'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' Ranked #1 Action & Adventure Movie on iTunes!

Fantastic job shadowhunters! 

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has been ranked as the top action and adventure movie on iTunes!

Thank YOU Shadowhunters for making The Mortal Instruments the #1 Action & Adventure movie on @iTunesMovies! #TMIMovie http://t.co/HAQdeaKZ63
— City Of Bones (@MortalMovie) December 6, 2013

How many times have you watched the movie since you purchased the DVD or on iTunes? Feel free to leave your comments in the box below!

"Back to the drawing board," say EP Moszkowicz on 'City of Ashes' project

Variety reports no director connected to TMI sequel at this time

TMI Director Harald Zwart at the Toronto premiere

Yesterday, Shadowhunters worldwide breathed a collective sigh of relief when The Hollywood Reporter shared news from Martin Moszkowicz, executive producer of The Mortal Instruments, that the sequel, City of Ashes, would start filming in 2014. Now, Variety has an exclusive of their own.

At this time, executives at Constantin are working to fix all the mistakes they felt were made in the first film. City of Ashes production came to a screeching halt amid tepid ticket sales, causing Hollywood insiders and fans alike to wonder if the follow up film would even be made. The first real surprise in this new article is that Harald Zwart is not connected to the sequel at the moment, but they are in talks with him. 

”We are talking to him and others. At the moment there is no director attached,” Moszkowicz said. ”It also depends on his professional availability of course.”

Even though there may be many changes coming, the one fact holds true. Moszkowicz believes in the work of TMI author, Cassandra Clare. “We believe strongly in her and the world that she has brought to the readers, but we feel that the movie obviously under-performed. Something was wrong there, and we are trying to make it right the next time,” Moszkowicz said.

Changes to the marketing strategy are in the cards, including the target demo. “Maybe we have targeted too young an audience,” he said. “They are very outspoken, especially in the social media world; they are extremely active. But the readers of the books are from 14 to 34 — that’s the main age group — and maybe some of them had issues with how it was marketed. We need to go behind that, and find out exactly what it was.

“It is an ongoing discussion that we are having, and it is not done. We haven’t made a final decision. But we will only move forward — and we plan to move forward — when we feel we are going to get it right,” Moszkowicz said.

Although the intention is to shoot the film sometime next year, it is not carved in stone.

“That is the plan, but it is not a given,” Moszkowicz said. “We believe in that franchise, and we would like to do that, but we need to get it right.”

What do you think of this latest revelation? Would you like to see Harald Zwart return as director or do you have someone else in mind to take the project? Share your thoughts below.

'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' DVD Cover!

Last week, we told you fabulous shadowhunters that the DVD for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones film will be available in stores on December 3, 2013 in the US! 

And now, they released the cover! Doesn't it look amazing? 

According to TheHDRoom, this DVD package will include several exclusives from the film, such as:

The Blu-ray edition of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones will be presented in 2.4:1 1080p video and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Bonus features include the following:

• Interactive Lineage Tracker (Blu-ray exclusive)

• Deadly Attraction - Lily Collins & Jamie Campbell Bower on their roles as Clary Fray and Jace Wayland (Blu-ray exclusive)

• Entering The Shadow World - creating the extraordinary creatures of the Shadow World (Blu-ray exclusive)

• Into the Shadows - from book to screen (Blu-ray exclusive)

• Deleted Scenes

• Bringing Them To Life - filmmakers and cast discuss the characters of The Mortal Instruments

• Descendants Of The Cup - a look at the stunts and the cast's transformation into Shadowhunters

• "Almost Is Never Enough" music video by Ariana Grande ft. Nathan Sykes

Shadowhunters you can pre-order it now via Amazon! 

PHOTOS: 'The Mortal Instruments' Cast at the Norwegian Premiere!

Second last stop for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones cast!

Jonathan Rhys Meyers made his first TMI red carpet appearance today (August 23) at Fredrikstad for the Norwegian premiere. Jonathan joined his other cast members— Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan and director, Harald Zwart.

