Before I dive into the main topic of this week’s opening paragraph, just a quick disclaimer that the Top 5 will be taking a week off next Saturday to accommodate the first, and perhaps only, trip to Hawaii I will ever take. Here’s to hoping it’s less awkward but equally as life-changing and Kristen Bell/Mila Kunis-filled as Forgetting Sarah Marshall depicted. That said, while it fell just short of the cut this week, I still want to draw attention to the first trailer for director Adam Wingard‘s You’re Next that debuted on Thursday. As a horror fan, I’m always excited when a new entry in the genre gets lauded from both sides of the aisle (horror fans and those who aren’t as giddy about movies that make them think twice about turning out the lights). As far as I’m concerned, August 23rd can’t get here soon enough.

All Hawaii and horror fanboy talk aside, this week’s list offers up the first trailer(s) for The Wolverine, interviews with Dwayne Johnson and more for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the first trailer and posters for White House Down, a new red-band trailer for Pain & Gain, and The Host interviews with Saoirse Ronan and more. As you’re probably expecting, a brief recap and link to all of the above can be found after the jump.

Writer/director Andrew Niccol’s The Host opens this holiday weekend with star Saoirse Ronan (Hanna).  Adapted from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer’s sci-fi novel of the same name, The Host centers on Melanie Stryder (Ronan), one of the last human survivors of an alien invasion.  Unfortunately for Melanie, she’s quickly captured and implanted with an alien parasite known as a Soul, which attempts to replace her consciousness and take over her body; Melanie isn’t having it. The two entities must learn to cooperate or face the loss of the loved ones they each hold dear.

While Niccol makes his best attempt at adapting this story, the fault lies with the source material.  The tension that manifests in the first two acts rapidly diminishes in a lackluster conclusion that, while certainly an original take on conflict resolution, ultimately falls flat on screen.  Hit the jump for my review of The Host.

With writer/director Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host opening March 29th, we’ve been provided with 5 clips.  The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder, one of the last remaining humans on Earth after a race of parasitic aliens have taken over most of the world.  Melanie is unique in that she forms a bond with her parasite and sets out to free other humans, if they’ll accept her as one of them.  The film also stars Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, Frances Fisher and Boyd Holbrook.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.

The first clip from writer/director Andrew Niccol’s The Host featuring stars Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons has been released online.  The Host was author Stephenie Meyer’s 2008 follow-up to her hit Twilight franchise, and details the story of an alien race called Souls that take over the inhabitants of Earth.  At the center of the story is Ronan’s character Melanie, who fights back against the Soul, called Wanderer, that takes over her body.  While not as hotly anticipated as the Twilight adaptations were, The Host bolsters an impressive cast including Ronan, Irons, Diane Kruger, Jake Abel, William Hurt, Frances Fisher, and Boyd Holbrook. Hit the jump to see the clip.

After releasing a new trailer just yesterday, a new featurette is now available for The Host.  Some new footage is revealed along with commentary from author Stephenie Meyer and star Max Irons.  The Host stars Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder, one of the last remaining humans on Earth after a race of parasitic aliens have taken over most of the world.  Melanie is unique in that she forms a bond with her parasite and sets out to free other humans, if they’ll accept her as one of them.  Also starring Jake Abel, Diane Kruger, William Hurt and Boyd Holbrook, The Host opens on March 29th.  Hit the jump to watch the featurette.

With a generation of Tweens (and beyond) saying goodbye to The Twilight Saga, a new Stephenie Meyer adaptation will fill the vampire/werewolf void with soul-stealing alien parasites; how dreamy!  The sci-fi flick from writer/director Andrew Niccol (In Time) stars Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) as a young woman who is among the last humans to be taken over by the alien parasites, though her spirit won’t give up without a fight.  We’ve got 13 new images from The Host, which opens March 29th, that also show off co-stars Diane Kruger, Boyd Holbrook, Max Irons and Jake Abel.  Hit the jump to take a look. 

Though The Twilight Saga has finally come to an end with the November release of Breaking Dawn – Part 2, fans of author Stephenie Meyer still have more feature film adaptations to look forward to.  Writer/director Andrew Niccol’s (Gattaca, In Time) adaptation of Meyer’s sci-fi novel The Host is set for release next year, and a new batch of images from the film has landed online.  In the world of the film, a parasitic alien species is nearly finished wiping out the human population by taking over the consciousness of each person. A soul named Wanderer is attempting to take control of Melanie Stryder’s (Saoirse Ronan) consciousness, but faces strong opposition by what remains of the girl.  These new images give us a few looks at Ronan as Melanie, as well as Max Irons’ Jared and Jake Abel’s Ian.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film also stars Diane Kruger, William Hurt, and Boyd Holbrook.  The Host opens on March 29, 2013.

I try and heed the wise words of Conan O’Brien and resist the urge to be cynical. I really do. But while digging through our The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 coverage in anticipation of this week’s post I stumbled across this poster for the film and all of my best laid plans went to waste. There is just no excuse for a franchise of its stature to have a poster that terrible. I’m far from an expert in graphic design, but mercy…I re-read Adam’s original post several times hoping to find the sentence where he points out that the poster was the Grand Prize winner of Summit’s “Design the Worst Damn Movie Poster Possible” contest. Sadly, there was no mention of such a contest. This was real and it made my heart hurt.

