Screen Rant » Comic-Con

4-Day + Preview Passes for Comic-Con 2010 Sold Out

Rob Frappier — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:25:36 +0000

Attention all fanboys! If you were thinking of scoring four-day + preview night passes for San Diego Comic-Con 2010, think again. According to Collider, the four-day + preview night passes are already sold out. Let me repeat that again in bold: the four-day + preview night passes are already sold out.

You heard it right. Even though there are still more than 280 days until Comic-Con 2010, organizers are already selling out of tickets. It’s kind of amazing when you sit down and think about it. I mean, Comic-Con 2009 ended less than three months ago! Most people haven’t even planned their costumes yet, let alone bought tickets.

As of this moment, the regular 4-day passes are still available but don’t expect them to last.

What gives? Well, According to Collider, one of the reasons for the faster than usual sell-out is the fact that organizers are trying to cut down on the crowds that plagued this past year’s event. Whatever the reason may be, don’t miss out on your chance to get tickets to Comic-Con 2010. Click here to buy your tickets today.

Source: Collider

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TV News & Notes: Caprica, Smallville & More

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:36:22 +0000

Today we have some info about the ongoing cast additions to Caprica, some scary character add-ons to Smallville, A little tidbit about NBC. I also point something out about that tiny little paltry convention called Comic-Con. LOL. You’ll see what I mean.

Caprica

First up, some interesting Caprica casting tidbits. The last two roles I saw James Marsters in was Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Smallville.

Now, we will be able to add Caprica to my list.

James Marsters will portray a terrorist named Barnabus Greeley, who is driven by moralistic and carnal focuses.

The comedian Patton Oswalt has also been added to the cast list as a guest star, playing the role of Baxter Sarno, a Caprican comedian. Sarno has a talk show that Daniel & Amanda Graystone (Eric Stoltz & Paula Malcomson) eventually appear on.

James Marsters and Patton Oswalt

It will be nice to see how Marsters twists this role into something special, like he’s done to his other roles.

Sources: Sci Fi Wire, EW

Smallville

A few days ago, we reported on the first look at Brian Austin Green as Metallo and it was a cool first look.

On the frightening side of things, at least from what I’m feeling, we’re going to get a dose of the Wonder Twins next season on Smallville.

Yep, David Gallagher (7th Heaven) and Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13) have been cast as Zan and Jayna, the teenage alien superheroes.

I really can’t wait.

Source: io9

NBC Is Playing Nice

Before all the new fall shows begin, NBC is giving fans a chance to play catch up on whatever show they like. For a limited time, NBC is making many of their shows available on NBC.com.

The shows include:

30 Rock
America’s Got Talent
Chuck
Days of Our Lives
Friday Night Lights
Great American Road Trip
Heroes
Kings
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
The Listener
Merlin
The Office
Parks and Recreation
The Philanthropist
Southland
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
The Wanted

Source: NBC

Comic-Con Just Ain’t That Big!

I was in that mess of humanity called Comic-Con and I thought the lines were pretty long. Attendance this year has been estimated at up to 140,000 visitors by some reports.

In this pic, this one line started at point A in front of me, went up the stairs, turned right, weaved left and right down to point B at the other end of the convention center. It then U turned left, went inside and ended at point C. And there was a lot more line behind me!

Yea, I thought that was a long line. I might have been wrong.

In Tokyo, they recently held Comiket. It’s known as the world’s largest handmade comic book fair.

Now THAT, is a line!

The three-day attendance record for the 3-day Comiket event was estimated at 560,000 visitors, or 4.5% of the population of Tokyo.

I’m thinking I had it pretty easy in that line now!

Source: Sci Fi Wire

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SR Pick [Video]: Iron Man 2 Comic-Con Footage Reenactment

Paul Young — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:20:17 +0000

The top three most talked about movies at Comic-Con were Iron Man 2, Avatar and District 9. In fact, Screen Rant Editor Vic Holtreman wrote an article yesterday talking about the results of a poll we ran on the site to determine which movie people were looking forward to the most from what was shown at Comic-Con. It was no surprise to see Iron Man 2 at the top of the list.

At San Diego Comic-Con two years ago, Jon Favreau brought some ridiculously cool footage of the first Iron Man and blew everyone out of their seats with it. This began the road to success for that film and the franchise. The hope was that he would do the same this year and from what Vic reported on during the Con, he succeeded in that goal (read: Exceeding Fan Expectations).

Well wouldn’t you know it? There has yet to be a single leak of that footage online, which is quite impressive in this digital age. To paraphrase J. Jonah Jameson in Spiderman, “If we can get a picture of Julia Roberts in a thong,…” then surely we can find a copy of that footage on the internet! Well as it turns out, comic book movie fans are far more loyal than Hollywood would gives us credit.

Well, our buddies at Coming Soon and Screen Crave, Silas Lesnick and Mali Elfman respectively, got together with some of their Con friends and reenacted the entire footage montage, sans special effects (apparently most of their budget went to Silas’s Tony Stark goatee, the guy playing Nick Fury’s eye patch and the dude as Justin Hammer’s sunglasses). It’s a humorous piece and the folks who worked on it did a great job.

Watch the video below and enjoy.

Well, it’s nothing like the real thing, but until Favreau and the studio decide to release the real thing, it will have to do.

Iron Man 2 blasts its way onto screens May 7, 2010.

Source: Collider, ScreenCrave

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The Hottest Things To Come Out Of Comic-Con

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:46:07 +0000

Comic-Con seems like old news (even though it only ended a week ago), but as a final note we thought we’d show you what you guys ended up picking as the hottest things to come out of the 4 day event. There was certainly a lot of competition for fan attention, but as usual there are always a few things that end up grabbing the limelight.

We ran a poll asking you to pick what you thought were the three hottest things to come out of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Now the total numbers add up to more than 100% because with so much to choose from we allowed people to pick their top 3 items.

Results after the jump.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Once again (as happened two years ago) the winner by far is Iron Man, with 60% of voters selecting that as one of their top 3 events at the Con. Avatar came in second with a very respectable 38%, especially considering how little info there has been about the film up until footage was shown in San Diego.

From there we have the upcoming Sci-Fi film District 9 and the Johnny Depp-starring Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland pretty much tied for 3rd. Tron 2 (now known as Tron Legacy) was very close to those films with 18%.

I guess we don’t have as many Twilight fans here on the site as I thought, since New Moon only garnered a 15% rating.

