The following are some of the chart-topping movies of the summer. Most are good, one is bad (we’re looking at you, “Hancock!”), but we’re glad its been a good year for summer movie watching and hope Hollywood entertains just as well next year.

#1 The Dark Knight - $471.1 Million

Heath Ledger’s swan song performance and serving to elevate Christian Bale’s popularity — apparently, the movie industry had yet to see his acting in “Empire of the Sun” and “Henry V” — “The Dark Knight” has been blowing up the box office this summer. Viewers have taken so much to the film that many are speculating it will break 1997’s “Titanic” $600 Million U.S. lifetime earnings (the highest grossing film of all time).

#2 Iron Man - $317.1 Million

Re-energizing Robert Downey Jr.’s career might be “Iron Man”’s biggest accomplishment, but it hasn’t done too shabby considering its earnings this summer. It’s easily one of the better comic book adaptations out there and if you haven’t watched it yet, shame on you.

#3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $315.1 Million

Proving that 80s franchises are still all the rage (and that Hollywood is still fresh out of ideas) has put “Indiana Jones” at #3, just narrowly missing to top “Iron Man” by a couple of million dollars. Actually…once written, that’s a LOT of money.

#4 Hancock - $225 Million

Wow. Sure, Will Smith’s latest might have provided a few chuckles and light entertainment for some but it easily beats all the other movies on this list to the “summer fluff and crap” title. Poor “WALL-E.” “Hancock” didn’t deserve to make more money than you.

#5 WALL-E - $214.1 Million

It’s a little surprising that “WALL-E” didn’t top a couple of the movies on this list (it should have taken down “Hancock,” at least!), but it was still hugely successful. The film showed a great maturation for Pixar as they took on touchy subjects while maintaining that high level of movie magic the studio is known for. One of the few movies this summer that entertained both kids and adults, alike.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: Christian Bale, couple, Crystal Skull, dark, didn, Film, Hancock, Henry, Hollywood, Indiana, Iron, Jones, Knight, list, man, money, movie, Robert Downey Jr, summer, US, WALL-E, year

Velvet Assassin (previous, working title: Sabotage) is an upcoming stealth action video game for Xbox 360 and PC to be released on October 17th, 2008. The game is inspired by a real life World War II secret agent/saboteur Violette Szabo. Players take on the role of Violette Summer as she goes behind enemy lines to thwart the German war machine.

In Velvet Assassin, players assume the role of Violette Summer and head deep behind enemy lines with no support or official backing from the British Government. Violette risks her life fighting to defeat the German war machine one stealth mission at a time. Velvet Assassin combines lush, surreal visuals and a ground-breaking stealth combat system to deliver a gaming experience which is truly the first of its kind.

Thanks Shaun!

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: action, enemy, game, Killer, life, machine, role, Sabotage, Shaun, stealth, Stealthy, summer, title, Velvet Assassin, video, Violette, War, Xbox

There’s been some rumor-mongering on the interwebs (when isn’t there?) about the possible release date for Final Fantasy XIII. The article, which has since been pulled, pointed to the now non-PS3 exclusive releasing in Japan next summer and making it out to North American by the end of the year.

It seems likely that that’s the time table for the game as Square Enix recently announced that they’re packing in a demo of the game in the upcoming Bluray Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete next year. So…they have been working on something, it just takes time, patient gamers, it takes time.

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: article, date, end, fantasy, FINAL, game, isn, Japan, non, North America, North American, release, Square, summer, table, time, XIII, year

SIREN:Blood Curse screens have surfaced thanks to our Sony PSN rep.  This 12 episodic thriller will be coming Summer of ‘08. Sony’s decision to go with episodes rather than a disk release is a risk. If their first release is a hit, then Sony can expect at least the next 2 or 3 episodes to be downloaded.  On the other hand, if it’s a failure SIREN will be short lived. By the screens below, I’m saying at least the visuals will get PSN subscribers interested in the first couple episodes.

[slideshow=14]

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: blood, Curse, failure, hand, New, PSN, release, rep, risk, Screens, Siren, SIREN: Blood Curse, slideshow, Sony, success, summer, thriller

Hot Dogs, 4th of July and ice cold lemonades… Summer is the best time of year to enjoy the great weather and live it up with your close friends and family. In America, the Olympics are our olde past time. We now have MLB, NFL, and the NBA as our main sport attractions. I feel the Summer Olympics bring us, the world, closer since we all send our best athletes for 3 weeks and compete as to who is the best from each country.

Above: The five mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games include cartoon renditions of, from left, swallow, a panda, the Olympic flame, a Tibetan antelope and a fish, with each one the color of one of the Olympic rings.

Continue reading »

written by Juan Perez \\ tags: America, August, Beijing, Beijing 2008, China, close, Family, Home, hot, ice, July, MLB, NBA, NFL, Olympic, place, Ray, summer, Summer Olympics, time, weather, year

I enjoyed the first film a few years back.  Spider-Man 2 was iffy and Spider-Man 3 simply annoyed me.  Last year, I was rewarded with the news that Sam Raimi wasn’t interested in continuing the series and it would probably be passed to a new director, which might bring a fresh look to the film.  Now it looks like they may actually make a Spider-Man 4 with Raimi.  Since last year, he has changed his mind and it now looks like he will be directing the final film.  I hate to sound negative about the series, but I am a die hard Spidey fan who simply felt let down by 2 of the last 3 films.

Last summer, it looked like Sam Raimi was ready to walk away from the Spider-Man franchise, but he’s singing a different tune this summer. Coming Soon recently talked to Raimi about his status as the most profitable superhero series ever gears up for its fourth film. 

Via get the big picture

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: die, director, fan, Film, look, man, mind, movie, news, Raimi, Sam, series, Spidey, summer, wasn, year