More photos from the premiere below:

Mexico City is the final premiere and will be held on August 27.

VIDEO: Last stop - The Los Angeles mall tour

The final stop of the Mortal Mall tour was a welcomed surprise for Shadowhunters in the Los Angeles area. Added onto that surprise was director Harald Zwart, and actor Robert Sheehan, giving fans a chance to hear from Harald and Robert, along side Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, and Cassandra Clare!

Fans started lining up at 5PM on Monday, for the mall tour on Tuesday! Over 500 fans were at the event!

This event was very fan friendly! With the Q&A held outside, fans who were not able to get a wrist band for the signing had the chance to stay near the vicinity, and hear all that the cast had to say!

In case you missed it, we video taped the entire interview in three parts! Welcome to the city of LA's virtual mall tour:

    

So, to re-cap there was: Harald getting some inspiration from the Exorcist, Cassie living in a closet in New York City, Robbie announcing his tendency to go commando, Kevin checking to see if Robbie is in fact going commando, Jamie shipping JAKE, Lily's impersonation of Hermione Granger, the entire cast, director, and author of City of Bones singing Happy Birthday, and moderator Jo Jo refusing to continue on with the interview until a lucky fan had made it on stage, and seated perfectly between Robert Sheehan and Cassandra Clare. What a whirlwind of fandom feels!

All day the fans had an amazing chance to collect free swag and explore special Mortal Instruments related activities from taking photos as a Shadowhunter, Mundane, or Downworlder, to putting on some temporary rune tattoos and playing with NYX, the official make up for Shadowhunters! Take a look, and hear from the fans:

Hot Topic giving away free rune tattoos, and rune and character pins out to fans!

                                      

Mortal Instruments fan Jackie Marielle getting the Shadowhunter make over
 "I am most looking forward to Lily Collins" - Jackie Marielle

Mortal Instruments fan Anneliese Parenti visited the temporary rune tattoo booth

"I chose my favorite rune, Strength. It's my favorite because I love the shape of it, the drawing of it, and I like what strength is used for in the books. Jace is my favorite character and he is very strong" - Anneliese Parenti 

Super fangirl sisters Abigail Huffnagle and Emme Silva

"We are superfans because Cassie is amazing. She is an amazing writer and she picked the perfect cast!" - Abigail Huggnagle and Emme Silva

Mortal Instruments fan Abigail Huggnagle

"Oh My Gosh YES, Jamie is my favorite because he is really cute, and I saw him in other movies, and he is just an amazing actor, and singer, and asgavesg!!!" -Abigail Huggnagle (The language of the fangirl, I'm fluent)

Emme Silva

"I was probably the happiest person in the whole entire world! I was like, I could have done cartwheels but I'm wearing a dress! Clary is my favorite character, even though Jamie is super super duper cute. Okay, yes, really cute. He's my second favorite." -Emme Silva 

Do you have any amazing stories from the Los Angeles Mortal Instruments mall tour? Share your experience in the comments below! Don't forget to tell us your favorite part from the videos above!

Exclusive: Director Harald Zwart talks demons, girl power and fight scenes!!

Harald holding a TMI Institute pin in Toronto. Photo by Mehek/TMI Institute

What's it like to talk to a big budget director of your fave series? Well, here's the details when I sat down with bloggers from Mundie Moms, TMI Movie News and Fangirlish as we talk with The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones director Harald Zwart. I think it is safe to say we could have chatted with Harald all day long, but here are the secrets he spilled just to us. 

SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU WERE WARNED.

Katie, Mundie Moms: The demons were freaky and we jumped twice in the movie!

Harald: The whole idea that it is good to be a little scared in these movies is ultimately what Cassie wanted. When you operate with demons and what I thought was important with the movie adaptation is to take it really seriously. I think the journey Clary goes on is an amazing journey. I lost my mother when I was 12 years and I moved out of my house at 14 and I was on my own. What was really interesting to me when I read the books was: How does a normal girl (or someone who thinks she's normal) react to first of all, to her mom being gone, but then you throw supernatural things in there. So reality isn't even what she thought it was? THAT I thought was unbelievable and I thought of "how does a girl actually deal with that?" We went really deep with Clary. We had long talks about how emotional and how serious, and I didn't want to hold back.