One thing that caught me off guard at first, but in hindsight makes sense, is the fact that Kick-Ass scored near the bottom of the pack. Based on the reaction to the footage from those present, I would put that in the top 3 for sure, perhaps even above Avatar. As of Comic-Con Kick-Ass did not yet have a distribution deal, but based on the reaction there I would think this should not remain the case for long. I think if they really wanted to get the word out on the film they should release at least some of the footage online. Of course it would have to be age-restricted as it was definitely R-rated footage, but I think people would eat it up big time.

I’d have to say the same about Where the Wild Things Are: The audience was wildly enthusiastic about what they saw, but at least here on Screen Rant, that hasn’t translated to much excitement. Then again our readers do skew more towards the superhero/sci-fi side of things – however that doesn’t explain why the Tim Burton-produced 9 came out at the bottom of our pile… Other than there just so many heavy hitters it was up against in the voting.

Anyway, there you have it – as a group, that’s what you folks are most interested in seeing in the upcoming months!

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Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies

Rob Keyes — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:17:36 +0000

Marvel Studios had a big presence at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday by providing fans with one of the most entertaining panels of the event. That presentation was of course, for Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2, which he delivered to the loyal Hall H residents in full force.

Screen Rant master Vic and I attended the Iron Man 2 panel and were treated to something amazing. But we’ve already talked about that and while you wait for the trailer we saw to eventually come online, you may be wondering what updates there have been for the other more distant films in Marvel’s production queue.

Find the latest on the Avengers team-up film and other Marvel films in development after the jump.

After the panel, more Marvel movie goodies were revealed in some roundtable interviews where Vic was involved. Participating in the interviews were key cast members Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson, as well as director Jon Favreau and Marvel President of Production, Kevin Feige.

Feige had the most interesting things to say about the Iron Man sequel and the Avengers movie.

According to Feige, Iron Man 2 is not about cramming in too many characters, the cardinal sin of a sequel. He emphasizes that it’s totally Tony Stark’s story and that it’s going to weave into Thor’s story and Steve Rogers’ story and that it already is in Nick Fury’s and SHIELD. This is about Tony Stark glibly declaring “I am Iron Man” and what that means for him and those around him.

Any character franchise that launches must stand on its own two feet. They have to do the same thing with Thor and Captain America so that when the Avengers movie comes, it’s not just a team movie but has characters that you already care about, understand and empathize with.

If a sequel to The Incredible Hulk is ever made, Feige says it will be after the Avengers. I hope by then Marvel is able to increase their feature film financing capacity to be able to produce four big-budget blockbusters a year. Until that happens, I think Hulk is lower priority than other characters who are more worthy of sequels or origins movies.

On that note, later in the roundtable, Feige explained that after the writers strike, Marvel is back on schedule for two films a year (having none this year and only one next year in Iron Man 2). Feige re-iterated that the less the films cost, the more profit they make and the more films they can make.

As for Ed Norton playing Bruce Banner in Avengers, there’s a “chance” according to Feige, but he didn’t sound very positive. For continuity reasons and to really strengthen Marvel’s impact with this film, I personally find it important the Norton have a role in the movie. The Hulk along with Captain America, Iron Man and Thor are key to me and I think those four should comprise the core of the film and its title roster.

In planning Iron Man 2, Feige explained that they were interested in the villains that would enhance Tony’s character. Justin Hammer is who Stark was before he was ambushed in Afghanistan, the other side of his personality is the inventor/grease monkey side and that is represented by Whiplash. Feige says that it’s fun taking a character no one thinks much of and making him cool (Whiplash).

Feige reveals that at the start of the film, Stark is quite pleased with himself, but over the course of the film the stresses of being Iron Man will be demonstrated and become a crucial part of the story.

What other characters could we see in the future? Well, Kevin’s favorites are Dr Strange, Ant-Man, Black Panther and Iron Fist. All of which, without coincidence, have long been speculated as future Marvel movies in development. He also says that he’d like to break into the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe more (Thor will touch on this).

What kind of Thor can we expect? The Kirby/Stan Lee/Simonson Thor. In the Thor film, it’s based in the scientific, not fantasy – it’s simply science we just don’t yet understand or know about.

Head to the following page for more info and updates on the characters we’re likely to see in the Avengers.

Click to continue reading ‘Comic-Con: Avengers Roster & Future Marvel Movies’

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Comic-Con: Torchwood & Being Human Panels

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:04:08 +0000

This Comic-Con panel was split into two segments with Being Human up first. Participants for Being Human panel included the Lenora Crichlow, Toby Whitehouse, Russell Tovey & Aidan Turner.

Being Human is about a vampire named Mitchell (Turner), a werewolf named George (Tovey), and a ghost named Annie (Crichlow). It’s about these three souls trying to understand themselves and fit into society in the process.

The first vision of Being Human was a sitcom but that later evolved into the supernatural show that it is today.

Russell Tovey was connected to the script by how it’s rooted in humanity.

Lenora Crichlon: her character is a very fresh take on a ghost. She’s trapped in the house she died in.

Russell Tovey started a wave in the auditorium, fulfilling a personal dream of his!

The real ordeal of the story is the human aspect of each of their own issues, while trying to also concentrate on helping each other out with their issues.

George thinks he’s the only werewolf out there. He’s surprised to meet the man who turned him into one.

George is also the most human of the three, because he will age, get grey hair, etc..

Mitchell has had longer to deal with his own condition of being a vampire.

Annie wants to discover how she died, she thinks she’ll be able to move on. In the season, she figures things on but doesn’t pass on, so now she has to start looking at what else she has to sort out to move on.

George tries to pretend he doesn’t have this werewolf condition. By the end of the first series, he adjusts and starts to use it.

Mitchell goes through the process with his own humanity and is in constant conflict, not only with himself, but with other vampires.

Each episode ties into a different human analogy.

Series two will start filming when they get back from this trip. Will series 2 be action oriented or story based?

An interesting twist to the tale is how they’re treating the vampire Mitchell. Since there have been so many takes on what a vampire is, they were able to cherry pick their type of vampire. With that, they’ve focused on the idea that Mitchell’s need for blood is more a mental or emotional one and he doesn’t necessarily need blood to survive.

Torchwood Panel

The Torchwood panel included the brilliant Russell T Davies, John Barrowman, Euros Lyn & Julie Gardner.

They previewed the 5 days of the Torchwood: Children Of Earth (CoE) mini-series.

Unfortunately, a lot of conversation revolved around CoE since it aired last week. With that in mind, I’ve split up the conversation to include spoilers in one section, and non-spoilers in another. It may seem a little out of whack, but I’m thinking of you, the Screen Rant reader.

American audiences have taken to the show like ducks in water, considering how well the ratings have done.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE: (Click to Jump Past Spoilers).

We never got a clear look at the creature because so many different shows have lots of different creatures. This alone inspired them to keep the alien shrouded out of sight. It worked out rather well.

