"Twilight" sequel shines at MTV Movie Awards

The sun never seems to set on the "Twilight" movie franchise.

The second film in the vampire romance series won five prizes at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, just as the first picture did a year ago.

In what amounted to a two-hour infomercial for the blockbuster, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" was named best movie, while stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson picked up multiple honors.

Fans were also treated to an exclusive preview of the third film, "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which opens in theaters on June 30.

Stewart won for best female performance and best kiss, sharing the latter award with Pattinson. The real-life lovers staged a deliberately awkward smooch for the benefit of the overly excitable "Twilight" fans who seemed to dominate the crowd at the Gibson Amphitheatre near Hollywood. Pattinson also won for best male performance, and was named global superstar.

While the profanity-laced ceremony is tailored to MTV's core audience of teens and twentysomethings, relative veterans Tom Cruise and Sandra Bullock gave the youngsters a few lessons in showbiz.

Cruise stole the show in the first half hour when he dropped his serious persona to take to the stage for a highly choreographed dance routine with Jennifer Lopez.

Reviving his bald alter ego Les Grossman, a boorish movie-studio executive character in the 2008 comedy "Tropic Thunder," the 47-year-old actor wowed the crowd with a saucy, booty-slapping, crotch-grabbing performance that climaxed with a splits worthy of James Brown.

"It was a lot of fun," he told reporters afterward.

BULLOCK KEEPS IT IN PERSPECTIVE

Bullock received a career achievement award, and briefly made out with Scarlett Johannson.

"Now that we have done that, can we please go back to normal? Because therapy is really expensive," she said, evidently trying to defuse the outpouring of pity in the wake of her marital woes.

"Go back to making fun of me, I don't care ... And I think when we all go to bed tonight, just to think about all the people that are being affected in the Gulf (by the BP oil spill) and just say a prayer for them."

Betty White, the octogenarian "Golden Girls" actress riding a new wave of popularity, described Bullock as "a national treasure," said she had seen all of her films, and hailed her "portrayal of Stevie Wonder in 'The Blind Side.'"

Airing three months after the Academy Awards, the MTV event provides a welcome opportunity for stars to applaud themselves in the media spotlight. The winners are usually notified in advance, which explains why they have aisle seats and look underwhelmed when their names are called.

Still, British actor Tom Felton of the "Harry Potter" franchise said backstage that he was embarrassed to take the best villain statuette over Christoph Waltz, who won virtually every prize during awards season for "Inglourious Basterds."

"It's ridiculous really, isn't it?" he told Reuters. "To be in the same category as him is a bit of a joke, really, let alone to actually beat him."