All cynicism aside, in this week’s Top 5, The Twilight Saga comes to a merciful end with interviews and things of the like, Damon Lindelof‘s draft of the Prometheus script becomes available for your reading pleasure, news regarding the debuts of Star Trek Into Darkness‘ first trailer and first 9 minutes of the film surfaces, a handful of images and a video from the set of Thor: The Dark World make their way onto the Interwebs, and believe it or not, more news regarding Star Wars: Episode VII gets discussed. I trust you know where to find a brief recap and link to each.

A new trailer for The Host has gone online.  It does a solid job of setting up the plot, and sells the love-story angle hard, which is what you would expect when you bill the flick as coming from Stephanie Meyer, author of The Twilight Saga.  I’m just not sure if the sci-fi element will attract or turn off the audience the movie intends to attract.  Even though Twilight has werewolves and vampires, no one would call it anything but a romance.  Hunger Games has an easier time of selling itself as an action-adventure with a romantic subplot.  But The Host hasn’t been the literary success of either of those franchises, and without that support, I don’t know how the film will do, especially when March is so crowded with big releases.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, William Hurt, Jake Abel and Max Irons.  The Host opens March 29, 2013.

Since the release of the first film, the Twilight phenomenon has just continued to grow exponentially. With the highly anticipated final installment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, hitting theaters on November 16^th, fans will finally get to see the conclusion of the romantic epic that has entranced millions worldwide.

At the film’s L.A. press junket, author/producer Stephenie Meyer, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg and producer Wyck Godfrey talked about their reaction to Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) vampire effects, the changes made that deviate from the book, balancing the humor with the serious nature of what’s going on in the story, how they felt about the effects for Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), what the last day of shooting was like, and how Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson handled playing parents. Stephenie Meyer also talked about what she’ll be focused on next, whether she’d ever consider doing more stories about other characters in the Twilight universe, and if she’d ever be willing to let other people give their take on the characters, in some form. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Earlier today, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 entertained fans at Comic-Con for the last time.  To close out the festivities, author Stephenie Meyer and the leading cast welcomed new cast members onto the stage, actors who will be playing exotic vampires from around the world.  But the billion-dollar franchise had one more trick up its fashionable sleeve as new images of the vampiric characters from other covens have been released.  This may not be the last time you see your favorite vamps and wolves on the screen, as there is talk of a possible reboot down the road.  You can read up more about the future of the franchise in this recent interview.  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, directed by Bill Condon and starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, opens November 16^th.  Hit the jump to check out the images and more information on the covens.

Yesterday, the cast of the Twilight series hit the Hall H stage at Comic-Con for the last time in anticipation of the release of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 later this year.  Just before the public panel, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and author Stephenie Meyer took part in a press conference and fielded a number of questions regarding the franchise.  You can read the full interview right here, but in case you missed it the group talked briefly about the prospect of rebooting the franchise in the future.

Since Twilight is a highly lucrative property, it only makes sense for a studio down the line to eventually restart the franchise and bring in a new director with a different vision for Meyer’s series.  The actors and Meyer were all asked how they would feel if Twilight was rebooted, and some of their responses may surprise you.  Hit the jump for more.

Earlier today, before taking the stage in Hall H at Comic-Con, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and author Stephenie Meyer held a press conference for a ton of reporters to talk about The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 to discuss not only the last installment in the hugely popular franchise, but also their feelings on the entire experience and how it has personally affected them.  Hit the jump for the audio and the full transcript.

The first time I attended Comic-Con was the first time Twilight came to the massive geek gathering.  I can still hear the shrieks, probably because I was in Hall H for the franchise’s final installment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.  This year’s panel began on a somber note, and there was a brief moment of silence for the Twilight fan who died on Tuesday.  After the moment of silence, lead actors Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner were brought to the stage and met with the cheers they’ve always received at Comic-Con.  The trio are joined by Mackenzie Foy, who plays Renesmee.  Author Stephanie Meyer then takes the stage, making this her first Hall H appearance since the first movie.  We then get a special video message from director Bill Condon, who’s currently in London working on the sound mix for Part 2.  He tells the audience that the best way to start this panel is to pick up where Breaking Dawn – Part 1 left off.  Hit the jump for my full recap of the panel.

Though the Twilight series comes to an end later this year with Breaking Dawn – Part 2, author Stephenie Meyer’s follow-up, a sci-fi novel called The Host, is already getting the big screen treatment.  Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, In Time) wrote the script and is directing, and Hanna star Saoirse Ronan is set in the lead role of Melanie Stryder.  In the world of the film, a parasitic alien species is nearly finished wiping out the human population by taking over the consciousness of each person. A soul named Wanderer is attempting to take control of Melanie’s consciousness, but faces strong opposition by what remains of the girl.

MTV recently visited the New Mexico set of The Host, and video has gone up from their visit that includes our first look at a few scenes being filmed, as well as interviews with Ronan, co-star Max Irons, and Meyer herself.  Hit the jump to take a look.  The Host opens on March 29th, 2013.