Frobisher was awesome, Lois Habiba was fantastic and an open question was put out if we’ll see more of Lois? Davies said that he can’t say but he would love to work with her again.

When Barrowman read the script for ToE, he went “wow” at all the history and secrets revealed. He was worried that no one would like him any more after some of the harsh decisions he had to make in those 5 days of the mini-series.

His take was that Jack Harkness is right and did all the right things. The necessary things.

It turned out that the audience still likes Captain Jack regardless of the choices made by him.

He did remind everyone that people die young in Torchwood because of the sacrifices that need to be made.

In the mini-series it was noted how Captain Jack had to suffer, and it prepared him for the end choices he had to make.

On John Fobisher being a great character, the idea behind what created his role was that he was just a middle man in a suit and he’s been in that suit for 40 years in a situation that went from miserable to worse.

END SPOILERS

The first inquiring fan asked if she could get a hug but Barrowman said if he hugged her, he’d have to hug everyone.

This isn’t the first time Barrowman has been at Comic-Con and he said he’s a geek like everyone else.

Euros Lyn said it’s a fantastic experience to get everyone’s feedback at Comic-Con.

After one particular episode ended, Barrowman jumped on Twitter to see what folk were saying.

No one at BBC anticipated this kind of success that Torchwood: CoE has had.

Davies doesn’t write episodes to appeal to both America and the U.K.. He just writes.

The roles for Jack seem to always involve him having unique clothing. What would he like wearing in his next role? Wish he could tell you, because he’s done military, drag queen and even naked and pretty much covers the gamut.

Someone asked about the possibility of a musical episode, but it was noted that the characters of Torchwood don’t lend themselves to a musical episode. Though the audience seemed interested in that.

I have to say that Barrowman was pretty animated on the panel and he pretty much stole the show. It was awesome to see both Barrowman and Davies in person.

So I have to wonder. Were there any Screen Rant readers there in the panel? And did you get to the microphone to ask a question? I only ask that because I’m getting surprised at just how many of you hit the panels and got a turn at the microphones!

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Supernatural 2009 Comic-Con Panel

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:00:48 +0000

In attendance for the 2009 Comic-Con Supernatural panel were Eric Kripke, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver, Sara Gamble and Ben Edlund.

This is Misha Collins and Jim Beavers’ first ever Comic-Con appearances.

The preview opened up with the Ghost Facers doing what they do best, and that’s trying to steal the show. Then they remembered that they were supposed to be introducing Supernatural. Very funny.

They recapped old scenes with the usual awesome classic rock song accompaniment of Judas Priest, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.”

The preview clip we got was called “Sympathy For The Devil.” The Winchester brothers are examining a wrecked room, which turned out to be Chuck’s (The prophet writer) house. Chuck was telling them that Cas (Castiel) got wasted by the archangel.

Then Zachariah and two other angels were in the room, tying to tell Dean it’s time to do their bidding. Meanwhile Dean does nothing but call him names like ass-hat and other funny terms. In this short clip, Dean banishes these 3 angels with a blood symbol on the wall, much like the one Cas showed him in the season 4 finale.

After that, we got into some details on the show.

The creative forces tossed around the idea of how to bring Castiel back, but then they reassured us that Misha will be back in his trench coat. But. (Yep, there’s a but.) The Archangel wasted Castiel, so when he comes back, will he be the same? It was noted that being blown up changes you. He’s lost some angel mojo and lost some of his friends in higher places. Castiel has an ambitious mission he’s on, but in the process, he has to learn to be human and Dean does what he does best, and helps Castiel do that by taking him to a whore house. Typical.

Jim Beaver has a tee-shirt on that says “I do all my own stunts.”

Old friends and old hunters like Rufus will be back, as will Ellen and her daughter Joe. Meg will also be back in the season opener played by Rachel Miner.

Episode 4 goes into the future and takes a look at the apocalypse. It’s like their 28 Days Later episode, but 5 years down the road. They said that seeing the end of the world was a cool script.

Someone asked if Ruby knew she was tricking Sam? She was always a bad guy and her motivation was to drive the boys apart. The writers tried to make Ruby likable so they could pull the rug out from under us.

Someone wanted to know who changed the voice mail message that Dean heard on his cell, but like in many panels, they didn’t answer and just said that it’s just something that will be left open.

Lucifer roaming the Earth is a bit on the funny side at times. During the apocalypse, they note that the pandas are finally gone!

The brothers do come back together with season 5.

Because of their reduced budget, they called this the Walmart apocalypse because of their reduced budget.

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Sanctuary Comic-Con 2009 Panel

Bruce Simmons — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:24:18 +0000

On hand for Syfy’s Sanctuary panel were executive producers Martin Wood & Damian Kindler along with actors Robin Dunne (Dr. Will Zimmerman) & Amanda Tapping (Dr. Helen Magnus).

Some of the highlights pointed out in the panel were:

Two years ago, this was just an internet series, and now it’s a TV series heading for season 2. No internet project has ever made it into a second season on TV.

We’ll be seeing new characters in season 2 and we’re going to discover that there are sanctuaries all over the world.

Martin Wood said that if you liked the first season, you will enjoy season 2. The effects will be improved.

The show is branching out to using real props, like using Damian’s car. When you see the scene where Amanda Tapping is driving and Dunne is screaming – He’s not acting, what with Amanda driving. Damian kept wondering why the lateral traction control wasn’t kicking in!

They hit up Tokyo for a Syfy junket and did some filming there for scenes in the Tokyo Sanctuary.

Sanctuary was nominated for an Emmy for Visual Affects and they’re very proud of that.

Amanda Tapping has directed an episode last season and will do so again this season.

Between season 1 and 2 we discover that some events have taken place.

Keep in mind that season 1 was about establishing the characters and season 2 will expand on the relationships between the characters.

There’s a big future story coming where we see the the Sanctuary in a state of decay, where society falls & “mullets begin.” (I swear, I didn’t add that.)

We’ll be seeing a new, snarky character named Kate Freelander, played by Robin D’Arcy. Freelander is a freelance operative who works for the highest bidder. A lost soul of sorts. She’s introduced in the season opening 2-part story. Magnus doesn’t trust her up front and treats her like a drifter.

What’s up with Ashley? Cool thing happens with her are coming up, sending shockwaves through the Sanctuary network.

Damian notes that life isn’t going to get easier at all for Magnus.

Michael Shanks will be guest starring in season 2 as will Erica Cerra, Chris Gauthier and Callum Blue.

We will also be seeing more Peter Wakefield as Dr. Watson but in backstory format.

