I gotta say, “The Runaways” looks really fun, lurid and trashy in just the right ways. Here’s a music video with Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart cut by the film’s director, Floria Sigismondi.

“Get down ladies, you’ve got nothin’ to lose…”

“Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll — what’s not to like about this movie?” said a partygoer at the packed-to-the-gills bash for “The Runaways” — the buzz film of Sundance. Add to that the two teen stars — Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, who are steaming up the snowy sidewalks on Main Street, and you have one hot party. Chronicling the rocky road of the 1970s teen rock group, Stewart channels Joan Jett and Fanning brings Cherie Currie to the big screen.

When I was sorting through party invitations pre-Sundance, I almost missed it. And then my eyes focused and realized I was being offered a chance to see Joan Jett — and the Blackhearts, thank you — perform a show at HarryO’s on Main Street Saturday night.

It quickly went straight to the top of the personal event list for the week. Not because I have remained a fan since 1981, but because it was a chance to see Joan Jett perform, for chrissakes. My first rock crush (also from my hometown of Philly). Like many contemporaries, “I Love Rock N’ Roll” was my first sing-along anthem (though Pat Benatar’s “Hell Is for Children” came right after), and she, along with Chrissie Hynde, represented the ultimate teenage fantasy: an attractive woman who could rock harder than you.

“Twilight” fans are in for a shock. Beautiful, virginal Bella Swan has morphed into a smoking, cussing 16-year-old New Orleans stripper/sex worker marked with bruises and scars named Mallory. Or Alison, actually.

Kristen Stewart, who has drawn legions of devoted followers to her as “Twilight’s” conflicted protagonist, flips that portrayal on its head for “Welcome to the Rileys,” the very R-rated indie drama that premiered Saturday at the Racquet Club Theatre at Sundance (here’s THR film critic Kirk Honeycutt’s review). Stewart is raw, feral, feisty and utterly believable in ways that should remind everyone that she has chops well beyond teenaged vampire soap operas.

Tomorrow she stars in the premiere of “The Runaways,” which Apparition has already slotted for a March release. That should seal the deal for any doubters.

Unfortunately, Stewart’s younger fans are unlikely to see “Rileys,” since it features a pot-smoking Stewart tossing off lines about her cooter, handjobs, anal sex and how “I’m not gonna fuck your German shepherd.” Most of this is delivered in stages of undress or in her dancing get-up at the Dixie Divas club, including red Xs taped across her breasts, fishnets, a g-string and five-inch heels.

Here, sleeper sleeper sleeper…

OK! I'm awake! I'm awake!

After last year’s unexpected boxoffice runs by Warner Bros.’ “Gran Torino” ($148 million domestic) and Fox’s “Taken” ($145 million) early in 2009, it’s tempting to look for potential surprise hits in early 2010.

By taking a strategic look at the industry’s offerings in the annual dumping ground of January to March, I’m going to — ahem — predict the potential gems peeking out of the mud. I know, I know — it’s a fool’s errand. But if “experts” like me didn’t do this sort of thing, what would you have to scream about?

So, behold: The Malcolm scale. The searing, classic image (above) from Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” says many things. What it says to Sleeper Watchers is that a drowsy little film is waking up. (In some rare instances, to the point where you just can’t look away, dammit.) In other words: The more Malcolms, the money-ier.

The first quarter of 2010 will roll out more than three-dozen wide or semi-wide releases. But we’re going to look at what’s off the radar, left abandoned, or, through a combination of elements (release date, counterprogramming, trend bullseye), poised to go much bigger than it has any right to.

The field looks pretty thin, but something’s bound to pop. I’ve chosen eight candidates, which we’ll track as they roll out over the following months to see just how right I was.

And I cordially invite your second guessing: What do you think could end up being this year’s January Surprise? Remember — to quote a little droog — “Initiative comes to thems that wait.”

Punchy. Punky. Sexy. Rockin’. Just as it should be.

Right on the heels of news that Apparition picked up U.S. distribution rights to the $9-$10 million film, MTV has the first look at the 49-second teaser trailer for “The Runaways.”

Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie. K. Stew as Joan Jett.

It’s a pretty hot, pumpin’ video and gets across exactly the punch-to-the-gut that the girls represented to the rock scene of the late ’70s. It surely helped that Jett herself was often on-set to consult.

As an unidentified male voice says over the end:

“The Runaways… have the most chance of any group I’ve seen… to tear this world apart.”

What do you think?

Here’s a brief Q&A with New York-based Apparition topper Bob Berney, whose new company picked up the indie film “The Runaways” this weekend ahead of its Sundance film festival bow. Berney, an indie veteran via IFC Films, Newmarket Films and Picturehouse (shuttered last year by WB), also shares his thoughts on the state of the indie space leading up to Sundance 2010.

When did you see “The Runaways?”

It’s been about 3 or 4 weeks. [Bill Pohlad's] River Road Productions is run as a separate company than Apparition, but we’re trying to find films that they produce that would match the kind of style and distribution plan that we do. So this was the perfect one. It’s kind of informal, but there’s a relationship.

How long did it take you to pull the trigger?

Really just finally seeing the film. Part of it is the idea of the cast, for sure, is interesting and great. Floria made a film that is really about the relationship, so there’s more to it than just a typical rock bio. It’s really a story of the two girls, Joan and Cherie. She did it really stylized, and it’s done in a real indie spirit, which I think is the spirit of the original group and Joan’s group. It fit with how we wanted to market it. So it was really just finally seeing Floria’s work that convinced us to do it.

The cast opens up some extra possibility overseas given the “Twilight” angle. To what extent did that factor into your decision?

It’s huge. Obviously, there’s a huge base of fans for [Stewart] from the “Twilight” movies, and although this is a different film and it’s R-rated and edgier, it gives you a great fanbase to start with. You just gotta be careful how you market it. I think her fans are interested in her doing something very different, and stretching, and that’s probably why she wanted to make the film. So it’s great as long as we try to be really truthful about what the film is and what it’s going to be about. I think her fans will really like it.

Luckily, some of her “Twilight” fans are the mothers. You don’t have to worry about the R-rating with them.

Yeah, exactly.

You thought Kristen Stewart was big on the blockbuster stage? Wait until she takes over the indie world, too.

I was tooling around the Sundance Film Festival’s ass-kicking new interactive schedule website on Friday, putting together a tentative itinerary for the January event. Among the site’s cool features is a “Buzz” tracker that logs all the interest in the films in the program — both page views and the number of visitors who have tagged a film to insert in their personal festival schedules.

Guess what the top two films are, in terms of both page count and scheduling?

“The Runaways,” a Stewart starrer that Apparition picked up for distribution this weekend, six weeks before it was even scheduled to premiere at Sundance. And “Welcome to the Rileys,” Jake Scott’s new film starring… Kristen Stewart.

“Runaways,” which features Stewart as Joan Jett opposite “New Moon” co-star Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, has 12,326 page views and 287 adds as of Monday at 1 pm, PST. “Rileys,” a competition film that features Stewart as a New Orleans prostitute opposite James Gandolfini’s grieving father, has 5,817 views and 267 adds.

Not to make it a competition or anything…

But really, is Park City ready for some “Twilight”-level chaos?