It seems impossible these days for a film franchise to keep its cast intact for a full run. This time it’s the Twilight series that has succumbed to the switcheroo game, as Bryce Dallas Howard was announced to be taking over Rachel Lefevre’s character, “Victoria,” as of the third film, Eclipse. This sort of thing nearly happened before for the Twilight series when Taylor Lautner came close to being fired from the part of “Jacob” after the first film, because he wasn’t seen as a strong or fit enough actor for the demands of the role in New Moon.

With this news, Howard cements herself as the official go-to actress for filling in vacated roles. In the past she has been a substitute in Lars von Trier’s USA - Land of Opportunities trilogy, taking on the lead role “Grace” originated by Nicole Kidman in Dogville for the sequel Manderlay, and she more recently filled in for a non-returning Claire Danes as “Kate” in the Terminator franchise (for which she also replaced the first-choice substitute, Charlotte Gainsbourg) Also, let’s not forget that she replaced Kirsten Dunst as the lead in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, when Dunst departed to make Elizabethtown.

With the way things are going for her, I predict she’ll be taking over as “Ginny Weasley” in the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, “Black Widow” in Iron Man 3 or The Avengers, “Rachel Dawson” in the next Batman film and “Kumar” in A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas.

Let’s take a look at what the rest of the film blogs are saying about the substitution after the jump:
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She went from the Bible to Stephanie Meyer and now she’s finally working with a great writer’s work. Having been dumped from the Twilight franchise, Catherine Hardwicke has selected her next film project: a modernized version of Hamlet starring her Lords of Dogtown star Emile Hirsch. And, of course, everyone has jokes that this umpteenth adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy will be filled with vampires. But clearly Hardwicke is trying to get away from the series that left her behind. Instead of moving on to a more Twilight-related play like Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she has gone for the great Danish prince.

Of course, having already seen Hamlet updated to modern times, I would be happier if Hardwicke was making a high school-set version (this one will supposedly take place at a college), since my favorite contemporary takes are those adapted to teenage characters (see 10 Things I Hate About You, O and even She’s the Man). Maybe nobody wants to go there since Focus Features bombed so badly last year with the high school-set Hamlet 2.

I doubt many Twilight fans care about what Hardwicke does next — unless she casts Robert Pattinson as Horatio — but the film blogs think she should cater to their needs. Check out their responses to this news after the jump:

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• Tron 2.0, described as a “next chapter” kind of sequel, has cast two actresses, Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett, both of whom were in Turistas. The production, which is to start filming in the Spring and to be released in 2011, is still looking for a male lead. Wait, you ask, isn’t the male lead split between young and old versions of Jeff Bridges? Apparently that “trailer” we saw back at Comic-Con was only test footage.
• Speaking of things that were cool in the early 80s, James L. Brooks is finally making a sixth film, tentatively titled How Do You Know?, and has just cast Reese Witherspoon as one of three leads.
• If you’ve seen the new trailer for Dragonball: Evolution, you may fear more live-action anime adaptations, so ignore this announcement from Universal about bringing TV and toy sensation Bakugan Battle Brawlers to the big screen.
• I can’t wait to see the look on parents’ faces when they realize they shouldn’t have brought their kids to see Cheech and Chong’s Smokin’ Animated Movie.
• If you want to know anything about the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, there are a few good documentaries to check out, but if you want a fictional love story involving the architect, you may look forward to the adaptation of Nancy Horan’s historical novel Loving Frank.
• Catherine Hardwicke is actually better off not directing Twilight: New Moon, which Summit has set for a November 20, 2009, release. Rush jobs like this are rarely good, yet the two subsequent sequels are also tentatively slated for the same timeframe in 2010 and 2011. I guess if you think the Saw movies kept getting better, you could be hopeful.

• While at the Dubai International Film Festival over the weekend, Terminator Salvation director McG “announced” that a fifth installment of the Terminator franchise is definitely in the works, although The Halcyon Co. revealed over a year ago their plans for a trilogy. That McG is back to helm the installment must mean Halcyon is happier with the way Salvation looks than some of us are.
• As rumored, Chris Weitz will indeed take over the Twilight franchise from exited director Catherine Hardwicke. And yes, for those who agreed the job was only appropriate for another woman, Chris is short for Christopher.
• F/X artist-turned-director Stephen Norrington is finally following up The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the remake of The Crow that’s been talked about in Hollywood for awhile. I wonder if Jason Statham is still interested in playing the lead.
• The Dark Knight seems to be for Blu-Ray what The Matrix was for DVD a decade ago.
• Oh yeah, the weekend’s box office results: well, The Day the Earth Stood Still managed to just barely edge out The Happening to be the higher grossing of the year’s lame eco-sci-fi films. The animated film you never heard of, Delgo, couldn’t make a million bucks on more than 2,000 screens, while the Bollywood film you never heard of, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, cracked a million bucks on about 100 screens. And a ton of limited specialty films, including new releases Gran Torino, Wendy and Lucy, The Reader, Doubt and Che, all had better per-screen-averages than did the #1 film, The Day the Earth Stood Still.

It’s probably a good thing I’m not head of Summit Entertainment, because I’d replace departed Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke with “SpookyDan,” a YouTube user who shot a three-minute remake of the first movie using puppets. Fans of Twilight probably wouldn’t appreciate having Robert Pattinson replace with a silent, plush version of Edward Cullen, although their ability to project their fantasy of the vampire heartthrob onto anyone or anything (Pattinson himself admits he needed to be a blank canvas) is probably powerful enough to get over the switcheroo.

