GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Reigns at EMPIRE

Christmas is fast approaching and that means The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be arriving in theaters soon. Empire magazine is celebrating the upcoming movie by putting Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) and Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) front and center on the new issue of Empire.

The new cover does a great job of showing off the minimalistic nature of David Fincher’s adaptation of the Stieg Larsson’s novel. After a summer of CGI-heavy blockbusters, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hits us with nothing but an intense story and characters that pack a serious punch.

In addition to the eye-catching cover, FirstShowing also gives us a peek at a couple of scenes from the movie and some new promo artwork, which includes Craig and Mara shotgunning cigarette smoke in an image that is sure to get people talking, and Lisbeth patching up Mikael after what was apparently a very rough day at the office.

I’m still not sure if a December 21st release date is brilliant marketing or a gigantic blunder because, as you can tell from the raw look of the photos, this is not something that brings to mind peace on Earth or happy Christmas-time thoughts, and it doesn’t look like there will be much room for laughter either. Sure, everyone reaches a point when they just need to escape the holiday overload, but will The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo be too much of an escape?

What do you think? Will you be spending the holiday with Mikael and Lisbeth as they follow the cold trail left by a woman that disappeared forty years ago?