OFFICIAL HTF COVERAGE OF COMIC CON 2009 (1 Viewer)

[Timothy E]

The Home Theater Forum will be providing news coverage of Comic Con International 2009 from San Diego, California, on July 22 through July 26, 2009. Announced guests include: James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Terry Gilliam, Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, Richard Hatch,Stan Lee, Joe Dante, and many other stars, directors, and screenwriters of movies and television.

Given past history, many stars will appear that have not even been announced. Among the stars who have made surprise appearances at Comic Con in past years include Arnold Schwarzenneger, Hugh Jackman, and Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as Borat). This year should be no exception.

Last year there were more screaming teenage girls present at the Twilight panel than have been congregated since the Beatles were in their prime. Although the guests have not been announced formally, it is expected that all of the major stars of the Twilight sequel New Moon will be in attendance at that panel.

It is also likely that Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johannson, Mickey Rourke, and Jon Favreau will appear to answer questions for fans and (hopefully) preview footage of Iron Man 2.

Edward James Olmos is expected to appear once again, this time to discuss and preview footage from The Plan, the Battlestar Galactica movie set to premiere on SciFi (now Syfy?) later this year.

Other genre programs expected to have actors and writers in attendance include Lost, Dexter, Dollhouse, Heroes, and many others.

In the last 10 years, the Hollywood studios have had a major presence at Comic Con, even to the extent that they save special announcements to be made for the first time in San Diego at Comic Con International.

Stay tuned daily as HTF provides an overview of the day's events at Comic Con 2009.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009, is Preview Night at Comic Con from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. The convention floor will be open on Preview Night only for those lucky fans who purchased their 4-Day badges months ago before they sold out. Holders of single-day badges will not be entitled to attend Preview Night.

This coverage will be updated daily beginning Wednesday evening.

 

[TravisR]

Since I'm nearly 3,000 miles away, I'll be looking forward to it. Please transcribe every word of the Lost panel.

 

[Timothy E]

Originally Posted by TravisR ">[/url]

Since I'm nearly 3,000 miles away, I'll be looking forward to it. Please transcribe every word of the Lost panel.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I just want Avatar footage. That is it.

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer

I just want Avatar footage. That is it.

Fortunately, every journalist in San Diego will be in that room (and very few fans who actually paid to get in) so I think we'll get nearly immediate feedback, descriptions and hidden camera phone looks at the footage.

 

[oscar_merkx]

can't wait for Avatar.

The hype better be worth it

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I'd like a real trailer. And there isn't hype for the film...just the technology. I care about the movie first and foremost, not the method of filming or delivering it.

 

[mattCR]

Stuff like avatar I figure we'll see elsewhere in the droves as time comes. So, while it's a neat sneak peek, it's nothing the rest of us won't see at some point.
I'm more interested in the kind of things that don't get headline press and are real "niche" kind of productions that get some play here.
So, I'm all interested in things like:

Seth Green talking about what comes next after Robot Chicken (which is over)

Microsoft New Media on new content, like The Guild

USA talking Burn Notice and Production

Kevin Smith talking about upcoming feature next year w/Bruce Willis

The Plan & Caprica

Talks of a final closing film for "The 4400" at the USA booths

etc.
That's the kind of stuff I'd be interested in. Stuff on Avatar, etc. I find definitely interesting, but I'm betting bucks that by Sunday anything shown at ComiCon will be up on a website somewhere in an official format.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It's sort of unfortunate that the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" trailer has been shown in theaters because it confused people if I tell them I'm looking forward to "Avatar" and they assume I'm taking about the "M. Night Shymalan" film (Avatar: The Last Air Bender). Grrr....

 

[Timothy E]

https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/thumbs/b/b8/ComicCon%20012.jpg/1000x500px-LL-ComicCon%20012.jpg">[/url]

The convention floor was full of throngs of fans this evening as Preview Night at Comic Con opened with all 4-Day badge holders having first access to comics, books, DVDs, toys, t-shirts, and everything in between being sold by vendors. Last year's Comic Con International was attended by over 126,000 people, and that record will probably be broken this year by a small margin. Badges for Comic Con have been sold out for months. Until last year, it was possible to show up and purchase a badge on any given day, but not anymore.



Although the panel presentations do not begin until Thursday, many attendees chose to get their first look at the pilot episodes for The Human Target, The Vampire Diaries, and the remake of V.

On the convention floor, the sights included a 20 foot tall Transformer and a (seemingly) operational Stargate. AMC's remake of Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner was actively promoted with actors dressed in Village garb and greeting fans with "Be seeing you!" The AMC booth was taking individual photographs of attendees and immediately providing those photographed with ID tags from the Village with their new number in place of their name. Paramount has a command chair from a starship on which fans may be photographed on the bridge of a Federation starship surrounded by comely female command crew.



