Pixar's "Lifted"

Crazy Human LED!!!

Pretty Good Voice Talent

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Marvel Taunts Us!! IRON MAN Sequel Two Years Away?? THE AVENGERS In Three?? And, More!!

Okay, if you were paying attention to the IRON MAN movie, you caught several references to S.H.I.E.L.D. - both oblique and pointed.

And, if you were patient enough to sit through the film's closing credits (or resourceful enough to track the footage down on YouTube), you saw a post-credits tag featuring Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D's Nick Fury...attempting to recruit Tony Stark, and mentioning "The Avenger Initiative".

Yahoo Finance now brings us more information about how these teases may play-out in the coming years:

Marvel plans to launch its 2010 film slate with the release of the sequel, Iron Man 2, on April 30, 2010, followed by the launch of Thor on June 4, 2010. Additionally, Marvel is planting its feature film stakes for summer 2011 with an Avengers-themed summer – a two-picture project which will debut on May 6, 2011 with The First Avenger: Captain America (working title), followed by The Avengers in July 2011.

...says THIS REPORT at Yahoo Finance.

Courtesy of Merrick from aintitcool.com

Marvel turns `Iron Man' into gold with a $200M debut

The Marvel Comics adaptation, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The film also scored overseas with $96.7 million in 57 countries where it began opening Wednesday, putting its worldwide total at $201 million.

The movie, distributed by Paramount, is the first release by Marvel Studios, which has begun financing its own productions after such studio-backed hits as the "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" flicks. Via the Chicago tribune.

After only 3 days it beat out Hellboy and Daredevil (not hard to do), but we all know it will climb up to at least where the X-men boxoffice totals were after 3 months. Personally I thought it was on par with my two favorite superhero movies (X-men 2 & Spiderman 2), here's the Superheroes Genre breakdown:

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio	Lifetime Gross / Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Date
1	Spider-Man	Sony	$403,706,375	3,876	$114,844,116	3,615	5/3/02
2	Spider-Man 2	Sony	$373,585,825	4,166	$88,156,227	4,152	6/30/04
3	Spider-Man 3	Sony	$336,530,303	4,324	$151,116,516	4,252	5/4/07
4	The Incredibles	BV	$261,441,092	3,933	$70,467,623	3,933	11/5/04
5	Batman	WB	$251,188,924	2,201	$40,489,746	2,194	6/23/89
6	X-Men: The Last Stand	Fox	$234,362,462	3,714	$102,750,665	3,690	5/26/06
7	X2: X-Men United	Fox	$214,949,694	3,749	$85,558,731	3,741	5/2/03
8	Batman Begins	WB	$205,343,774	3,858	$48,745,440	3,858	6/15/05
9	Superman Returns	WB	$200,081,192	4,065	$52,535,096	4,065	6/28/06
10	Batman Forever	WB	$184,031,112	2,893	$52,784,433	2,842	6/16/95
11	Batman Returns	WB	$162,831,698	2,644	$45,687,711	2,644	6/19/92
12	X-Men	Fox	$157,299,717	3,112	$54,471,475	3,025	7/14/00
13	Fantastic Four	Fox	$154,696,080	3,619	$56,061,504	3,602	7/8/05
14	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	NL	$135,265,915	2,377	$25,398,367	2,006	3/30/90
15	Superman	WB	$134,218,018	817	$7,465,343	508	12/15/78
16	Hulk	Uni.	$132,177,234	3,674	$62,128,420	3,660	6/20/03
17	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer	Fox	$131,921,738	3,963	$58,051,684	3,959	6/15/07
18	Ghost Rider	Sony	$115,802,596	3,620	$45,388,836	3,619	2/16/07
19	Superman II	WB	$108,185,706	1,878	$14,100,523	1,397	6/19/81
20	Batman and Robin	WB	$107,325,195	2,942	$42,872,605	2,934	6/20/97
21	Iron Man	Par.	$104,250,000	4,105	$100,750,000	4,105	5/2/08
22	Daredevil	Fox	$102,543,518	3,474	$40,310,419	3,471	2/14/03
23	Unbreakable	BV	$95,011,339	2,708	$30,330,771	2,708	11/22/00
24	The Mask of Zorro	Sony	$94,095,523	2,515	$22,525,855	2,515	7/17/98
25	Blade II	NL	$82,348,319	2,707	$32,528,016	2,707	3/22/02
26	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II	NL	$78,656,813	2,868	$20,030,473	2,868	3/22/91
27	Blade	NL	$70,087,718	2,389	$17,073,856	2,322	8/21/98
28	Sky High	BV	$63,946,815	2,912	$14,631,784	2,905	7/29/05
29	Superman III	WB	$59,950,623	1,763	$13,352,357	1,759	6/17/83
30	Hellboy	SonR	$59,623,958	3,043	$23,172,440	3,028	4/2/04

May 5, 1992: Wolfenstein 3-D Shoots the First-Person Shooter Into Stardom

1992: Id Software releases Wolfenstein 3-D, and it launches a huge computer-game category.

Wolfenstein 3-D may not have been the very first "first-person shooter," as the genre came to be known, but it was by far the most successful. Technically the genre goes back to the '70s, but no one really paid any attention to it. Even id released an earlier FPS called Catacombs 3D, but again, it wasn't nearly as good as Wolfenstein.

But through massive online dissemination of the game's shareware version, Wolfenstein 3D (the hyphen was later dropped from the name) introduced millions to an immersive world in which the action seemed to be happening from the player's perspective.

"It was an incredible sensation, really unlike anything gamers had seen before," said Jamie Madigan, who helps operate the GameSpy Network's 3D Action website. "You could move smoothly in 360 degrees. You felt like you were there."

"Everything that's followed in [its] footsteps has just been a modification of that basic style," id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead said in 2001.

Players in the game assume the role of an American commando battling Nazis and their supernatural servants. It was banned in Germany because of its use of Nazi symbols, like the swastika, and music, like the "Horst Wessel Lied."

Wolfenstein 3D did more than define a genre. It also launched a company, id Software of Mesquite, Texas, which leveraged Wolfenstein 3D's success into a franchise of wildly successful first-person shooters, including the seminal Doom and Quake series.

These games, in turn, begat a slew of sequels, imitators and adaptations, from Half-Life to Max Payne.

Wired.com Game|Life blogger Earnest Cavalli added, "The key to the whole Wolfenstein thing is that its success -- which was massive -- paved the way for ... thousands of games that mimicked them, transforming the PC into a gaming system best known for FPS titles. Plus, who doesn't like killing Nazis?" Via Wired.com