with family audiences, yet neither seemed to suffer all that much. Good reviews and expected great word of mouth could lead Dolphin Tale to $100 million or more in North America making this a very profitable affair for Warner Bros. since it cost just $37 million to make.

Taylor Lautner’s Abduction finished 4th with $10.9 million and considering just how bad this movie was, I’d say the kid definitely helped its odds, raising a lot more money then it would have normally. I’m actually all the more impressive that this beat fellow action movie Killer Elite ($9.3 million), starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Rober DeNiro. Abduction got worse reviews  (3% versus 25% on Rotten Tomatoes) and was much cheaper ($35 million versus $70 million) yet it opened higher. So can Taylor Lautner open a movie? Yes he can, just not as big as some studios think.

Finally, thanks to all the above, 23-25 2011 is now the highest grossing September weekend ever.

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Quite a decent offering we’ve got this weekend, four new entries, all able to draw a decent audience under normal circumstances. We’ve got sports drama Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, family adventure Dolphin Tale and action movies Abduction and Killer Elite. So, how will each one of this perform against The Lion King? The answer should be right after the break.

I have to be honest, I’m not quite sold on the box office power of Moneyball, at least not enough to declare it a clear winner against The Lion King 3D. The later has had great legs through the week so I’m positive it will have a good hold. On the other hand, Moneyball has been a long time coming, at one point having Steven Soderbergh attached to direct. Today what we have is Brad Pitt (who’s been on this for years), Jonah Hill and Philip Seymor (working with director Bennett Miller again after Capote 6 years ago). Now sports dramas in general, with the exception of the Rocky series, The Blind Side and a few others, have never been big hits at the box office so I don’t expect things to change with this movie. I’m going to say $22 million for Moneyball, maybe enough for 1st place.

The Lion King 3D has a 50/50 chance to take the top spot again, depending on how much business Dolphin Tale steals from it. You see, 2 years ago Sony released an 3D animated flick called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs around the same time. That movie opened ridiculously similar to The Lion King 3D so obviously I’m going to base my prediction on how that movie performed on its second weekend. Thing is Cloudy had half the weekday numbers The Lion King has so it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that the 3D remastered version could potentially finish north of $25 million over the weekend. Thing is Cloudy didn’t have another 3D family movie in its second week so I’m going to say The Lion King 3D makes $21 million for 2nd place.

Dolphin Tale, the second new movie of the week, comes from Warner Bros in not as glorious as it once was 3D. Having the most theaters (3507) out of all the pictures released today, the studio is definitely expecting something north of $15 million. Given the great reviews it’s getting (86% on Rotten Tomatoes right now) I won’t be surprised if it opens with $17 million for 3rd place.

Abduction is the third movie that comes out today and Taylor Lautner’s first true box office test. We already know he’s had great success in the Twilight Saga or with an ensemble cast in Valentines Day, but can he replicate that with Abduction? Sorry fans out there but I’m thinking no. That being said, it would be ridiculous to expect that same level of success out of an utterly mediocre action movie like Abduction. Still, he should be able to pull in a good $12 million or so for 4th place.

For the last spot in the top 5 we have no less then three movies fighting, namely Contagion, Drive and new entry Killer Elite. The former stars Jason Statham, Robert DeNiro, Clive Owen and Chuck‘s Yvonne Strahovski. A $10 million opening might be enough for this since I doubt it was all that expensive to make (and if it was, well tough luck). Contagion and Drive should both gross around $7-8 million.

Next week we don’t get a break cause we have yet again four movies. Cancer drama/comedy 50/50, romantic comedy where Anna Faris gets naked again called What’s Your Number, Daniel Craig and wife Rachel Weisz amnesia thriller Dream House and christian cop drama Courageous from the same guys that brought us the christian fireman drama Fireproof.

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Next weekend will mark the first time Taylor Lautner’s box office appeal is truly tested. For the past three years the actor has been riding the buzz of the Twilight franchise, and while Robert Pattinson has had solo success outside the series with Water for Elephants and Remember Me, Lautner has only appeared in the ensemble comedy Valentine’s Day.

Riding the Twilight wave all these years has been a wise move as Lautner is now the highest paid teenage actor earning $7.5+ million per movie and has projects set up at Universal and Fox, but the release of Abduction may put an end to that. Or it may not, and we may get an Abduction franchise.

THR recently spoke to Lionsgate president Joe Drake who said he hopes to replicate the Bourne films by spawning an action trilogy.

“I know that Taylor and Lionsgate would both like to see this become a big franchise,” he said. “You know, we think it’s our Bourne. The story is set up where there’s a great character created in this, and so — with success — there’s lots of places we could take this story, for sure,” he added.

“I think we’re gonna get at least 2 or 3 movies out of this,” director John Singleton was quick to continue.

Talk of sequels on the eve of a big release is nothing new and is mainly there to generate buzz, but with Abduction‘s budget only around $40 million turning a profit shouldn’t be too difficult (or will it?). If Launter can attract 12%+ of the Twilight audience he’ll have a new franchise, and his other projects such as Stretch Armstrong at Universal will probably move forward. If not, he’s still got both Breaking Dawn movies, but will probably have to take a pay cut in future.

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At the beginning of the year Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth Stood Still) became attached to Goliath, a new take on the David vs. Goliath Biblical tale from Relativity Media. Not much has been heard since, but now according to Twitch Relativity are in talks with Dwayne Johnson to fill the role of the giant.

Twilight producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are also involved in the project, so hearing that they’ve apparently offered the role of David to Taylor Lautner is no surprise. Twitch say Relativity’s talks with Lautner aren’t as advanced as those with Johnson so it may not work out, but I can’t imagine Lautner turning it down unless there are scheduling conflicts somewhere. Who wouldn’t want to battle a 10ft Dwayne Johnson?

Here’s the synopsis for the movie given earlier this year:

The story is set in motion when the fierce warrior Goliath is sent to track down a foretold king of the Israelites. A young shepherd David is thrust into an epic chase and adventure fighting for his own life, the lives of his loved ones and eventually the lives of his people. The story climaxes in a battle of literal Biblical proportions between the young man and the giant sent to destroy him.

Dwayne Johnson is currently shooting G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation, and Taylor Lautner will next be seen in Abduction on September 23rd and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 in November.

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Lionsgate have released a short and action-filled second trailer for Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner. The movie follows a teenager who finds out that his parents aren’t really his when he sees his baby picture on a missing person’s website.

The movie is a mix of ‘teen stars’, and more establish actors such as three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina and Jason Isaacs. Lilly Colins, who will be seen next year in Tarsem Singh’s Snow White movie, plays Taylor’s love interest.

Watch below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website? Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers) and will be released on September 23, 2011.

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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.

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The first trailer for Lionsgate’s Abduction starring Taylor Lautner has been released online. The movie follows a teenager who finds out that his parents aren’t really his when he sees his baby picture on a missing person’s website.

The movie is a mix of ‘teen stars’, and more establish actors such as three-time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina and Jason Isaacs. Lilly Colins, who was recently cast as Snow White, plays Taylor’s love interest.

Watch the trailer below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

What would you do if you found your own picture on a missing persons website? Teen Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) finds himself facing this very dilemma. Setting out to uncover his real identity, Nathan quickly learns his parents are far from who they say they are. When the police, government agents and shadowy figures start to pursue him, Nathan’s quest for the truth erupts into a full-blown “Bourne”-like man-on-the-run thriller.

Abduction is directed by John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious, Four Brothers) and will be released on September 23, 2011.

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