Lines of people snaked around the studio booths as fans received free promotional items and purchased Comic Con exclusives. The studio people at Fox were especially hospitable and gave their regards to the Home Theater Forum. Among the Comic Con exclusives at the Fox booth are limited editions of Futurama: The Complete Series on DVD (included in a box that is a facsimile jar with Bender's head inside, and the discs stored inside the box). Fox also has a limited Comic Con exclusive of Dollhouse on DVD or Blu-ray with a lenticular cover and a special letter from series creator Joss Whedon. Both the Futurama and Dollhouse sets are numbered with only 500 of the Futurama sets and 5,000 of the Dollhouse sets.



The Marvel and DC Comics booths are as popular as ever this year as editors and creators were present to greet fans and give away free comics and other goodies.

Summit Entertainment will be hosting screenings of Twilight in the Gaslamp District downtown this week and there are credible rumors that any one of several cast members will appear to provide a personal introduction to the theater audience. The entire cast of Twilight are in San Diego this week to promote the sequel, New Moon, and the cast will appear at the panel hosted by Summit at the convention center on Thursday.

James Cameron and Disney are slated to present 3-D footage of upcoming films on Thursday. The casts and creators of Dexter, Middleman, Burn Notice, and Robot Chicken will also be greeting fans on Thursday. Terry Gilliam will also be present to preview Heath Ledger's final role in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/thumbs/9/9e/Comic%20Con%202009%20130.jpg/1000x800px-LL-Comic%20Con%202009%20130.jpg

Comic Con International does not begin officially until Thursday morning, so coverage will continue tomorrow as events transpire.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Great report. I'm hoping to attend next year.

 

[Parker Clack]

Great Job Tim. Get me a number 6 card from the Village if you can.

Be seeing you!

Parker

 

[Timothy E]

https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/thumbs/2/20/ComicCon%20034.jpg/1000x500px-LL-ComicCon%20034.jpg">[/url]

Comic Con 2009 started officially on Thursday with a plethora of presentations by the Hollywood studios and television networks. In no particular order:

The cast of Middleman reunited with series creator Javier Grillo-Marxuax for a table reading of the script from the unfilmed 13th episode of the series. That episode has previously been published in graphic novel format.

USA Network's Burn Notice presented Bruce Campbell as well as series producers Matt Nix and Alfredo Barrios, Jr., to answer questions from the audience and view Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) and his tips on how to survive Comic Con. Psych stars James Roday, Dule Hill, Maggie Lawson, Tim Omundson, and Corbin Bernson were on hand with series creator Steve Franks. Dexter fans were also treated to a presentation by series stars Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, and Jennifer Carpenter, as well as exec producers John Goldwyn, Sara Colleton, Clyde Phillips, and Melissa Rosenberg.

Walt Disney Pictures presented the first 3-D film footage of the day and screened footage from Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, with both directors in attendance. Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) made an appearance as Disney announced the title of the sequel to Tron as Tron Legacy.



Sony and Columbia Pictures previewed three upcoming 3-D pictures including Joe Dante's The Hole, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, and the latest Final Destination film in 3-D.

Seth Green and Matthew Senreich appeared with series writers and voice actors to discuss Robot Chicken and to preview their new series, Titan Maximum, set to premiere on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim this fall.

Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee appeared with voice actor Natasha Henstridge to preview Time Jumper, a digital motion comic book series.



The lines into Hall H of the convention center began very early Thursday morning as eager attendees sought to have their first look at New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. Robert Pattinson, Kristin Stewart, Cam Gigandet, and other cast members were present to answer questions and screen preview footage from the sequel. Also included in the presentation from Summit Entertainment were Freddy Highmore and Kristin Bell, voice actors of the CGI Astro Boy feature film. The cast of the upcoming film Sorority Row were also in attendance to screen footage for the audience.





Terry Gilliam appeared at Comic Con for the first time to screen some advance footage of Heath Ledger's performance in the upcoming The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Gilliam received an Inkpot Award on stage from Comic Con organizers to honor his achievements in film. Verne Troyer (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) also appeared and both Troyer and Gilliam offered comments regarding the fact that they had the opportunity to work with Heath Ledger in his final performance.



