It looks like Twilight fans will be in for a pricey treat at the beginning of March.  Hot on the heels of the announcement that an extended edition of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 2nd comes the news that the home video release of Breaking Dawn – Part 2 will also take place on the same day.  Part 2 will be available on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and digital download on March 2nd, and the disc comes complete with a seven-part “making of” documentary called “Forever: Filming Breaking Dawn Part 2,” a featurette documenting the back-to-back production of Part 1 and Part 2 called “Two Movies at Once,” and audio commentary from director Bill Condon.  We can also safely assume that an extended edition of Part 2 will be released at a later date, so start saving up, Twihards.

Hit the jump to check out the artwork, a trailer for the Blu-ray, and to read the complete rundown of special features.

Before we get to the home video release of the final installment in the Twilight franchise, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Lionsgate is readying the release of an extended edition of Part 1 on Blu-ray.  We recently learned that the extended edition includes 8 minutes of deleted and extended scenes put back into the film, and today one such scene has been released online: the “morning after” sequence.  As you may or may not be aware, the entire plot of Breaking Dawn – Part 1 consists of Kristen Stewart’s Bella and Robert Pattinson’s Edward getting married, bumping uglies, and having a baby.  This new scene, which I can only assume was deleted because of its alarming awkwardness-factor, features the two characters conversing over breakfast the morning after Edward deflowered Bella, breaking the bead in half in the process.

Hit the jump to take a look at the clip, and click here to read the Blu-ray details.  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Extended Edition hits Blu-ray on March 2nd.

As we await the 85th Academy Award nominations announcement on Thursday morning, we now have a look at the opposite end of the 2012 film spectrum.  The 33rd Golden Raspberry Award nominations have been announced, celebrating the very worst of what 2012′s movie slate had to offer.  Leading the pack is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 with 10 nominations, as the film landed a nomination in every single category.  The Twilight closer will go head-to-head with Battleship, A Thousand Words, That’s My Boy, and The Oogieloves in Big Balloon Adventure for the Worst Picture title.

It’s easy to beat up on the Twilight franchise, and even though I wouldn’t go so far as to call Breaking Dawn – Part 2 a good movie, it’s in no way the worst movie of the year.  The sheer amount of beheadings alone in director Bill Condon’s climactic fight sequence is enough to make the movie worth watching.  Anyway, hit the jump to check out the full list of Razzie Awards nominations.

If you’re a Twilight fan, you might want to circle March 2nd on your calendars.  That’s because Summit is releasing an extended cut of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 on home video that weekend which includes eight minutes of new and extended scenes added back in by director Bill Condon.   He said in the press release:

“As Twilight series devotees know, there was a lot of ground to cover in adapting Breaking Dawn to the screen.  Between the wedding, the honeymoon, the birth, and everything in between, naturally there were things that didn’t make it into our final cut.  But I wanted to make sure that for all the Twihards out there, there was a chance to see some of these cut scenes – several of which are fan favorites from the book.”

Hit the jump for the cover art, full press release, and a trailer for the extended edition.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) and based on the iconic novel by Jack Kerouac, On the Road tells the provocative story of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley), a young writer whose life is shaken and ultimately redefined by the arrival of the free-spirited and fearless Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) and his girl, Marylou (Kristen Stewart). As they travel across the country on a personal quest for freedom from the conformity and conservatism that engulfed many during that time, the duo encounter a mix of eclectic individuals who forever change them. The film also stars Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Dunst, Amy Adams, Tom Sturridge, Elisabeth Moss and Alice Braga.  Click here for all our previous coverage.

At the film’s press day, co-stars Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart talked about why they were so passionate about this project, how challenging it was to stay attached over the years, how they broke the nudity in the film to their parents, the ideals of the time period that they can most relate to, their favorite locations on the shoot, what the younger fans of Twilight might think of this film, and what can make a great road trip. Check out what they had to say after the jump.

This week on The Collision, we’ll be talking about the end of The Twilight Saga, its appeal, and its legacy.  We then move from talking about the franchise as a whole to its final installment, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.  As always, we finish up with our recommendations.

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode (“Spy Movies and Skyfall“), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore). Hit the jump to check out the trailers for this week’s recommendations.