I really love the girl power in the whole movie. I have an 8 year old daughter and I want her to have really strong idols. I see her being exposed to a lot of not-so-favorable stuff on TV and media in general. I just want her to have a really strong image that a girl can actually find her strength, and no matter what you throw at them you can always find a way out of it. That is what is so great with Cassandra's story. So, the supernatural stuff - I can deal with that. So she's dealt with that. Then, Valentine comes and tells her the guy you've fallen in love with is not who you think he is. What? That's another reality she has to deal with. That shift of reality all of the time. How Clary crawls out of those black holes all the time is just so fascinating.

Katie, Mundie Moms: The girl power. Let's talk about Izzy.

Harald: I love Isabelle too. We had a lot of girls come in for the Izzy role. A lot of girls, who I know a lot of people would've said "She's perfect, she's got all the right features" and I was like it's NOT Isabelle. Ya know? Isabelle to me is a completely different girl. She looks super hot in the movie. But in this town, when you say oh she's hot, other criteria's come in sometimes. We looked everywhere, and we found Jemima in Paris. She's more French than British. She was just perfect. I love how she's just completely matter-of-fact. I think she's kind of the anchor of reality in this shadow-world. I absolutely adore her.

Erin, Fangirlish: How hard is it to adapt a book with a fan base like this one. Is it more pressure than other movies?

Harald: It was like re-making Karate Kid. Everyone was like "you're crazy, that's a national treasure". Now people come up to me and even say our version was even better than the original. What I always try to do is listen to my own instincts. I have to love what I do and I have to love the movie myself. I read the book and I spent a lot of time thinking 'What did the book do to me?' 'What is it in the book that I love?' and then I went out and we worked on the script, the design and everything. I just was keeping Cassandra close, on testing the waters with everything. She's been really great in understanding that 'this is Harald's choice, this is what he thinks should be in the movie'. And then she says 'fine'. And then when I've reached out to her and said I need your help on this, I don't understand, then we just talked and talked. And then I'd say 'Now I understand'. That's how we kind of shaped it along. I felt like as long as Cassandra loved what we did then I felt like she was a good representation of the fans.I didn't make one single choice where I thought, I don't like this...but the fans like it so I'm going to put it in. I never did that. I couldn't do that. That would just feel false.

Kristen, TMI Movie News: I love the music injected into the movie!

Harald: That was an homage to my father, who was a Bach enthusiast. Like I said, I moved out when I was 14 and we never really connected that much, but we connected through music. That's the only times I saw him being emotional, was when he listened to music. I thought that's a good idea for Jace, somebody who's not great at emotionally attaching himself, but through music there is at least a window into his heart. Everything my dad taught me was all about Bach and math, and how methodical. My dad is a purist, he doesn't necessarily believe in all the fru fru that the romance brought with it. He loves that its just the actual notes and the harmonies and their pure representations. That is the music that he wrote and that's how it should be played, not with interpretation. I thought that's perfect for us, ya know, cuz Jace plays piano in the movie and I just feloved the idea. How could I use this practically also, and I thought well, dogs respond to certain harmonies, what if that's the same with demons and frequencies? Once you have all these chords, and I looked at all the music Bach had written. It's a perfect pattern, it's perfectly balanced, all a plan. What we normal people think is just music, it's all really a plan.  I just put that in there and Cassandra thought it was a fun idea, and embraced that.

Katie, Mundie Moms: The crowd loved the zoom in on Bach

Harald: We were going to shoot that insert and I said there's something missing. And I took a pencil, right before the camera's went in I said 'hold on guys' and I just drew it in. I wiped it with my thumb to make it look like it was part of the painting. It gives it that kind of Da Vinci type history, right? Like this stuff has been going on, it's just hidden from us all. I just like this idea with Bach.

Harald with wife and co- exec producer Veslemøy Ruud Zwart at LA premiere.
Photo: Amber/TMI Institute

Amber, The Mortal Institute: What was it like to create depth to the fight scenes with Jamie and Jonathan?

