Bryce Dallas Howard sinks her teeth into Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Spider-Man 3 star Bryce Dallas Howard is to sink her teeth into another money-spinning franchise: she is to play evil vampire Victoria in the third Twilight film, Eclipse, replacing Rachelle Lefevre.

The movie, based on Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling novel of the same name, is due in theaters in June 2010.

Erik Feig of series producers Summit Entertainment said: “We are incredibly happy that Bryce has agreed to come into the franchise. 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.”

According to reports, Lefevre is leaving the series because of scheduling conflicts. But what a time to go: the role of Victoria gets significantly more screen time in Eclipse. In this installation Victoria, who blames dreamboat vampire Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson) and his swooning human inamorata Bella Swann (Kirsten Stewart) for the death of her mate James, creates an army of new vampires to vanquish them.

Twilight fans (or Twihards) are currently gearing up for the second installation, Twilight Saga: New Moon, which opens in the US and UK on November 20.

The first Twilight movie was one of the most successful films of 2008, taking more than $380m (£232m) worldwide on an estimated budget of just $37m. Catherine Hardwicke’s film achieved the highest box office of all time for a female director and one of the biggest openings ever for a movie produced outside the major studio system. However the director turned down the opportunity to work on the sequel, citing a lack of preparation time, and the reins on New Moon passed to The Golden Compass’s Chris Weitz.

Meanwhile, Pattinson appears to be biting the hand that feeds – in remarks made to celebrity magazine OK, he seemed to bad-mouth his Twilight character.

“With virtually anyone, the nice guys always seem to come last,” he said. “You always get weirdos like Edward who seems to attract women for some reason. If Edward wasn’t a fictional character and you met him in reality, he is like one of those guys who would probably be an axe murderer or something.”

Pattinson added: “People just project their idea of my character on to me and they just seem to assume that I’m the same, when in reality I’m not.”