Arguably the most anticipated presentation of the day was the unveiling of footage for James Cameron's Avatar. James Cameron greeted the audience with his recollections of growing up in a small town in Canada (Chippewa, Ontario) where he voraciously devoured the novels and stories of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein. Cameron cited these influences as starting him on the road to imagining life on other worlds far away from his small town, which influenced him in creating the beautiful and deadly planetary world of Pandora in Avatar.



Following Cameron's introduction, the audience was invited to don the 3-D glasses that were handed out at the entrance as Cameron screened approximately 25 minutes of the final movie. After the first untitled scene, the remaining scenes screened in their entirety were labeled Scenes 26-29, 46, 55-60 & 115. The 3-D effects are very well executed in this film. Even though it sounds like mere hype to say this, my opinion is that Cameron has succeeded in creating an extraterrestrial world that is really unlike anything that has previously been seen on film.



Following the film presentation, Cameron introduced the actors present with him on stage, including Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, and Stephen Lang. Cameron's producer on Titanic and Avatar, Jon Landau, also joined the panel on stage. Each of the actors introduced themselves by stating a brief summary of the characters played by each of them and their motivations in the story of the film. Sam Worthington was not available, however, the audience was shown a brief video greeting from him while on location elsewhere.



Cameron and Landau announced for the first time anywhere that various IMAX 3-D theaters, and digitally equipped 3-D theaters, around the world will be screening approximately 15 minutes of footage from Avatar, for free, on August 21, 2009. Avatar is scheduled to premiere in its entirety on December 18, 2009. Judging from the footage on display at Comic Con, film fans worldwide are in for a real treat when Avatar is finally released.



On Thursday evening, the upcoming animated Green Lantern had its world premiere at Comic Con with its official release on DVD and Blu-ray next week. Also screened on Thursday evening was Michael Dougherty's Trick or Treat.

 

[RobertR]

One correction, Tim. It's Robert A. Heinlein, not Robert E. You may have confused the name with Robert E. Howard.

 

[TravisR]

Thanks for the report, Tim.

I'd like to say that I'll have the willpower to resist seeing the Avatar free preview (I'd like to wait and see movie as a whole rather than see some random out of context scenes) but I doubt I will.

 

[Timothy E]

Originally Posted by TravisR ">[/url]

Thanks for the report, Tim.

I'd like to say that I'll have the willpower to resist seeing the Avatar free preview (I'd like to wait and see movie as a whole rather than see some random out of context scenes) but I doubt I will.

 

[Timothy E]

https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/thumbs/0/0c/ComicCon%20060.jpg/1000x500px-LL-ComicCon%20060.jpg">[/url]


Friday at Comic Con began with the Sullivan Bros. Carnival staking out the park between the Hilton Gaslamp and the Convention Center. The Carnival, which offers free popcorn, cotton candy, and snowcones, is NBC Universal's promotion for the upcoming season 4 of Heroes on NBC. In addition to the free food, there are trampolines and games of chance for children and adults alike. The games of chance give patrons the opportunity to win tickets to enter into a draw for Heroes merchandise, including t-shirts and scripts autographed by series creator Tim Kring. Several of the new cast members will be signing autographs at the carnival on Saturday, including Ray Park (Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I).



If you were walking down 5th Avenue in the 600 block of the Gaslamp District in downtown San Diego, you may have been offered free beer at 618 N. 5th Avenue as Paramount Home Entertainment was promoting its upcoming film Road Trip Beer Pong. In addition to a free beer and half price appetizers, patrons had the opportunity to compete in beer pong competitions. Special thanks to Milady from Paramount for hosting a great event.



Warner Brothers kicked off Friday in style with a 2 hour presentation of its upcoming genre films. Where The Wild Things Are, a film based on the award-winning children's book of the same name was previewed with some behind the scenes footage as well as a trailer and footage from the film directed by Spike Jonze.



Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, and Gary Oldman appeared to screen a trailer from The Book of Eli and to field questions from the audience. Gary Oldman confirmed that the next Batman film by Christopher Nolan is scheduled to begin filming next year for a theatrical release in 2011. Footage was also screened from the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street with Jackie Earle Haley answering audience questions about what it is like to go from playing Rorschach in the Watchmen to playing Freddie Krueger.



Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) appeared in promotion of his third film, The Box, with his stars James Marsden and Cameron Diaz. One lucky fan in the audience of 6,000 people was given the opportunity to greet the stars onstage and take home a "Box" prop autographed by the stars. Audience members were told to reach under their seats, with the lucky winner having a poster taped under her seat telling her she was the winner.



Josh Brolin and Megan Fox appeared next to promote Jonah Hex, an adaptation of the DC Western hero. Jonah Hex appears to be a very action-packed Western, judging by the trailer for the film. Many audience members were starstruck by Megan Fox, and Josh Brolin had his wickedly funny sense of humor on display in the Q & A.