No records were broken but The Twilight Saga went out the way it came in: huge. From 4,070 locations, Breaking Dawn Part 2 took in an estimated $141.3 million – topping the $138.1 million of last year’s Breaking Dawn Part 1 but falling slightly under the series’ record of $142.8 million set by New Moon. Worldwide, Twilight’s swan song has brought in over $340 million since its release which makes you wonder – how long before Summit can get a prequel in the works?

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.

At the recent Los Angeles press day for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, I landed an exclusive video interview with director Bill Condon.  As I told him on camera, I think the last Twilight film is the best in the series, and if your girlfriend is asking you to go, bite the bullet.

During our extended conversation I tried to ask new questions.  We talked about how long his first cut was, deleted scenes, what will be on the eventual Blu-ray (he just recorded his commentary and says it’ll have an extended cut),  whether he’s been approached to provide additional material for the eventual ultimate box set, how much changed throughout the shooting and post-production, how the MPAA originally gave the film an R and what he had to change in order to get the PG-13, mistakes/flubs on set (he tells a good story about Robert Pattinson), whether the Blu-ray extended cut will be unrated, and more.  In addition, I got an update on his Richard Pryor movie, how he’s returning to direct a show onstage at the end of next year, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

It’s no surprise that The Twilight Saga will finish with a bang at the box office.  With screenings that began at 10:00pm Thursday to the early morning, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 raked in $30.4 million.  While this isn’t the biggest opening night for the series (Eclipse garnered $30 million from midnight screenings alone), the film is reportedly on track to gross $150 million over the weekend, according to the L.A. Times.  This would give Breaking Dawn – Part 2 the largest weekend opening of the franchise.  We’ll be back with you on Sunday to see how the numbers turned out on this pre-Thanksgiving weekend.

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, actor Michael Sheen (who plays Volturi leader Aro) spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how much fun it was to play the all-out crazy side of his character, how much they shot that was cut out of the film and that he hopes will make it on the DVD, finding the level of theatricality for his performance, how he thinks Aro might have been as a human, and what it’s been like to be a part of this worldwide phenomenon, especially having a daughter that gives him perspective on it.  He also talked about what attracted him to the Showtime drama series Masters of Sex, about the pioneers of the science of human sexuality whose research touched off the sexual revolution, in which he’s playing Dr. William Masters.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

It would be a gross understatement to say I haven’t been an ardent supporter of the Twilight franchise.  But I have tried to take each film on its own merits.  Nothing can change the fact that it has a despicable core message of how young women should relate to men, but there was always the potential for change.  Bella Swan could become a proactive character.  Edward Cullen and Jacob Black could be more than just brooding, softly smiling eye candy.  Somewhere, in the dreamy clouds of wish fulfillment, there may be something real instead of the silliest, most forced conflicts.  At the series’ conclusion, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 shows us what the Twilight movies could be at their best, but ultimately reminds us about the true nature of this series.

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, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about moving on from the Twilight franchise, her favorite scenes to write in this final installment, which new characters she wished she could have had more time to explore, what it was like to see all of the vampire powers come to life from off the page, what encapsulates the entire experience for her, and how she thinks fans might react to the additions in the script.  She also talked about what it’s like to be one of the highest grossing female screenwriters of all time, her new deal with ABC, under which she’s the showrunner on the mid-season drama series Red Widow (starring Radha Mitchell), the status of AKA Jessica Jones, and juggling TV and film work.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 opens Friday here in the States, but the fifth entry in the series is already off to a rollicking start in four overseas markets.  Here are the Day 1 highlights (all totals converted to U.S. dollars):

• France – 219,000 admissions, $1.8 million.  The marathon of Part 1 and Part 2 of Breaking Dawn sold 25,000 of those tickets.
• Netherlands – 21,000 admissions, $392,000.  That’s on just 50 screens.
• Sweden – 20,000 admissions, $362,000.  This only counts the marathon and midnight showings.
• Belgium – 27,000 admissions, $531,000.  This more than doubles the comparable 13,000 tickets sold for the first night of Breaking Dawn – Part 1.

According to Deadline, the final sequel achieved series best totals in Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium.  Clearly, Part 2 will be a box office juggernaut—I am eager to see where it will land among the last three sequels, each of which earned about $700 million worldwide.  Come back on the weekend for the domestic results, and make sure to check out these recent interviews with Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Michael Sheen, and Stephenie Meyer.  Click here for all our Twilight coverage.

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.