"LOST" Beach Premiere Set for Jan. 30

The much-anticipated premiere episode of the sixth and final season of "LOST" will be shown three days early on the beach in Waikiki, TV blogger and "LOST" fan Doc Arzt reported this afternoon.

To say there has been strong demand for the event would be an understatement. I receive several e-mails a week from "LOST" fans asking about it, and they say that it would make or break their plans to travel to Hawaii. At HIFF's gala "LOST" event in October, a fan from Japan told Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse that previous beach premieres were a highlight of his Hawaii trips, and that many overseas fans were hoping to travel to Honolulu one last time.

Fortunately, during a HIFF panel on "LOST" earlier that day, Co-Executive Producer Jean Higgins and Honolulu film commissioner Walea Constantinau said that they were in talks to hold the event. It looks like those talks paid off.

The last "Sunset on the Beach" advance screening for "LOST" was for Season 3 in 2006.

The Season 4 premiere was scuttled by the writers' strike, and no event was held for Season 5. But it's apparent that both ABC and Honolulu officials appreciate the significance of the show's final season. While much has been said of the importance of "LOST" to the Hawaii film industry, I am acutely aware of how much "LOST" drives the tourism industry as well.

No doubt hundreds of local "LOST" fans will be there on Saturday, Jan. 30. But I wouldn't be surprised if the crowds on the beach that night will be made up mostly of people making a pilgrimage to "The Island," knowing it will probably be their last chance to do so.