Someone asked if there have been any injuries or fun things from filming. Tapping reiterated somethig I’ve heard her say before: “I am a woman who should not do her own stunts. I’m a mess.”

At the end of the panel, Syfy took the opportunity to run their ad… again. They keep playing that cursed musical montage. I swear, it’s following me everywhere.

Season 2 of Sanctuary premieres on Friday, October 9th.

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Missed Something? Our 2009 San Diego Comic-Con Wrap-Up

Vic Holtreman — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:13:34 +0000

I started this on the flight home after the insanity that is the San Diego Comic-Con (Wi-Fi in the air rocks), and I thought it would be a good idea to give you a “one-stop shopping” post for everything we covered this year.

For 2009 we had Rob Keyes and Kofi Outlaw (along with guest contributor Ryan Connors) in addition to Bruce Simmons and myself, so we were able to bring you a LOT more coverage than we did last year. Everyone worked their tail off and did an awesome job – and we had Ross Miller going into overdrive at home covering ongoing non-Comic-Con related news (Ross is a news writing ANIMAL).

I was fortunate enough to be chosen to speak at this year’s Masters of the Web panel, and we attended the Wrath of Con party (where Rob had WAAAAY too much fun, getting his picture taken with every celebrity in site). I finally met the legendary Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News and chatted with a bunch of other movie site pals. It was a HUGE bash.

We also attended the MGM/Stargate Universe bash where I had a great time chatting with a couple of fellows from JoBlo.com and got a chance to meet Kerry O’Quinn, founder of Starlog Magazine – which was one of the things that triggered my love for Sci-Fi films.

On to coverage…

I finally counted it all up and we brought you over 40 Comic-Con stories over the 4 days of the event (we rock!).

I’d say the big winner at Comic-Con this year was once again: Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau and especially Robert Downey Jr. played to the crowd big time and brought some rockin’ footage from the film, including a shot of, yes, WAR MACHINE. Check out our blow by blow from the Iron Man 2 panel (and check out the first look at the new Iron Man armor from the film).

Next up is a battle for second place between Avatar and Kick-Ass (which as I’m writing this STILL doesn’t have a distributor – I’m sure it’ll have one very, very soon). I didn’t see the Avatar footage, but from the buzz I’m hearing Kick-Ass gets wins the second place spot. I watched the footage and it was crazy-awesome, with a standing ovation at the end of the panel.

For our reports on both, check out Kick-Ass Panel: 2009 Comic-Con and James Cameron’s Avatar is Epic.

As for the rest, first we have move-related news:

Find out what’s happening with the sequel in our Wanted 2 Update.

This one will be either good or bad news depending on your perspective: Rob Zombie Says ‘Never’ to Halloween 3.

Disney distributes an anime film in Ponyo Trailer is a Throwback to Good 80’s Animation.

Check out the latest on the upcoming Tron sequel: Tron 2 Trailer, Name Change, Concept Art At Comic-Con.

Check out the word on this movie that’s still looking for U.S. distribution: Solomon Kane is Surprisingly Very Awesome.

It looks like the latest version of the classic story may be creepier than we’ve seen before:Is Zemeckis’ Christmas Carol A Horror Film?. We also talk about the 3D movies coming from Disney in Disney 3D Showcases A Christmas Carol.

We’ve been pretty hard on Roland Emmerich’s next disaster flick 2012 based on his last two movies, but when we saw the footage from the upcoming film we had to call this one Destructively Fun Times With 2012.

After rubber suits and a CGI version, it looks like we may finally get the TMNT movie that fans of the original comic book have been wating for: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Movie Will Be Dark.

Like zombies? Like comedies? Then it looks like we may have the movie for you in Zombieland Pleases The Hordes.

Speaking of comedies, Mike Judge, the man who brought us the cult classic Office Space is back with Extract.

Ranking high on our “Hottest thing to come out of Comic-Con” is the upcoming Sci-Fi movie: District 9 Has Big Presence At Comic-Con.

One movie that I thought would be getting more buzz than it has is one being produced by Tim Burton: Panel for Shane Acker’s 9 (With Wanted 2 Update).

Here’s one that might sneak up on people – the footage looked pretty cool and the audience responded well to ‘Legion’ Brings Angels With Machine Guns.

Looking for a real vampire movie? How about Thirst: The Anti-Twilight?

On the other hand, Summit’s New Moon Panel is Topless & Awkward.

This video game based movie idea has been kicking around for a while: More Details on the ‘Castlevania’ Movie.

Warner Bros.had some great things to show us including Where the Wild Things Are, Jonah Hex, The Book of Eli and a first look at Jackie Earle Haley in the new Nightmare on Elm Street: Warner Bros. Panel – Comic-Con 2009. Related to that is news on Where The Wild Things Are IMAX Release.

Either you’re fan of Terry Gilliam films or you’re not, but the appeal to his latest film may be the fact that it’s Heath Ledger’s final film: Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

Another film high on the anticipation list: Tim Burton Unveils Alice in Wonderland Footage & Surprise Guest!

Geoff Johns Tries NOT to Discuss The Flash & Green Lantern Movies, but we still manage to pry a few details loose.

The lovely Kristen Bell was in attendance at the Astro Boy Panel.

And now on to some TV/DVD related items…

And speaking of new versions of old classics, check out the scoop on a new version of 1950s Sci-Fi classics at the Alien Trespass Panel.

Smallville fan? We learned some BIG news here: Smallville Comic-Con 2009 Panel.

Our writer Rob Keyes must have had a reason to name this one: Heroes Panel (Spock vs. Spock & Claire Kissing Girls).

As usual, the producers of Lost entertain the crowd but reveal very little in the Lost Final Season Panel.

Dollhouse made it its second season by the skin of its teeth, get the latest here: Dollhouse Comic-Con 2009 Panel.

Find out what horrible things are in store for Jack Bauer next season at the Comic-Con 24 Panel.

As far as TV series go, the True Blood Comic-Con Panel was a pretty hot topic.

Get the background info on Caprica / BSG: The Plan.

Stargate isn’t dead, find out what to expect with Stargate Universe.

Fan favorite Bruce Campbell rocks the Burn Notice Panel.

Will the upcoming Sci-Fi TV show Flash Forward be any good – we’ve seen a preview.

We have a review of the animated Green Lantern: First Flight.

Never heard of Glee? Me neither until this week, but it’s sounding pretty good: Glee Season Premiere Hits a High Note at Comic-Con.

And finally we have an interview with the legendary Stan Lee.

If we can get the whole image mass upload thing figured out, look for maybe one or two picture posts in the next few days.

