The feature film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's inexplicably best-selling young adult romantic fantasy novel Twilight was initially in development at Paramount Pictures and MTV Films, with Mark Lord first hired to pen the screenplay. Lord originally pitched his take on the material as a vampiric twist on the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, but MTV Films president David Gale requested he turn in a draft that would deviate significantly from the novel, as he feared that an overemphasis on the romantic element would alienate male audiences. Lord's script was more of an action-horror hybrid than the romantic fantasy of the book, with Bella Swan being written as a much more active character, a track star who fights back against the rogue vampires and is turned into a vampire herself at the end of the story. Furthermore, Edward Cullen was more of a Blade-type vampire than he was in the novel, Bella's father Charlie gets killed, a Korean FBI agent-slash-vampire hunter was included as an additional antagonist, and there were several set pieces, including: Bella riding jet skis while being chased by the FBI, and the rogue vampires picking off members of a SWAT team who were sent into a forest after them. Paramount's production co-prexy at the time, Karen Rosenfelt, was so determined to get the film made that she even attempted to forge a co-production deal between the studio and Fox 2000 Pictures. In an interview with MTV Hollywood, Home Alone helmer and Harry Potter veteran Chris Columbus revealed that he took a glance at a script for Twilight very early on during the adaptation process; presumably, he might have been referring to Lord's draft. Had Columbus signed on, no doubt many of his frequent collaborators would've also joined in, including score composer James Horner, costume designer Judianna Makovsky, film editor Richard Pearson, production designer Howard Cummings, cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt, and producing partners Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe. Alas, Columbus was too busy working on other projects, and Meyer's displeasure with the changes made from the source material and a change in management over at Paramount ultimately put the kibosh on this version, with the studio putting it into turnaround and letting the rights expire, which led to Rosenfelt taking the project over to Summit Entertainment, who agreed with Meyer that a much more faithful adaptation of the novel be produced, and the rest — as they say — is history. Follow me and ponder the question, "What if...?" Music: "A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics" – James Horner ft. Charlotte Church (A Beautiful Mind) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7JGTV_WoC4

Set to begin filming next Thursday in Budapest, Hungary is the upcoming ninth installment in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus. Directed by Fede Álvarez from a screenplay co-written with Rodo Sayagues, the film — said to be a standalone interquel, unconnected to previous installments in the franchise — stars Cailee Spaeny, Isabela Merced, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu as a group of young people on a distant world who find themselves in a confrontation with the Xenomorphs. Álvarez will also produce the film, alongside Michael Pruss and series veterans Ridley Scott and Walter Hill, with Brent O'Connor, Elizabeth Cantillon, and Tom Moran serving as executive producers. The production crew includes visual effects supervisor Eric Barba, costume designer Carlos Rosario, production designer Naaman Marshall, and director of photography Galo Olivares. A joint-venture production between 20th Century Studios, Scott Free, Bad Hombre, and Brandywine, the film will be released direct-to-streaming on Hulu next year. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j3G3_SH5M8