This just in from Access Hollywood:

Bryce Dallas Howard is joining the “Twilight” franchise.

The
“Terminator Salvation” star will replace Rachelle Lefevre in the role
of Victoria, according to Summit Entertainment, which produces the
vampire film series based on the books by Stephenie Meyer.

“We
are incredibly happy that Bryce has agreed to come into the franchise,”
Erik Feig, Summit’s President of Worldwide Production and Acquisitions,
said in a statement to Access Hollywood. “Rachelle brought
‘Victoria’ to great screen life and Bryce will bring a new dimension to
the character. The franchise is lucky to have such a talented actress
as Bryce coming in to fill the role.”

Summit said Rachelle
would not be continuing on as Victoria, an evil vampire out for revenge
over the death of her lover, due to scheduling conflicts.

Bryce,
the daughter of director Ron Howard, will take over the role beginning
in “Eclipse,” the third installment in the “Twilight” series.

“Eclipse”
begins filming in Vancouver this coming August, Summit confirmed. The
film will be released in theaters on June 30, 2010.

Drew Dernavich, cartoonist for the New Yorker, really wanted to be sent to the San Diego Comic-Con this year. He didn’t get that lucky:

Unfortunately, I was sent to cover the 2009 Romantic Comedy-Con,
held—where else?—at the top of the Empire State Building, the place
where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks finally met in “Sleepless in Seattle.”
It’s a little crowded for a convention, but it’s being catered by—who
else?—Katz’s Deli, the scene of Meg Ryan’s famous “orgasm” in “When
Harry Met Sally.” Every joker up here thinks it’s so funny to eat a
grilled cheese and then do their best fake moaning scene, and it’s getting tiresome.

When people go to the Comic-Con, they make these elaborate costumes
and attend as Spider Man or Ninja Turtles or Darth Vader, so I thought
I’d try and attend the Romantic Comedy-Con in the same spirit. I’m
dressed up as Jeremy Piven in “Serendipity” (John Cusack’s sidekick
friend). I’m wearing jeans and a dark T-shirt. It’s spot-on, but I
don’t think anybody has noticed.

Poor bastard.

Heroes has been losing viewers like Claire Bennet loses toes in the last season or two. A new volume might mean a new hope, but can they pull it out?

Tim Kring, the troubled show’s executive producer, along with panelists Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet), Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura), Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet),
Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli), Zachary Quinto (Sylar), Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli), Robert Knepper (new villain Samuel), Dawn
Olivieri (new character Lydia), Ray Park (new character Edgar) and Madeline Zima (new character Gretchen Berg) were on hand at San Diego Comic Con to answer questions and show a trailer for Heroes Volume 4: Redemption. We weren’t there, but Newsarama was… (SPOILER WARNINGS, don’t say we didn’t tell you):

(more…)

One of the vast hordes wandering around the San Diego Comic-Con was Craig Glenday, the Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records, who was busy handing out numerous certificates to various and sundry folks. To wit:

• Farscape for Most digital FX in a TV series (40-50 per ep, 7 days per ep, 22 ep a year! Season 3 alone: 1109 shots)
• DC Comics for Longest running monthly comic book (presented to Paul Levitz)
• Largest gathering of zombies, for the Zombie Parade that wandered the streets of San Diego looking for sweet, sweet braaaains.
• The most people ever to recite the Green Lantern oath in unison (still checking on that one).
• The 501st Legion for being the Largest Star Wars costuming group.
• Largest gathering of Steampunks.
• Doctor Who for “Most successful sci-fi show on TV”. According to Glenday, the record is based on longevity, DVD sales, spinoff books, iPlayer stats, downloads… (Yes, go ahead and argue that, you know you want to.)
• Longest line ever: getting into Hall H for the Twilight pa– okay, that last one probably isn’t a record. But I’ll bet it was in the running.