The Warner Brothers presentation concluded with footage from the new Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie. Robert Downey, Jr., and Rachel Macadams were on hand to talk about their reverence to the source material. Robert Downey, Jr., offered his opinion that this two-fisted version of Holmes is much more in conformity with the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Rachel Macadams confirmed that this film is an original story and is not specifically based on any of the stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.

Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar presented an animation panel with more 3-D footage from new and upcoming releases with John Lasseter hosting the festivities. Tim Burton was present again on Friday to preview the new film produced by him titled 9, which is set for release on 9/9/09. Voice actors Jennifer Connelly and Elijah Wood were also present to greet the audience. Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline, hosted a panel to discuss Selick's film adaptation of Gaiman's book.

Sony Pictures previewed its new films Legion and District 9. Legion stars Paul Bettany, Doug Jones, Adrianne Palicki, and Tyrese Gibson were present with director Scott Stewart. Peter Jackson made his first ever appearance at Comic Con with director Neill Blomkamp to preview District 9, along with star Sharon Copley. Later, Peter Jackson shared the stage with James Cameron to share their ideas about film narrative and how technology continues to influence the direction of future films.



The stars of The Big Bang Theory returned to Comic Con this year along with series creator Chuck Lorre and producer Bill Prady. A fan clad in Jedi robes succeeded in requesting and obtaining a tissue with the DNA of Jim Parsons (Sheldon) so that the fan's sister can use the DNA to create her own Sheldon. The creators of this series will probably return to Comic Con every year since these types of things probably generate story ideas for the series.



Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub of 24 were joined on stage by the series writers and producers, as well as new regulars Anil Kapoor, Katee Sackhoff, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. It was revealed that
the new season of 24 will begin with Jack Bauer in a situation we have not seen him in for a long time. Jack is at a happy place in his life. Jack will be living in New York with his daughter Kim and his grand-daughter. One can expect that this will not remain the status quo for very long into the new season.

Several minutes of footage were screened from the premiere of 24.

Bones stars David Boreanz and Emily Deschanel were not on hand for the Bones panel to field questions from fans and talk about the romantic developments in the upcoming season.

Boreanz reportedly had his wife go into labor and could not attend. Creator Hart Hanson joined Emily Deschanel on stage to discuss the upcoming season and answer questions from the audience.



Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku were on hand to discuss with fans the upcoming second season of Dollhouse. The unaired episode Epitaph One was screened for the fans in Ballroom 20 prior to the Q & A. That unaired episode will be available on the Dollhouse Season One DVD and Blu-Ray sets being released next week.

Edward James Olmos and Esai Morales were on hand to preview the new Battlestar Galactica movie, The Plan, directed by Olmos. They were joined by BG producers Ronald Moore, David Eick, and Jane Espenson. Stargate stars Robert Carlyle, Brian J. Smith, Elyse Levesque, David Blue, Alaina Huffman, Jamil Walker Smith, and Ming-Na were present to preview the new series Stargate Universe.

 

[mattCR]

My understanding was

Bones stars David Boreanz and Emily Deschanel were on hand for the Bones panel to field questions from fans and talk about the romantic developments in the upcoming season.

That this didn't happen, as David Boreanz was not present, his wife was in labor with their child.. which is what other sites have reported.. is this incorrect?

Some great reports on the happenings at conferences for BSG (including the upcoming movie "The Plan"), The Guild (including cast dress up and a video), "Cabin" (reveal of movie art & some hilarious posters.. I love the one below)

 

[Timothy E]

Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the Bones panel in person due to its being filled to room capacity and its timing at the same time as other panels. Series creator Hart Hanson reportedly filled in for Boreanz on stage to field questions from the audience with series star Emily Deschanel.
Edited by Timothy E - 7/26/2009 at 08:08 am GMT

 

[Timothy E]

https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/thumbs/3/32/Comic%20Con%202009%20107.jpg/1000x500px-LL-Comic%20Con%202009%20107.jpg">[/url]

Saturday at Comic Con began in Hall H with the annual Lost panel hosted by series writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Lindelof and Cuse began the panel by reiterating their claim that they have always had the ending of the series plotted out in advance. In support of this claim, Lindelof and Cuse placed 2 sheets of paper, on which they claimed is the final scene from the final episode, in a special lockbox on stage with 2 different locks. Lindelof placed the key to one lock around his neck and Cuse did the same with the second key. Lindelof announced that they will both appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on the same evening as the airing of the final episode of the series, where they will then open the box together and confirm that the last scene for the series is identical to the previously written scene placed in the lockbox 10 months earlier.