Harald: It was trying to make fight scenes have a meaning, other than just making fight scenes. The idea of the pentagram being crucial to Valentine and by removing a piece of it, he prevented the invasion, so Valentine was desperate to get that thing back. The rage, and the idea that Valentine is ready to kill his own son, and he's at one point almost just playing with him. He didn't have to do that, he just does it because he can. I thought, I can't just make a fight scene. You need an arc and an idea behind it.

Kristen, TMI Movie News: How much did you work with Jamie Campbell Bower?

Harald: A lot. These guys come with a lot of the right stuff already. What I do as a Director is try to create an intention behind every scene. So when the actors go on stage they know why they're there, what is the goal of the scene, why am I saying these lines? And you have to constantly tell them the subtext, I mean they get it. But you have to remind them, because they're doing little snippets of a bigger story. I have to realize the whole story. And it was really important to create a comfort zone where they would go so deep that they did. There's some really emotional stuff there. When he sees Valentine sort of take over Clary and he is completely deflated, because he's been given the bad news too, they had to go places inside themselves. So we talked a lot about how would you relate to this? I think that's why you are responding well to it, is they are really people in the movie. Not just stereotypes. We were all just in for the ride on that, I think.

Kristen, TMI Movie News: Were a lot of the jokes on-set or written in?

Harald: I just came up with them right there.That's 15 years of having a big career with comedic commercials.

VIDEO: German Premiere of 'The Mortal Instruments'!

Constantin Film released this video from the premiere of the highly anticipated movie, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones in Berlin, Germany (August 20)! 

In the video the stars of the film, the director, and the producers talked about being at the premieres and the work they put into the movie. Also, they showed the actors interacting with the amazing fans in Berlin!

You can watch the video below. Enjoy!

English to German Translation:

1:21 - Robert Kulzer
So Lily Collins is here, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robbie Sheehan, Kevin Zegers. Cassandra Clare, the author, is here. The director, Harald Zwart, is here. The main group is present.1:35 - Elyas M’BarekIt was like a little adventure for me. I had amazing co-stars and clicked with Robert Sheehan right away. I spent some time with him and was able to get to know him better. He is a very very cool guy.1:46 - Martin MoszkowiczFor me it’s also a special evening. First of all it is really an important movie – I am very proud of the movie, of the result of the movie. I think it turned out great. 

VIDEO: Yahoo! Movies's Live Stream of 'The Mortal Instruments' Premiere in Toronto!

Yahoo! Movies Canada live streamed the movie premiere of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones which happened in Toronto on August 15!

Check out the video of the event below!

MUSIC: Listen to Snippets from 'The Mortal Instruments' Original Score!

Shadowhunters, do you want to listen to the original score of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie before it`s available in stores? Well the German site, Königskinder Music has posted some snippets from the score on their site. 

Atli Örvarsson was the man in charge of the score and here is what Harald Zwart, the director of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, had to say about Atli`s amazing work

"He writes incredibly powerful music where you can feel the Icelandic roots surface and he writes beautiful lyrical pieces." Director Harald Zwart

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SNIPPETS 

VIDEO: 'The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones' Join the Phenomenon TV Spot

The official Facebook page for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones released a new TV Spot today featuring footage from the stops so far on the mall tour. It can be seen below.

What did you all think of it? Did any you see yourselves in it? Let us know in the comments!

Shadowhunting at San Diego Comic-Con 2013

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones panel at Comic-Con happened on Friday July 19th, but that didn't stop Shadowhunters from taking over the entire weekend. If you missed Friday's panel, we have video coverage so that you may virtually enjoy the panel anytime you want - all you have to do is click the HERE! 

Hall H

After camping out in the hall H line since Thursday afternoon, the shadowhunters, downworlders, mundanes, tardises, doctors, and cyborgs at Comic-Con had finally made it in, finding a seat in a room fit for 6 thousand.

