'Hard Candy's Slade to direct third Twilight movie

Summit Entertainment has tapped David Slade to direct "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," the third film in the vampire franchise.

Summit made the announcement Wednesday afternoon following months of speculation over which helmer would handle "Eclipse," which has a release date of June 30, 2010.

Summit's opted for a different director on each "Twilight" pic. Chris Weitz replaced "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke on "New Moon." Production recently started on "New Moon," with the key thesps -- Robert Pattinson as Edward, Kristen Stewart as Bella and Taylor Lautner as Jacob -- reprising their roles.

"New Moon" is set to open Nov. 20. Melissa Rosenberg, who penned the "Twilight" and "New Moon" scripts, has been writing "Eclipse," in which Bella is forced to choose between Edward and Jacob.

Slade's credits include 2006's "Hard Candy" and 2007's "30 Days of Night."