Lampoon Lampoons Twilight With Nightlight

Actress, 15 next month, in talks to play bad vampire in sequel

(NEWSER) - Dakota Fanning: adorable child star or sadistic teen vampire? The actress, 15 next month, is in talks to star as vamp villain Jane in Twilight sequel New Moon, scheduled for a Nov. 20 release, E! reports. “There were no auditions. They just offered it to her outright, and now they’re in negotiations,” a source says. Maybe execs were swayed by an online Dakota-as-Jane petition, already signed by a whopping 130 fans. More»

Jonathan Lethem wants to shake up thinking about intellectual property

(NEWSER) - Jonathan Lethem is giving away the film option and, eventually, all ancillary rights to his new novel, "You Don't Love Me Yet," publicly grappling with issues of intellectual property and copyright law. "What I'm seeking to explore is that incredibly fertile middle ground where people control some rights," he says, "and yet contribute to a healthy public domain." More»

Worthy follow-up to Schwarzenegger classic only took 23 years

(NEWSER) - Predators is getting mostly decent reviews as a sequel to the alien-hunting-humans original, 1987's Predator. Adrien Brody stars.

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post : "After 23 years and three attempts, Predators finally delivers a solid sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger B-movie classic."
• Kurt Loder, MTV : It's "a B movie that knows its job, and does it. Which means, among other things, that making sense is not on its to-do list."

'Twilight' vampire tops Forbes list; cartoon superheroes fare well

(NEWSER) - Upheaval in the financial sector has widespread implications—it even affects the annual Forbes rankings of the wealthiest fictional characters. Entering the list at No. 1 is Carlisle Cullen, the Twilight vampire patriarch, who has a serious advantage in that he's undead and has had 370 years to accumulate his $34.1 billion fortune. The full list is here ; the rest of the top five are: More»

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? raises some good questions

(NEWSER) - Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too? hits theaters today, which means it’s time for a lesson on how Hollywood names its sequels. Obviously, writes Amos Barshad in New York , the choice of “Too”—“far more elegant” than simply “2”—was the right one, but here are some other techniques Perry could have gone with:

• Pump up the intensity: Á la Die Hard With a Vengeance. Perry could have gone with “Why Did I Marry My Ass Off?”
• Tack on a subtitle: Like Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Or perhaps, in Perry’s case, “Why Did I Get Married: Seriously, Why?”