According to USA Today, 2012 is the biggest box office year in movie history (not adjusted for inflation). The numbers aren’t set yet (because, you know, the year’s not over), but if the predictive models hold, the industry will close out with $10.8b and the first year since 2009 that individual ticket sales went up. Unsurprisingly, it was buoyed by big franchise hits — including over a billion coming in solely from The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Another billion was earned from a franchise that was ending (Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2), two franchises that were just beginning (The Hunger Games and a rebooted Spider-Man) and a franchise that’s stronger than ever at a half-century old (Bond, James Bond). In the simplest terms, it only took 6 movies to cross the $2b mark this year whereas it took 8 movies to do the same in 2011. That may seem small, but when you’re dealing in the hundreds of millions, it can be the difference between a slump and a reason to buy a sheet cake at Costco for the company break room. Especially when the top movie this year outdid the top movie of the previous by $242m. The whole mess is too complicated to reduce to a single factor. Marvel’s big gamble paid off in a profound way, but there’s also the rebounding economy at large to think about and the general fickleness of consumers. Plus, this raw number doesn’t take into consideration that 50 more movies were released in 2012,

The wait is over. The saga is nearly complete. The second half of Breaking Dawn comes to theaters this week, and the estrogen will flow. Twi-hards and Twi-moms around the world will be watching all four Twilight films leading up to the sure-to-be unepic conclusion. You may be forced to sit through one – or all – of these films before attending a showing of the new film this weekend. If that sounds like hell on Earth, you might want to have a drink… or two… or fourteen while watching the films with your significant other.

As has become status quo for The Twilight Saga, Summit Entertainment has today announced that they will be “working with its partners in theatrical exhibition” to put together a terrifying five-film marathon of all the Twilight films in anticipation of the upcoming release of the final film in the series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. The planned marathon will take place on November 15 and will feature Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn – Part 2. As a special treat to marathon-goers, the event will conclude with 10 P.M. screenings of Breaking Dawn – Part 2, which will officially open on November 16. Marathon ticket holders will also be treated to exclusive new content in between films. There’s no word yet on participating theaters, but past marathons have taken place at Cinemark, AMC, and Regal theaters. [Press Release, via ComingSoon]

Just as it did last year, this year’s Comic-Con will open with one heck of a bite – that’s the bite of rabid Twilight fans who are so undone by what they are watching on stage that their mouths just naturally fall open into a scream and then just naturally stay that way and then just (oops!) naturally bite into whomsoever is unlucky enough to be sitting by them. Natural, you know, like a nerdy teen falling in love with a sexy vampire. Be that as it may, Summit Entertainment has just announced that their The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 panel will be the opening panel of this year’s Comic-Con and the kick-off panel of the hallowed Hall H. Details are still scarce, but we do know that the panel will take place on Thursday, July 12 (duh) and that there will be “exclusive footage” of the final chapter (last year’s panel included showing two scenes from the film). We also don’t yet know which talent will be there, but it’s safe to assume that Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner will be around for the panel’s cast Q&A session. Feel free to check out the official release after the break and, San Diego, prep your eardrums accordingly.

The conceptual similarities between Suzanne Collins’s “The Hunger Games” series and Stephenie Meyer’s “The Twilight Saga” series are slim – and anyone who tells you otherwise is delusional, illiterate, and incapable of complex thoughts related to literary exploration. However, while their content does differ, their initial appeal to a YA audience, the insistence of declaring “teams” for romantic paramours, and their large-scale cinematic adaptations do beg for some discussion about their surface similarities, and how those will translate into stuff like audience appeal and ultimate impact on readers and viewers. While I find “Twilight” to be the infinitely weaker and less compelling of the two properties, I’m not some sort of blind “Twilight” hater – I’ve read all the books and seen all the movies, and I get why it’s appealing to all sorts of readers and watchers, particularly those looking to consume something that provides escape – but I also think that there is far better material out there for public consumption. Smarter, wiser, more applicable to the real world, and more compelling material – like “The Hunger Games.” Let’s put it this way – if I had a fifteen-year-old daughter, I’d want her to read “The Hunger Games,” and here’s why.