Having not seen or read Twilight, I can’t say if this video is a faithful or sufficient representation of the story, but I’m going to admit that it’s good enough for me. But then, I’ll watch anything in which puppets replace human characters. Yes, even The Muppet Christmas Carol (actually, especially The Muppet Christmas Carol). As far as parody goes, I’d have loved to see Count von Count from Sesame Street make an appearance (I know I’ve seen Count puppets in toy stores). Judging by the dedication in the credits, though, I don’t think this is meant to be as much of a joke as it is intended to pay tribute.

Check out the sparkling puppet Edward after the jump.

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• In a huge blow to women in film, Catherine Harwicke was officially announced to be exiting the Twilight franchise after a weekend of rumors. Summit Entertainment’s press release politely claims the decision was rather mutual because the first sequel, New Moon, is being rushed into production yet Hardwicke desired more prep time. Gossip in the blogs, however, says it had more to do with the director being difficult during the first film’s shoot. Whatever the reason, Summit will be pressured to hire another female filmmaker. I bet Lexi Alexander could use the gig after her miserable weekend.
• Alexander’s Punisher: War Zone “fired blanks” at the box office over the weekend, placing 8th with only $4 million, which was less than a third the opening of the last Punisher in 2004. As for other new releases, Cadillac Records grossed $3.5 million, though on far fewer screens, and Frost/Nixon made $180,000 from only 3 locations, earning it a per-screen average of $60,000! And from a mostly 35+ audience. Four Christmases kept its top spot on the box office chart with another $18 million.
• In foreign box office news, Madagascar 2 finally knocked Quantum of Solace off its throne. The Bond installment enjoyed five weeks at #1, internationally, but animation is evidently quite popular overseas. Just look at how Chinese authorities are treating their country’s opening of Bolt 3-D.
• Due to the troubled economy, a number of producer deals at Paramount and Universal will not be renewed, including that of the prestigious duo of Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Though The Hollywood Reporter claims the producers will continue prepping Jurassic Park IV at the studio, ComingSoon.net just heard from them directly that the sequel has died with Michael Crichton’s recent passing.
• Uwe Boll and Luke Perry could be a craptacular match made in heaven.

Catherine Hardwicke hit one out of the park for female directors this past weekend, but she had a lot of help. Not only was she working with a pre-sold property, she also had a very manageable budget of $37 million. Quite different from the $2 million she had to work with on Thirteen a few years back. Of course, she had similar budgets on Lords of Dogtown ($25 million) and The Nativity Story ($35 million), and both were box office disappointments. Still, she’s going to keep on being trusted with more money — if Summit is smart they’ll keep her on for at least the first Twilight sequel, which will surely come with a higher price tag — and as long as she continues with genre films, she’s sure to remain a profitable director.

Not every talented filmmaker does well with more money. Danny Boyle, for instance, typically bombs with bigger budgets. And a lot of foreign auteurs strike out when handed costly studio-produced genre or franchise pics (Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection is a favorite example). But there’s the occasional filmmaker who, like Steven Soderbergh or Christopher Nolan, can make something worthwhile out of any budget they’re allotted. And then there are the many indie filmmakers who quickly find themselves at home with modestly priced broad comedies, such as the case with Seth Gordon easily transitioning from the Slamdance doc The King of Kong to the star-studded Hollywood holiday pic Four Christmases, out this week.

Who will be the next small-scale filmmaker to successfully rise up and prove him or herself worthy of bigger budgets? SpoutBlog has selected five directors we’d like to see given an economic boost, each because he or she would likely deliver something more interesting and popular than the usual Hollywood product.

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• Of all the news related to Twilight’s unsurprising $70.6 million opening, the most important has to be that Catherine Hardwicke (pictured) now holds the record for highest-grossing debut for a female director. The previous record holder was Mimi Leder, whose Deep Impact bowed with $41.2 million a decade ago. And the most important non-Twilight box office news has to be that Slumdog Millionaire continued to have a per-screen average in the $30,000s, even with a minor increase to 32 screens, and reached a very impressive very-limited-release gross of $1.6 million.
• Last Friday, Twilight costar Anna Kendrick was announced as the female lead opposite George Clooney in Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air. But the 23-year-old will not be Clooney’s love interest. That honor has instead gone to 35-year-old Vera Farmiga.
• French filmmaker Pascal Laugier is coming to Hollywood to direct a couple American horror pics, including a Hellraiser remake for Dimension and a short story adaptation titled Details for Paramount Vantage. Both films will likely pale in quality to his French productions, but every foreign auteur has to try tinseltown at least once, right?
• Film print fans rejoice! Digital projection is being blamed for and may suffer from the faulty screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at LA’s DGA Theatre last Thursday. Apparently similar problems have affected recent screenings of Che and Quantum of Solace, too.

The first ever Summit Pictures Comic-Con panel, which was met with snores up until the Twilight segment began, and then really began amidst continuous Beatlemania-like screaming from fangirls. Oh, and we learned a few new things about Alex Proyas’ Knowing and Paul McGuigan’s Push.

Highlights:

• The Twilight actors are really into themselves.
• Robert Pattinson is one of the most wanted guys in the world.
• Robert Pattinson’s band might be providing a tune to the Twilight soundtrack.
• Nic Cage is in another movie about a foreseen disaster (Knowing).
• Alex Proyas is not directing The Silver Surfer.
• Dakota Fanning was the surprise guest (really she was just late), and she’s all grown up.

Read the liveblogging transcript after the jump.

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