I bunkered down in my seat, fifth row back, prepared to make this spot my new home for the next several hours until Harald Zwart, Cassie Clare, Robert Sheehan, Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, and Godfrey Gao made their way to the infamous hall H stage. 

Hall H had transformed into a mass pandemonium as the stars took the stage, check out some of the live tweets from the event - These Mortal Instruments stars know how to make an entrance: 

I'm thinking I might take my shirt off pic.twitter.com/sTMtyMnQTw
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

Oh yes! That is @RobMSheehan on the big screen!! ::swoon:: #sheesterwives #TMISDCC pic.twitter.com/Kb47NhV3qM
— CityofShadowhunters (@CoShadowhunters) July 20, 2013

Yeah I played him as a sassy bitch. I made him very grumpy pic.twitter.com/lj9akxkSt8
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

Being cast as Clary was a dream come true and an honor to be chosen #TMISDCC pic.twitter.com/zYoV2xdpeh
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

I loved the character of Alec from the moment I read the script pic.twitter.com/p0o3b5vYPi
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

“@TMI_Institute: Welcome to my party pic.twitter.com/7Hp130bI3k” gimme an invite
— no (@smokedbaekhyun) July 19, 2013

I was pretty involvy. pic.twitter.com/zwXvDJ7YdI
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

The hardest part was condensing the book to movie length pic.twitter.com/1LdGaBoHOA
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

#TMISDCC pic.twitter.com/rbofYt0WRF
— The Mortal Institute (@TMI_Institute) July 19, 2013

A week after the sheer madness that is Comic-Con, I met up with Robert Sheehan (Simon Lewis) on the set of The Road Within - Robert is currently filming, in which he plays Vincent, a man with Tourette's Syndrome. During this visit we were able to debrief Rob's experience at San Diego Comic-Con.

In short, Robert lights up at the notion of his inner geek coming out on live television, along with mentioning the fact that this year he had popped his "Comic-Con cherry" - Robert not being a little smutty just wouldn't seem right. Finally, with a somber expression, he lets fans know how much he loves us by stating the fact that he would have preferred the panel at Comic-Con to be filled with questions from the fans, rather than the initial prompter.

Speaking of those fans that Robert Sheehan wanted to hear from more, I tracked down fellow Shadowhunters Caitlin Bowler, Val Mores, Jennifer Heinsius, and Bettina Kaiping for a quick interview.
A word from the fans ... 
After seeing the City of Bones panel, 28 year old Caitlin Bowler's face lights up as she exuberantly describes what she is most excited for in the upcoming adaptation. We all have our favorite parts in the book, but Caitlin is mostly looking forward to watching Lily Collins bring Clary Fray to life,

"She is such a strong heroine, she is going to kick ass and I can't wait to see her do that! She is a really good heroine for young girls because she fights for what she believes in."   

Caitlin's eyes go wide as she remembers Simon turning into a rat at Magnus' party. Hoping that scene makes it into the movie, Caitlin is also looking forward to seeing all of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders interact at Magnus Bane's party.      

21 year old Val Mores is dressed better in black as a proper Shadowhunter. She excitedly chats about how she is looking forward to everything when she pauses for a thought and states, Robert Sheehan. Val, like many fans, are excited for Rob - lets all just hop on the I'm excited to see Robbie train (who am I kidding, I'm the conductor of that train!)

Val Mores

"After seeing the clip, I thought the demon was PERFECT - when it came back together! By The Angel. I loved how it looked like Clary was yelling in the alleyway by herself; and Jocelyn kicking ass, THANK YOU!" 

20 year old Jennifer Heinsius and 19 year old Bettina Kaiping were also fangirling about the clip alongside Val Mores. Bettina turned to mush every time someone mentioned Jamie Campbell Bower - Bettina's favorite quote? Anytime Jace said 'Clary'. This group of Shadowhunters had camped out from 7AM that Friday morning, and still made it into Hall H with great seats!

You can watch that clip Shadowhunters are excited about HERE! 


Shadowhunting at San Diego Comic-Con: 

   

Let us know what you are looking forward to most about the Mortal Movie in the comments below!