As the “worldwide phenomenon” that is The Twilight Saga of films (adapted from Stephenie Meyer‘s equally as popular and blockbuster-selling quartet of novels) has progressed through the years, it has become increasingly difficult for those not already inoculated into the cult of human-vampire-werewolf love triangles to process, enjoy, and understand just exactly what they’re seeing on screen. Which is a nice way of saying that the tale of Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, Jacob Black, and a whole mess of other humans and mythological creatures has spiraled almost totally and nonsensically out of control. Following their star-crossed high school courtship, unsteady human Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her smoothie vampire suitor (Robert Pattinson) have decided to take things to the next level. For most eighteen-year-olds (or ostensible eighteen-year-olds with Edward’s immortal appearance), that would mean getting down in the carnal sense – but for Edward and Bella, that means getting married (his choice) so that Bella can finally be turned to match her lover and his family (her choice). These are certainly big decisions for a girl who is barely an adult, but they’re made immeasurably more difficult by a hairy problem – teen werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who is just as in love with Bella as Edward is. That’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 in a straight-faced nutshell. Yet, even fans of the series must admit that the final entry into Meyer’s series is absolutely crammed with elements that, at their best, could be described as bizarre.

The Twilight franchise is known for many things – its lead actors, bringing vampires and werewolves to a cultural fever pitch, the seemingly insatiable fandom that surrounds it, and the story’s sometimes unbelievable plot lines which, in this fourth installment, will give audiences a wedding, a honeymoon, and (naturally) the birth of a vampire/human offspring. But beyond the blood and the fur, the music featured throughout the series has always been an equally important part of the Twilight experience. Author Stephenie Meyer (who penned the novels the films are based on) has even noted the specific pieces of music she was listening to when writing the various books. The impact and influence of music has always been a part of the Twilight world and the anticipation that accompanies the announcement of which artists will be on each soundtrack is almost as though a new actor is joining the cast. Fans turned out in droves to not only see the actors from the films, but to also watch performances from the artists on the soundtracks for Twilight and New Moon at fan events, selections of which can be seen on Music Videos and Performances from The Twilight Saga Soundtracks, Vol. 1. Regardless of what you may think of the films, the soundtracks have always boasted an impressive list of artists who provided original songs for the films such as Muse (“Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever)”), Death Cab for Cutie (“Meet Me at the Equinox”), and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (“Hearing Damage”).

Let’s just be honest here – if you’re into The Twilight Saga, you’re into it. If you’re not into it, well, you’re probably pretty into making fun of it. Luckily for both factions of fanhood, today’s first full-length trailer for the penultimate entry into the massively popular film franchise based on Stephenie Meyer‘s massively popular book series, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, delivers everything that anyone could want from it – showcasing some of the film’s most important scenes (you better believe it’s wedding-heavy), alongside some truly boggling facial expressions. It’s, in short, just as vampire batshit crazy as the rest of the franchise has been so far. Maybe even more. Sink your teeth into the first full trailer for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 after the break.

Hollywood turned in its assignments early this week with releases on Wednesday and Thursday. Now Fat Guy Kevin Carr hands out his grades for the latest installment of The Twilight Saga and the big screen adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Squeeeeee! Kevin and Neil run around the Magical Studio in the Sky without their shirts on, desperately trying to shape-shift into a werewolf so they too can be worthy of sickly-looking Bella Swan’s fickle infatuation… yet they still have a better time than they did when they saw The Last Airbender.

Twilight fans (yes, you) rejoice. Your Eclipse is finally upon us, and it is sure to storm through the box office like a tornado through a trailer park. Not even The Last Airbender will be able to control it.

Three names emerge as Summit starts aiming at Oscar-caliber talent for the top job on its monster.

This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we blather on and on for no real reason until the end credits and, for some reason, a ton of 14-year old girls camp out to get tickets.

Kevin Carr heads out to the movies this week, giving his take on New Moon, Planet 51, The Blind Side and Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire

Neil squeals about Team Jacob in his review of the highly anticipated The Twilight Saga: New Moon while Kevin struts around the Magical Studio in the Sky with no shirt on, desperately hoping people will mistake him for Taylor Lautner. There’s also a bizarre discussion of where Somali Pirates might fit into one of this week’s movies… how does that all work? Listen and find out!

Remember Twilight? That modestly budgeted movie released last year with vampires and some such? Well, it has officially begun casting for its next round and its bringing on a somewhat bigger name.