Taylor Lautner plays Jacob Black in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

LOS ANGELES – “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” Week continues today on BAM’s Blog, with the filmmakers and stars commenting on the frequent shirtless-young-man moments in the sequel.

Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) werewolf BFF, and the rest of his pack spend most of the film shirtless. Vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) takes off his shirt to reveal himself to the sunlight in one of the film’s most dramatic moments. Even bad vamp Laurent (Edi Gathegi) shows up…

Elizabeth Reaser plays Esme Cullen in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” (Associated Press photos)

LOS ANGELES – At the recent “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” press day at the Four Seasons Hotel, Kellan Lutz (Emmett); Ashley Greene (Alice); Nikki Reed (Rosalie); and Elizabeth Reaser (Esme) were on hand to represent the benevolent vampire family the Cullens.

The four actors talked during a press conference about vampire makeup, their obsessions and the celebrity spotlight. This is an edited transcript from the press conference.

Q: How was it this time with a new director and a…

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” has set a box-office record for midnight screenings, according to the Associated Press.

Summit Entertainment estimated today that the sequel earned $26.3 million after opening in the wee hours of the morning, the AP reports.

If the estimate proves on-target, it would break the previous midnight record, held by “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which earned $22.2 million in its early-morning screenings this summer.

The 2008 sequel “The Dark Knight” comes in third on the midnight screenings list with $18.5 million.

“New Moon,” the second film in…

Kristen Stewart plays Bella Swan in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Kristen Stewart grows with ‘Twilight’ series, role in ‘New Moon’

LOS ANGELES — Breaking up is always hard to do, but Kristen Stewart learned on the set of “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” that acting out an “iconic” split from a book adored by millions of fervent fans presents a special set of challenges.

“I know what’s it like to get broken up with, but I don’t know what it’s like to get broken up…

Robert Pattinson plays vampire Edward Cullen in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

‘New Moon’ rising for sexy vampire
Actor Robert Pattinson’s life changed by ‘Twilight’ series

LOS ANGELES — Robert Pattinson goes from vampire to vision in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

The British actor, 23, not only plays brooding vampire hunk Edward Cullen in the eagerly awaited sequel, opening today, he also appears as a flickering apparition to his human ex-girlfriend, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).

“Those scenes were the hardest scenes,” Pattinson said in a press conference…

Taylor Lautner plays Jacob Black in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

‘New Moon’ cast talks transformations
Taylor Lautner transformed for sequel

LOS ANGELES — Dangling from wires 10 feet above the ground, “Twilight” actor Taylor Lautner had time this spring to ponder his transformation.

“The famous trailer shot when I’m running through the field and I jump up and try and fly in midair, I’m attached to wires and … I let the wires pull me up in the air and jerk me to a stop and…

Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) comes to Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) aid after she is injured in an accident in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. 3 of 4 stars.

‘New Moon’ not as biting as book
‘Twilight’ fans will enjoy second installment in movie saga, but too much potential is left on novel’s pages

A bigger budget and a pack of charismatic werewolves work wonders for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” the second film in the supernatural romance saga.

The sequel can’t avoid moments of…

Well, “Twihard” fans, we finally made it! “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” Week continues here on BAM’s Blog, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that today is the big opening day for the hotly anticipated sequel.

I recently traveled to Los Angeles to take part in the huge press day for “New Moon,” participating in news conferences with Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and many of the other stars and filmmakers attached to the film. I’ve shared many of those interviews with you in the past few days, with more to…

Oklahoma City’s first IMAX theater will become operational Friday, showing the high-tech holiday adaptation “Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” reports The Oklahoman Business Writer Jennifer Palmer.

One of the 24 auditoriums in the AMC theater at Quail Springs Mall has been converted to an IMAX theater, complete with a larger, curved screen, the latest sound system and digital projector. To convert the auditorium, several rows of the front seats also were removed, reducing capacity from about 525 to 450.

Tickets will cost $4 for IMAX films than for regular movies, Jennifer reports. Movies shown in…

Above, Jamie Campbell Bower plays vampire Caius in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon.” Below, Jamie Campbell Bower poses at a photocall for “New Moon” at last month’s Rome Film Festival. (Associated Press photo)

Actor Jamie Campbell Bower (”Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”) joins the “Twilight” film franchise with the sequel “New Moon” as Caius, one of the leaders of the Volturi vampire coven.

“We are basically the vampire government, I guess. We’re there to sort of keep all the vampires in check. People keep describing us as evil. I…