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Warehouse 13 Comic-Con 2009 Panel

Bruce Simmons — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:34:26 +0000

Panel participants for the Warehouse 13 (WH13) Comic-Con panel event were writer David Simkins, showrunner Jack Kenny, newest member of the WH13 team – Allison Scagliotti, Saul Rubinek, Joanne Kelly and Eddie McClintock.

Jack Kenny said he’s never seen a show supported by a network like Syfy is supporting this one.

We saw a short preview showing Allison Scagliotti in her new role.

As it’s been hinted, most things are possible within the show, and as if that’s not enough, Artie is going to go up against a former partner. In other words, Artie will have a Moriarity, making the show darker and better.

The creative team says they use real artifacts to base their stories around and then branch out from there. They quietly thank Wikipedia and “the Google,” as Kenny calls it.

They say that Saul tends to call the creative team with ideas.

The unique part of this show is that Syfy is looking for a fantasy adventure with WH13 rather than the usual sci-fi type story line. They want to make stories that are entertaining and not take themselves too seriously in the process.

McClintock and Kelly get along rather well. The show was screening pairs of actors to check on actor chemistry and they had the “benefit” of hanging together for about 90 minutes in the audition waiting room and got comfortable with each other.

McClintock says he has two little children like chicks chirping for food and he was very nervous for the auditions and Kelly was the calming factor. At least that’s how it looked to him.

The two characters have a yin-yang kind of relationship. While Pete follows his gut, Kelly’s character is more rigid and uses her intellect. They handle things in two very different ways.

Joanne Kelly said they want to have fun, but be grounded in reality and calls this show a procedure-dramedy.

Saul says Artie has a cool office but it’s lonely and now he has a partner in the form of Claudia.

Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) is looking to find her brother. With the introduction of her character, we have someone that Artie can work with and we also have a punkwood vs steampunk technology environment with these two, now that Claudia brings the punkwood to the Warehouse office.

Saul asked the crowd how many folks in the panel have seen at least 1 episode and everyone raised their hand. He asked who has seen 3 episodes – everyone. Jack Kenny cheated. He asked how has seen all 12? He raised his own hand.

The senior VP of Syfy, Mark Stern, was there. Eddie called him up. Eddie asked about a 2nd season, Stern asked the audience and of course the crowd went crazy.

Stern said we need to get the word out because next year, we need to be in Ballroom 20. Jack kenny said “Mark? Imagine greater!”

An audience member asked if there were any ideas of a cross-over with Eureka. They thought it would be fun, but the decision will have to come from Syfy. (BTW: Some of the cast of Eureka were present. I recognized faces, but no names. Sorry.)

Someone wondered if we will ever see the tea kettle ferret again, but they only said that they hope so.

Someone asked Saul how much of the character is in him. He said you can’t do 11 hour days making movies or television shows without being yourself. After a while, writers write for who the actor is. You can’t do this without that happening.

A Little Insight And History:

Mark Shepard (Battlestar Galactica) will play a Regent. A regent is one who is in charge of the Warehouse and Mrs. Frederick.

Warehouse 13 is the 13th iteration of the Warehouse. The Warehouse was started by Alexander The Great. The Warehouses are located in the nation of the Earth that is in power at the time. Hence, today, it’s in the U.S..

And of course, at the end of the Warehouse 13 panel, we were hit with that Syfy ad again. It’s following me everywhere! Last thing we got was a Eureka ad.

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‘Glee’ Season Premiere Hits a High Note at Comic-Con

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:02:36 +0000

If you didn’t catch the pilot episode of Fox’s new fall series Glee last May, go here RIGHT NOW and check it out. Just the first five minutes, trust me, it’s good stuff.

The show is the creation of Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck), Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan (who was actually in a glee club in high school), and is basically a really offbeat and funny look at high school, adulthood and the all the distance in between the two. And of course there’s glee club/musical stuff too.

Ok, sounds weird, I know. But ask the thousand people at the Glee panel during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and they’ll tell you: they too were “gleeking out” at the screening of Glee’s upcoming premiere episode.

The episode, entitled “Showmance”, featured musical renditions of “Gold Digger” by Kanye West, “I Say a Little Prayer for You” by Dione Warwick, Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” and one hilariously inappropriate (although well-sung) rendition of Salt-N-Peppa’s “Push It”.

[WARNING, THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT 'GLEE'S' FALL PREMIERE]

“Shomance” picks up where the Glee pilot left off: The Glee club, led by Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison), are training for the regional competition; Cheerleading team coach Sue Sylvester (the hilarious Jane Lynch) is still out to squash glee club; lead singers Rachel (Lea Michele) and Quaterback Finn (Cory Monteith) are get a little too hot and heavy; Mrs. Schuester gets some unexpected news about her pregnancy; and guidance teacher Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) tries not to crush on Mr. Schuester. And somewhere in there, the glee club gets hot and heavy in front of the whole school.

[END SPOILERS]

I think the cast and creators of Glee can breathe a little easier. I went to multiple pilot screenings for the upcoming fall TV season and I have to say, Glee got the most love from the crowd. The laughter was so intense so often, I’d be interested to know just what percentage of the dialogue went unheard.

After the screening some of the cast of crew held a panel onstage. In attendance were creator Ian Brennan along with stars Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, and Dianna Agron who plays religious jailbait cheerleader, Quinn Fabray (love the character names on this show).

Without spoiling the episode, Monteith told the crowd that when it came time to do the “Push It” scene, Ryan Murphy told the cast “to be more offensive” after reviewing an early take. You really have to see the scene to understand. It’s truly hilarious.

After getting spitting a couple of verses on “Gold Digger”, Morrison (who is trained in musical theater) promised fans that he would be doing more rapping in upcoming episodes. Now normally that would be a neon-flashing danger sign, but for somehow Morrison pulled it off with swagger. Go figure.

Brennan described how he took his own glee club experiences as the inspiration for the Glee screenplay. The script landed in Murphy’s lap, he loved it, they took it to Fox and when the studio showed interest Murphy and Brennan had just one stipulation, “We were like, ‘It shouldn’t be anything like High School Musical,’ and the studio was like ‘Yep.’”

Argon (cheerleader), Michele (pink sweater), Morrison (center), Monteith (blue-striped sweater)

The younger cast members were asked if they were anything like the high school students they play on the show:

Monteith confessed that he wasn’t anything like the high school golden boy he played and had in fact never finished high school, so he was happy “this acting thing worked out.” He also revealed that he had no idea he could sing, and faked his way through an audition tape by playing on Tupperware drums to demonstrate his musical ability.