During the Q & A with audience members, the audience was surprised to see Jorge Garcia (Hurley) asking a question of Lindelof and Cuse. Garcia began challenging Lindelof and Cuse regarding their claim that the series finale will answer all of the viewer's questions about the show. Garcia asked if they will answer what happened to Shannon's inhalers in season one since the castaways never did find them after Sayid tortured Sawyer in efforts to find the inhalers. During this exchange, Michael Emerson (Ben) challenged Garcia and Garcia responded that Emerson was envious because he originally auditioned for the part of Hurley but Garcia got the part instead. The audience was then shown an "audition tape" dated 2004 in which Emerson was reading Hurley's lines in a deliberately bad audition.

Audience members were also shown a commercial for Oceanic Airlines and a clip from America's Most Wanted in which John Walsh says

Kate Austen is sought by the authorities for murder after she attempted to kill her stepfather but killed another person in the explosion. Following this footage, Lindelof commented that it may be significant that we are learning for the first time that Kate's stepfather was not killed in the explosion.
Also screened was a clip from a 70s style TV show called Mysteries of the Universe (modeled after In Search Of). All 5 chapters of this episode (dealing with the mysteries of the Dharma Initiative) are expected to be available in the future on ABC.com as well as on a future DVD release. Another video clip showed Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert) looking into his mirror in his dressing room and applying mascara to his eyes. Carbonell then turned around and gave a Christian Bale-like rant to his assistant complaining that the assistant gave him the wrong color of mascara. Carbonell has naturally dark and thick eyelashes which has led to accusations that he really wears mascara.

Other revelations included:
Elizabeth Mitchell will appear in the 6th season.
The character of Daniel Faraday will appear in the 6th season.
Richard Alpert's backstory will be told in season 6 and the producers coyly refused to answer whether Richard arrived on the island on the Black Rock, suggesting that may be the case.
Gary Troup was the unfortunate victim who was pulled into the jet intake after the crash in the pilot episode. Troup was the "author" of the Lost tie-in book, Bad Twin, published by Hyperion.
Other characters from season 1 that have not appeared in every season since may reappear in the 6th season.

Josh Holloway appeared on stage after Garcia and Emerson joined the writers on stage. Holloway pretended to use a stungun on Lindelof in order to take away his key and open the lockbox. When Cuse seemed reluctant to give up his key, Holloway said "Give it up, Lurch." Holloway also referred to Cuse as "Frankenstein" before taking his key and using both keys to open the lockbox. After taking out the papers and making efforts to read the script to the audience, Emerson accused him of not knowing how to read and took the papers away from Holloway. Emerson began reading the script that started with "Exterior. Circus." As he continued reading, there was mention of Sylar and the last of the Petrellis, and Emerson stopped reading and said "What the f--- is this?" Apparently the script pages were from Heroes and not from Lost. Immediately prior to the end of the panel, Dominic Monaghan appeared on stage to great applause. Monaghan's appearance in the last season was neither confirmed nor denied.


The film adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane was previewed with a trailer and several scenes from the film. Director/screenwriter Michael J. Bassett and star James Purefoy were on hand to answer questions from the audience and talk about the challenges in adapting this property to film.


Miramax offered a preview of Mike Judge's new film Extract. Mike Judge was on hand along with Jason Bateman and Mila Kunis. Judge was asked if there will ever be a sequel to Idiocracy. Judge's response was that we may see President Camacho again but it may be in a live action or animated TV series based on the movie rather than a full on sequel.


Sony Pictures hosted a panel to preview 2 new genre films, both starring Woody Harrelson. Harrelson was on hand along with costars Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone to show previews from Zombieland, a tongue-in-cheek survival horror movie. Harrelson stayed around to introduce the director of his other film, Roland Emmerich, who directed Harrelson in the upcoming 2012. The special effects shots screened of this movie were nothing short of spectacular. Emmerich talked about the fact that he is constantly asked why he destroys the world in many of his films. One audience member asked Emmerich why he never destroys Spain, and Emmerich's response was that he does not do it because he likes Spain and thinks Barcelona is beautiful.

[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/thumbs/e/ed/Comic%20Con%202009%20133.jpg/1000x800px-LL-Comic%20Con%202009%20133.jpg

Paramount Pictures introduced Jon Favreau to screen some sensational footage from Iron Man 2. Favreau previewed the first Iron Man film to Comic Con attendees in 2007 to great praise. Joining Favreau on stage were Marvel Films President Kevin Feige and costars Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johannson.