“The Last Supper” LOST Promo Photos

ABC has released two cool new promo photos featuring the “Lost” cast in a recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” The sixth and final season of “Lost” premieres on Tuesday, February 2nd. You can click on the images to increase their size.

New Video Game Releases For Jan. 3rd – Jan. 8th, 2010

After a busy holiday and a few needed weeks off, things are slowly rolling back to life in what promises to be one of the best first quarter’s the video game industry has ever seen.  What this week lacks in quantity, it definitely makes up for in quality as two new powerhouses are poised to go fisticuffs for your hard earned dollar or brand new Christmas gift cards.

Darksiders is a new IP that takes inspiration from the battle of armageddon as described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation.  Players assume the role of “War”, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.  The game’s basic art style and design have been overseen by creative lead, Joe Madureira. best known for his work on Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men and his book Battle Chasers.

The other big release is Bayonetta.  The titular character (with extreme emphasis on the first syllable of the word titular) uses pistols, blades, and magical attacks to thwart demons in a mythic Japanese alterna-dimension that’s one part anime, one part underworld, and all parts bat crap crazy.  The game is from the creator of the popular Devil May Cry series and promises the same insane and intense gun/swordplay.  With five difficulty settings; two of which contain a game mode playable with only one button (hence only one hand), this may very well be the ultimate post pubescent 13 year-old’s dream game.

The week’s full count is nine new games, but really, it all boils down to one question– which do you like better: the end of the world or big, bouncy boobs?  God, I love video games.

Monday (Jan. 4)
Dreamer: Zoo Keeper (DS)
Trajectile (DS)

Tuesday (Jan. 5)
Bayonetta (PS3, 360)
Darksiders (PS3, 360)
Fast Food Panic (DS)
My Fitness Coach 2: Workout & Nutrition (Wii)

Wednesday (Jan. 6)
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (360)

Thursday (Jan. 7)
Borderlands: Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot (PC, PS3)
Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond (PS3)

(Written by Nick Creature)

Box Office Weekend: Avatar Hits $1 Billion Worldwide

Moviegoers made a New Year’s resolution: to see as many pictures as possible New Year’s weekend. Crowds swarmed the multiplexes as if they were Times Square on Dec. 31, and the studios were celebrating. Business was up 70% over last year, when the top dog was Marley & Me. Leading the revelry was the sci-fi rainforest thriller Avatar, which earned another $68.3 million in North American theaters, according to studio estimates, and has now grossed $352.1 million in 17 days. More impressive, James Cameron’s blue greenies have already hit the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. Instead of guzzling Champagne, Cameron should be doused in the stuff, like a winning coach getting a Gatorade shower.

Avatar started out big; that was to be expected. What’s impressive is its staying power. The movie has been No. 1 every day but two — the days when its two most formidable rivals, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and Sherlock Holmes, opened — and its daily theatrical take has dipped below $15 million only on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, when, let’s be frank, only people with seasonal disorders should be at the movies. Avatar hit the $300 million mark at the domestic box office on Friday, its 15th day of release. Transformers 2, the top-grossing movie of the 2009 calendar year, took just 14 days to reach $300 million. But the toy-bot sequel lost some steam thereafter, and didn’t reach $350 million until its 23rd day of release. Avatar dropped only 9% from last weekend’s bonanza, and will surely beat Transformers 2′s $400 million domestic total. Now the adversary Avatar is chasing is The Dark Knight, the movie with the second-highest gross of all time… after Cameron’s Titanic.

With no big new entries in the movie marketplace, audiences turned to old acquaintances — some just a week old — and last weekend’s first four finishers held their ground. The Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes and the singing-rodent Squeakquel have fought mano-a-munko for second place since they opened, with Holmes winning the weekends and Alvin the weekdays. Teen boys and other Baker Street Irregulars voted for the martial-arts sleuth, while kids followed their parents’ advice, not the contemptuous critical consensus, and saw Alvin. (Such misplaced priorities warrant serious investigation.) It’s Complicated, the Meryl-and-Alec romantic comedy about the swinging 60s — the swing, and they’re in their 60s — again finished fourth.

The same New Year’s day that Avatar passed the $300 million milestone, The Blind Side — a movie that cost about a tenth as much to make — hit $200 million. Continuing to defy the gravity of box-office economics, it saw its New Year’s weekend take rise actually rise over the Christmas frame. So hearty is the momentum of the Sandra Bullock football weepie that it beat the George Clooney Oscar fave Up in the Air, which just went into wide release on Christmas. No wonder the American theater owners voted Bullock the star of the year — just the fourth woman to receive that designation in the 77-year history of the award. An Oscar nomination for Best Actress is likely to follow.

Here are the weekend’s top-grossing pictures in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo.com:

1. Avatar, $68.3 million: $352.1 million, third week

2. Sherlock Holmes, $38.4 million; $104.7 million, second week

3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, $36.6 million, $157.3 million, second week

4. It’s Complicated, $18.7 million; $59.1 million, second week

5. The Blind Side, $12.7 million; $209.1 million, seventh week

6. Up in the Air, $11.4 million; $45 million, fifth week

7. The Princess and the Frog, $10 million; $86.1 million, sixth week

8. Did You Hear About the Morgans?, $5.2 million; $28.5 million, third week

9. Nine, $4.3 million; $14.1 million, third week

10. Invictus, $4.1 million; $30.7 million, fifth week

(Reprinted from Time Magazine)

Parkour Flip Book

Quentin Tarantino Graphic Movie Poster Series

Toronto based designer, Ibraheem Youssef created these subtle cool posters for Quentin Tarantino films.  Currently there are graphic images for Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1 and 2.  Ibaheem is working on additional posters for Jackie Brown, Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds.  You can order the posters HERE.

New Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek

HBO’s Boardwalk Empire Video Special Effects

Despite the fact that HBO’s Boardwalk Empire takes place during the 1920s, it’s a very high-tech production. This brief reel shows off some of Brainstorm Digital’s incredible VFX work.

Happy New Year From The Fire Wire

The Fire Wire wishes you a very happy and healthy 2010. If you are having a difficult time coming up with a resolution for the new year you can let the Internet make your life choices for you HERE.