Lea Michele (who plays fan-favorite gleek diva Rachel Berry), said that she discovered during auditions that she is something of a musical theater diva much like her character, and that when she auditioned, she actually ‘Racheled-out’ on the piano player, demanding he hit the right octaves and such. She obviously felt embarrassed about it now. And, like Rachel, Michele revealed she’s drama prone: she was involved in a head-on collision outside the studio when coming back for her second audition and had to sing covered in glass and blood.

Hey, she got the role, so…

Morrison interjected that even though he plays a teacher and not a student in the show, he in fact WAS a high school golden boy, including rocking musical theater, getting crowned prom king and dating the prom queen. He was promptly told to pipe down by the rest of the cast.

Finally, Argon added that unlike her Christian Conservative cheerleader counterpart, in high school she was Jewish, so all the cross-bearing and bible references were not quite in her repertoire. The crowd got a laugh out of that.

Finally here are some things you can expect from the fall season of Glee:

Musical performances of everything from Barbra Streisand to The Rolling Stones to modern pop and hip-hop.
A soundtrack of the show’s tunes released (most likely) in November.
A late summer promo tour by the cast. They will be singing in ten cities over twelve days and will be performing in Hot Topic stores (show sponsor).
There will be no slow-burning story lines/romances on this show. Murphy likes to get to the point and is good at “going new directions when it seems he’s exhausted a storyline.”
Thank musical producer Adam Anders for the great musical moments.
Kristen Chenoweth will be showing up in episode 4 to do a rendition of a song by the band Heart.
Josh Groban and rapper/actress Eve will also be showing up in upcoming episodes.

And for those of you who love Glee, but have had a hard time describing it to friends, listen to these wise words from Cory Monteith:

“It’s like High School Musical got punched in the stomach and got its lunch money stolen.”

Glee premieres this Fall on Fox.

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Comic Book Movie Casting Rumors: Kato & Black Panther

Ross Miller — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:58:42 +0000

[UPDATE: Check Out Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje talking to MTV about Black Panther!]

Today we take the rumor ride once again, this time pertaining to comic book movies and characters. It is being rumored (from two different sources) that Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo is in the running to replace Stephen Chow as The Green Hornet’s Kato, and Lost’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (aka Mr. Eko) is in talks to bring The Black Panther to life.

THE GREEN HORNET

Nate (via HanCinema and Twitchfilm) is reporting that Kwon Sang-woo is in the running to portray Kato in the upcoming Seth Rogen/Michel Gondry comic book movie, The Green Hornet. This comes after Stephen Chow walked away from the project first as director, then as Kato. Kwon is a former model who went on to star in such films as Volcano High, My Tutor Friend and Once Upon A Time In High School. He is considered, because of his looks and physique, as part of the “mom-zzang” or “great body” movement.

He was described in relation to the role of Kato to have received “a love call” for the film, and although his English isn’t 100%, the audition with Rogen was “successful.” If he were to get this role, it certainly would gain him exposure, and possible success, in Hollywood that he’s only had in South Korea thus far. He’s at least partly suited to the role of Kato, since he has experience doing action.

Can someone remind me why, exactly, the casting call for Kato mentioned that the actor doesn’t need to have martial arts experience?…

THE BLACK PANTHER

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (or “Triple A” as he’s been often nicknamed) spoke to MTV at Comic-Con where he said that he’s talking to Marvel about bringing the Marvel character, Black Panther, to the big screen. Here is what he said about the character and a potential movie about him:

“We’re talking to Marvel about ‘Black Panther… This is the first round, so you know, hopefully they’ll look at ‘G.I. Joe’ and see the potential. But it’s about time we have a black superhero, isn’t it?”

“He’s from a fictional village in Africa and the timing is so right for that kind of character to come through… And while I’m in my prime, this is the time. We’ve got [U.S. President Barack] Obama, now we need something on screen to represent, so… ‘Panther,’ man.”

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Black Panther is one of the lesser-known characters from the Marvel universe (at least compared to the likes of Spider-Man and The Hulk), and one of the first modern black superheroes. His abilities include the likes of superhuman acute senses and genius intellect. I personally think Triple A is a good fit to play the character – he certainly has the physical build and he’s a really good actor to boot.

Getting a talented actor to play our comic book heroes is never a bad thing, right?…

Here’s what Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje had to say to MTV News about the potential role:

For now, take these two rumors as exactly that... rumors. There's nothing particularly "off" about either of them, but there's not enough information there to count either as for definite just yet.

Stay tuned to Screen Rant for confirmations or disputes.

For the sake of discussion, what would you think about Kwon Sang-woo playing Kato and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje playing Black Panther? Are they the right actors to play the respective roles?

The Green Hornet is scheduled to be released on July 9th, 2010, while Black Panther is just in the idea stage.

Sources: HanCinema, MTV Splash Page, Nate and Twitch

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SDCC ‘09: Wanted 2 Update

Jacob Waldman — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:27:14 +0000

Ok, so if you’ve been keeping abreast of our coverage of the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, which I’m sure you have, then you know that our boys have been out there running themselves ragged, attending quorums and panels, asking the hard hitting questions.

Well during the SDCC the subject of Wanted 2 came up. It seems that Mark Millar, the mind behind Wanted, is getting a bit ahead of himself; he told Coming Soon during a conversation about Kick-Ass that production for the sequel, set to star James MacAvoy again, will begin in eight weeks?

That sounded fishy to the guys over at Coming Soon, so they went over Millar’s head to Timur Bekmambetov, the director of the Wanted and its sequel, who told them that Millar, rather than presenting the facts, may just have been playing the provocateur. Bekmambetov adjusted Millar’s comment, saying that pre-production on Wanted 2 will most likely begin in eight weeks, a process that could take several months.

Mark Millar

Timur Bekmambetov

Chalk this up to Millar’s excitement over the sequel. If you’ve read his comic miniseries, the source material for the movies, then you know that the first film departed rather broadly from the original text. So is the coming sequel going to be an adaptation of the comic, an extension of the movie’s version of the comic, or some amalgamation of the two? And, can they really resurrect Angelina Jolie’s character?

Either way, if the sequel can repeat the success of the first ($75 million, earned $341.4 million worldwide in theaters), it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. And regardless of how much we question its potential, Millar’s comments on his website demonstrate his confidence in the project: “We’ll see…but everyone knows this is going to make a LOT of dough.” A little healthy self confidence never hurt anyone right? Maybe that’s why Millar’s IMDB page already indicates a Wanted 3 in the works.

Source: Coming Soon, Movie Moron

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Rob Zombie Says ‘Never’ to Halloween 3

Paul Young — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:07:39 +0000

In case you are wondering, NO, you aren’t reading a title with a twist. It would appear that Rob Zombie is actually done with the Halloween franchise after his latest attempt, Halloween 2, hits theaters August 28, 2009.

