Most people in town are probably looking forward to getting their Irish on for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade or having some good, clean family fun at the Moila Shrine Circus at the Civic Arena — unless they happen to be a teenage girl.

In which case, they might be invading multiplexes to see poster boy Robert Pattinson. As Edward from “The Twilight Saga,” he’s become America’s favorite brooding bloodsucker. But this weekend, he will be appearing as a flesh-and-blood human in the dramatic romance “Remember Me.”

The film will be his first wide release since he exploded into a pop culture phenomenon with “Twilight’s” popularity. But just because he’s currently Hollywood’s “it” guy doesn’t guarantee him a long, illustrious career.

Plenty of leading men have come before him who were labeled the next big thing only to have their careers turn into the next big flop. However, others have managed to transcend their Tiger Beat status to become relevant actors. Let’s give “R-Patz” a quick history lesson — for his career’s sake.

PATH NO. 1: THE ONE-NOTE HEARTTHROB

Example: Freddie Prinze Jr.

You’d have to go back more than a decade to see when this son of a legendary Latino stand-up comedian was the hottest thing on the screen for romance-obsessed high school girls. He played the same type of character in a number of teen-targeted romantic comedies with three-word titles (“She’s All That,” “Boys and Girls,” “Down to You,” “Head Over Heels”) and one ascot-wearing ’70s stud (Fred in two live-action “Scooby-Doo” films).

While most of these films would be considered box-office successes, it didn’t keep him from disappearing from movie theaters for most of the last decade. He’s just now starting to resurface as a CTU agent in the Fox television drama “24.” I would bet Robert Pattinson would want to steer clear of a path that leads to long stretches of irrelevance.

PATH NO. 2: THE MIXED BAG

Example: Josh Hartnett

Once again, this is a career that started at the end of the ’90s and peaked soon after. But unlike Prinze, it wasn’t for a lack of trying something different. The All-American boy started off in horror (“Halloween H2O,” “The Faculty”) before blowing up big-time thanks to roles in Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,” the ensemble war drama “Black Hawk Down” and the edgy, R-rated sex comedy “40 Days and 40 Nights.”

From there, the rest of his career was hit-and-mostly-miss. For every part he played in moderate hits like “Sin City,” he would bomb in numerous other projects where he was more heavily relied on to carry the film, whether it was “Wicker Park,” “Lucky Number Slevin” or “The Black Dahlia.”

The fact that his most memorable role in recent memory is from a recent post-Oscar sketch on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” should tell you how far this guy has fallen.

PATH NO. 3: THE ARTISANS

Examples: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Heath Ledger

Believe it or not, the three names mentioned in this category all started in the same place. They all first achieved mainstream success in roles that relied less on their acting abilities and more on their good looks. However, in each person’s case, they selected future roles that smartly showed off each actor’s depth and performance capabilities.

Because of these choices, when you look back on their careers, you’re not going to instantly think of Johnny Depp as the guy from “21 Jump Street,” or Heath Ledger as the hunk from “10 Things I Hate About You,” or Leonardo DiCaprio only as the guy from “Titanic” (at least, you shouldn’t just think that).

Robert Pattinson should know which path to take. And depending on what he does after “Twilight” falls, we’ll find out if he’s worth remembering for anything else.