First there was the third “Spider-Man.” Then it was the fourth “Terminator.” Bryce Dallas Howard seems to have made a habit of slipping into already-established film franchises. Now the flame-haired actress is headed for a third belated entrance, replacing Rachelle Lefevre as the vampire Victoria in “Eclipse,” the third film in the “Twilight” saga.

While she’s certainly gotten used to diving into treasured cinematic lore, Howard’s career got started in a different direction. She rose to Hollywood prominence at the age of 23 as the star of M. Night Shyamalan’s freaky time-period-bender, “The Village.” Joining the likes of Academy Award winners William Hurt and Adrien Brody, the actress shined, and the film went on to gross over $50 million during its opening weekend.

By the time “Terminator” hit theaters this spring, with Howard playing Christian Bale’s pregnant wife, the 28-year-old actress indeed had a knowledgeable perspective on the enduring appeal of franchises — a perspective that will surely prove useful as she joins Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Stephenie Meyer’s vampire saga.

“All of these films are about, at the center of them, these heroes who really accomplish extraordinary things and these huge spectacles,” Howard told us. “They’re all incredibly compelling stories.”

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