In the quick video interview below with MTV, Zombie was asked if he would ever consider doing Halloween 3. Before the interviewer could even get the sentence out Zombie responded:

“No. I could not see that in any shape, way or form. Never!”

When asked why he stated:

“If I told you [why], you wouldn’t believe me.”

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

Well guess that settles that then. No more questions Rob, have a good day thanks for stopping by. All your extremely loyal fans should be very pleased and satisfied with that answer. WHAT?!? Come on Rob, seriously. This is the Comic Con, sci-fi, horror, action crowd you are talking to. If we can believe that a man can fly, that Nixon is still President in 1985, or Shia LaBeouf would be dating Megan Fox with a giant alien robot car in his garage then I’m pretty sure we can accept whatever reason you have for not doing another masterpiece of modern day horror.

The last time I talked about Halloween 2, I was probably a bit overzealous in my opinion of Zombie, his filmmaking styles and his approach to the movie. Still though, I have to give the guy credit for building a rather large fan base on just a handful of movies. He at least seemed gung-ho and confident in his abilities as a director and was certain he would bring something to the table that hadn’t been done before in both the horror genre and the Halloween franchise.

Now, he seems content to just brush off an obvious question about the future of, what is really, his horror legacy with a flippant answer. I’d say it was almost rude, but who knows what might have happened behiind the scenes that he may not be able (or want) to talk about.

It’s too bad really; I was actually looking forward to him directing a segment in the upcoming Heavy Metal film. Now with his amateurish response to a legitimate question, I have to wonder if he was even the right man to remake Halloween in the first place?

The way he answers the question is sort of telling. I have no information to back this up but my guess the reason he will “never” do a Halloween 3 was due to a creative control or editing conflict between him and the studios execs at Dimension Films backing Halloween 2.

He did, however, verify that “Weird Al” is in the film and said:

“I would get Weird Al back before I did ‘Halloween 3.’ Weird Al is awesome.”

You get kudos for putting him in there to begin with Mr. Zombie. I know it’s the last thing anyone reading this would expect from me but I hope Rob Zombie changes his mind and decides to make a Halloween 3. The movie industry is all about trying over and over again until you get it right. Uwe Bolle keeps trying so why not Rob Zombie?

So are you willing to accept Zombie’s answer for not making a third installment of Halloween and would you have liked to see a third Halloween movie?

Halloween 2 gets unmasked August 28^th, 2009.

Source: MTV Movies Blog

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Comic-Con 2009: Alien Trespass Panel

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:14:04 +0000

The Alien Trespass panel opened with a pseudo-documentary describing how the film was made but due to changes at the studio back in the 1950s the completed film was shelved and never seen. It was really quite interestingly done and included interviews with Robert Patrick and Eric McCormack in grainy 1950s video talking about the film in a promotional interview format. It’s not done in tounge in cheek at all but very earnestly.

It cuts into a present day interview with a couple of construction workers who’ve discovered the film during an excavation, and then a couple of Hollywood producers arguing whether the print is in fact legitimate. From there we go to a very apparantly serious trailer for the film.

In attendance were Eric McCormack and director R.W. Goodwin. Eric said he stood in line for 20 minutes yesterday to get autographs from all the guys who do the voices in Spongebob Squarepants.

Goodwin talked about his love of the old Sci-Fi movies and the fact that although they now look funny, at the time they were made as serious films. The intent here was to pay homage to films like the original War of the Worlds and the Day the Earth Stood Still without being campy but using the style of the time. So Goodwin had the actors watch those films.

On the other hand, to capture the “cheese” factor Goodwin went back to films like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers for the less than perfect visual effects and glitches.

Goodwin has a long history working on X-Files and talked about how he thought Sci-Fi fans are great.

Goodwin went with color instead of black and white because many of the great Sci-Fi films of the era were actually shot in color and not black and white. They also tracked down the world’s best Theramin player to put in sound effects and music that was geniune for the era.

They then showed a number of clips from the film that captured the 50s look, visual effects and acting style which they audience responded well to.

In the roundtable interviews prior to the panel Goodwin and McCormack talked about a lot of the same points mentioned above. They shared a funny story about the monster design: They wanted the monster to be made of rubber (in keeping with the special effects of the time), and the designer came back with a monster that looked like an anatomical part that was unintended and they had to add to and modify the design due to that. The reaction when the monster was first rolled onto the set in its original form was “Oh my God, what have we done?”

The film had a limited release and you may not have had a chance to see it, but if you’re a big fan of 1950s Sci-Fi and/or Eric McCormack I recommend it (and it’s family-friendly).

Alien Trespass comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on August 11th.

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Ponyo Trailer is a Throwback to Good 80’s Animation

Paul Young — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:19:41 +0000

A couple of months ago, Screen Rant reported on Disney’s attempt to bring back hand drawn 2-D animation with The Princess and the Frog. Well, Japan has beat them to the punch – more specifically acclaimed and brilliant animation director Hayao Miyazaki has beat them to it – with his latest offering Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, or Ponyo as it is called in the U.S.

Ponyo is the story of a girl/goldfish that lives underwater and runs away from home and her dad Fujimoto. She is rescued by a boy, Ssuke, and he gives her the name Ponyo ; meanwhile her dad desperately searches for her to bring her home. Fujimoto enlists the help of the oceans and her mother, Granmammare, to help find Ponyo, while her sisters help her to use her father’s magic to become human and be with Ssuke.

The last animated movie I saw from Miyazaki was Spirited Away, for which he won an Oscar, and it was enchantingly beautiful and entertaining. Ponyo looks to be the same way and it was recently screened at Comic Con for a few hundred lucky individual (of which I was not one). We do, however, have the trailer for you to check out below.

Ponyo Official Trailer (HD)

There are some good voices being used as well: Frankie Jonas, Noah Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, and Betty White. All good voice actors, especially Neeson, and they should really help make the film experience more enjoyable.

I really like the look of the animation; probably more than some of the more recent Disney 2-D animated movies. Mulan, Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Little Mermaid, these were all really good films and I liked the hand drawn animation but Ponyo reminds me more of the classic 80’s Japanese cartoons I grew up watching. Inspector Gagdet, Thundercats, Heathcliff: I could continue listing them off but I think you follow me.

The story is very similar to The Little Mermaid but there’s nothing wrong with that because that was a good story for kids. Reportedly, Ponyo falls in love with Ssuke, which is fine and all but they are supposed to be 5 year old kids so I’m not quite sure what to think about that. But, barring anything completely inappropriate being in the film, I don’t see why kids and their parents would be entertained by what they see in Ponyo.

