AUGUSTA, GA – Vampire scripts are being mass-produced in Hollywood, thanks in large part to the success of Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series of best-selling books and stellar box-office receipts from the novels’ first film adaptation, released last Thanksgiving. Teens and tweens have reason to be thankful again this year, as the series’ second offering, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” hits theaters for the holidays.

Pop culture darlings Edward and Bella continue their forbidden love saga with the added conundrum of a painful breakup. Edward and his vampire family leave town to protect Bella after a paper cut at her birthday party prompts a blood-thirsty attack. Feeling hopeless and alone, Bella lives recklessly until befriending Jacob, who also happens to be a werewolf.

A love triangle between a vampire, a werewolf and a regular girl is certain to have its tense moments. Kristen Stewart stars as Bella in this modern-day Romeo and Juliet story, in which misunderstandings combine with desperate young love tocreate intense melodrama.

Robert Pattinson returns to the role of handsome vampire Edward, but he meets his match in Taylor Lautner, the shy boy from the series’ first flick who reveals his washboard abs and leading man capabilities this time around. Lautner’s wild-child hair and pouty expression make him a worthy opponent for a brood-off with poster boy Pattinson. Expect screaming, swooning and other teenage hormonal madness at the box office.

The original “Twilight” film will arrive in theaters for encore screenings to coincide with the opening of the new movie. A third film, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” is slated to open in the summer of 2010.

Once a box-office sweetheart with a Meg Ryan-like penchant for romantic comedies, Sandra Bullock has suffered in recent big-screen ventures. Her latest work includes forgettable comedies (“All About Steve,” “The Proposal”) and dramatic efforts in which the actress demonstrated an emotional range similar to that of a sock puppet (“Premonition,” “The Lake House”). A family drama in time for the holidays may be exactly what the maturing actress needs to boost her critical morale.

“The Blind Side” features Bullock as a wealthy white mom whose family takes in and eventually adopts a struggling black student. This true story, adapted from the book by Michael Lewis, chronicles how one family’s nurturing spirit helped a promising young man develop into a defensive football player worthy of a first-round pick in this year’s NFL draft. Michael Oher was picked up by the Baltimore Ravens and the Tuohy family was there to cheer him on as their story became worthy of the Hollywood treatment.

Quinton Aaron stars as gargantuan good guy Oher, while country crooner Tim McGraw plays Mr. Tuohy in this family football drama. Current and former college football coaches make cameo appearances in the film. Among them are Lou Holtz, Phillip Fulmer, Houston Nutt, Franklin “Pepper” Rodgers and Nick Saban.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (“Gridiron Gang,” “The Game Plan”) may be bummed that he doesn’t get to appear in this week’s football flick, but he tries out his voice talents as an astronaut who finds himself living amongst frightened aliens in “Planet 51.” Jessica Biel, Seann William Scott, Justin Long, Gary Oldman and John Cleese lend their voices to little green aliens whose planet is visited by the human outsider in this animated tale from one of the writers of “Shrek.”