'I Am Number Four' Hits Theaters – Alex Pettyfer Hits Big Time

If you don’t plan to spend this weekend catching up on Academy Award nominees, this weekend’s new releases should provide some fun popcorn flick entertainment.

I Am Number Four, the highly anticipated adaptation of the successful young adult series by Pittacus Lore, finally hits theaters today. Lead by 20-year-old British hunk Alex Pettyfer, and costarring Timothy Olyphant (Justified) and Dianna Agron (Glee), the film looks to capitalize on the same fan bases that franchises like Twilight so successfully tapped into.

Reviews have been mixed: The New York Times called the film “sluggish and derivative,” while the U.K.’s Daily Mirror thought it to be “an enjoyable fantasy romp that conjures up the same sort of magic that comes from Hogwarts.”

Regardless of critical opinion, it seems fairly certain that the film’s star Pettyfer is poised to carry the Robert Pattinson torch of angsty teen outsiders in popular young adult literary adaptations. Though he may be becoming Hollywood's hottest leading man, Pettyfer, a former model, only has eyes for his I Am Number Four costar Agron, 24. The two were originally set up by their director D.J. Caruso prior to filming, and have recently been the subject of incessant engagement rumors. Although the couple remain tight-lipped, their paring is definitely seen as a match made in blond-hair heaven.

Pettyfer also stars in the upcoming Beastly (in theaters March 4) with Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen and Neil Patrick Harris. Based on the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast, the Brit plays a handsome and popular high schooler, stripped of his good looks in hopes of learning the importance of inner beauty. —EMILY EXTON