Do you like this throwback style animation returning to the big screen in Ponyo or do you prefer the more CGI style movies of more recent times?

Ponyo opens in US theaters August 14, 2009.

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Smallville Comic-Con 2009 Panel

Bruce Simmons — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:11:42 +0000

Panel attendees included Justin Hartley, Erica Durance, Kelly Souders, Tom Welling, Brian Peterson, Allison Mack, Cassidy Freeman & Callum Blue.

Smallville will be premiering season 9 on Friday, Sept 25th. The DVD for season 8 will be coming out on August 25th.

Writing alum Jeff Loeb moderated, and did a great job,

We then saw the season 9 preview.

It started by saying a hero will rise, and we saw a lot of recap scenes, but then we saw a few from season 9. Clark is wearing a suit folks. But it’s not red and blue. It’s black with a black “S” on the chest. He looks like Neo from The Matrix, but he does wear it well.

“Batman” asked when he’ll be on the show but they somehow managed not to answer the question, though they gave him Tom Welling’s name tag.

Lois will be in many of the episodes in season 9.

At the time of auditions for Clark, the initial audition was for body size, then a script. The first time, Welling needed to be prompted to go to the audition and he thought it was all about the man in the suit and then after reading the script, realized it was different.

Allison Mack said that Chloe was going to be a different ethnicity and threw them a loop when she showed up with attitude.

Callum Blue thought he was auditioning for a role named Mason.

Q: Is Lex really dead? As we know from mythos, Lex is never really dead.

Tom Welling will be directing 2 episodes this year. It’s like 2 hands feeding one mouth, directing. Allison said loves when Tom directs. Very loving, excited approach.

Allison will also be directing this season.

Q: Some are amazed about the slow progress of Clark’s developing powers, but this flying only with a red kryptonite ring is getting old. Will he be flying on his own?

Flying is addressed in the season premiere.

Geoff Johns will be writing an episode this year.

Callum Blue keeps getting asked to say “Kneel before Zod.” It’s pretty good.

I didn’t catch the question, but the girl asking Tom Welling said to take a long time answering so that Tom can keep staring at her.

He took a dramatic pause between each word and all we got was a sigh from the microphone at that point.

They don’t have to stall with their story telling because they have 2 seasons of stories to tell. Now whether they get to season 10, that’s another question.

Metallo will be in the first 2 episodes. We’ll also be seeing the return of Toyman, Roullete and 2 new DC characters but they can’t say who until the casting has been announced.

Green Arrow - we’ll be seeing a lot more of him in season 9.

They’re doing some back story on Oliver Queen this upcoming season. He’ll hit rock bottom in the first episode.

About Getting Into Character:

Harltey gets into character by reading the script and finding what’s the tale of the day.

Tom Welling just says the writers are so great, it’s easy to get into character for shooting.

Allison Mack relates what’s happening in the show with real world events and brings a kind of awareness to the character.

Callum Blue listens to hard core music and punches himself in the face a few times.

There don’t seem to be any plans to bring Jimmy Olsen back.

Someone asked if there are any movie plans with this cast but rather than an answer, all the panel did was ask the audience if they wanted a movie.

They did that a lot with a lot of the questions asked.

And will Chloe have a love interest next season? Chloe and Clark? No, Chloe will not have anything going one with Clark because he’s occupied with a few women in his life. Chloe will be healing from Jimmy’s passing in the front of the season, though it seems she’d like to have Justin Hartley in her life? But that was more a wishful thought, considering the gleam in her eye.

This was Tom Welling’s first ever Comic-Con appearance. Knowing he’s a rather private man, it showed to me this wasn’t his perfect comfort zone. But he did engage the audience well. It was great to see everyone up on the panel.

Pictures will be coming soon!

As promised, check out some pictures I took at the panel:

Justin Hartley, Erica Durance, Kelly Souders and Tom Welling at Comic Con 2009 Smallville panel

Allison Mack, Cassidy Freeman and Callum Blue on Comic-Con 2009 Smallville panel

Tom Welling answering a question, very slowly,
staring at the questioner.
It was a good day for one fan.

Clark signing an autograph for Batman at
the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con
Smallville panel.

Update (9/4/09): Check out Clark’s Superman look suit for season9 of Smallville.

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SDCC ‘09: Heroes Panel (Spock vs. Spock & Claire Kissing Girls)

Kofi Outlaw — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:33:57 +0000

[UPDATE: One of your favorite Screen Ranters was caught on video! See bottom of the post.]

The Heroes cast showed up to the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con in full force to promote the upcoming (3rd? 5th?) season of the show, appropriately titled “Redemption.”

In attendance were show creator Tim Kring, along with stars Jack Coleman, Masi Oka Hayden Panettiere, Adrian Pasdar, Zach Quinto, Milo Ventimiglia, and new additions to the cast Robert Knepper (Prison Break), Dawn Olivieri, Madeline Zima (Californication) and Darth Maul himself, Ray Park.

First there were the usual promotions: Heroes: Redemption will once again find our heroes trying to “go back to a normal life.” We’ll get to see how a different band of super powered individuals (villains?) have been able to accomplish this very thing, hiding in plain sight as a traveling carnival.

Robert Knepper’s character, Samuel (super power: “earth-mover”), will be carnival ringmaster, while Park’s character (power: super-speed) will be his knife-wielding henchman. Olivieri’s character (power: magic tattoos) will be a carny as well, though her loyalties are somewhat unclear. She’s also naked “most of the time.”

Here some pics of the new heroes:

Ray Park

Robert Knepper

Dawn Olivieri

As for the cast we know and love:

HRG: He’s trying to start a new “Company” even as the rest of his personal life is crumbling around him.

Claire: Off to college to live a normal life. Meets a new friend with benefits (Zima’s character).

Hiro: Finds out his the pain from using his powers maybe worse than he thought. Embarks on a bucket list/destiny quest.

Peter: A little more grown up and hardened now that his whole family has tried to kill him, ready to be his own man and goes back to saving lives as a paramedic. Still ready to rumble though.

Nathan: Going through the Jeykll/Hyde experience of sharing a body with Sylar.

Matt Parkman: Going insane from psychic echoes of Sylar.

Sylar: Fighting over his body with Nathan and his mind with Parkman. Kicking ass on both fronts.

Ali Larter’s character will be back and wetter than ever; Ando will be starting a company with Hiro; and Mrs. Petrelli will still be nodding off only to wake up and freak out about the future.

Oh, and there’s something about a magic compass(?) thrown in there.

A montage/trailer of “Redemption’s” first three episodes was shown and I have to say, it had a lot of action and some very cool scenes and developments (a scene with HRG trapped in car filling with water stood out). However, am I ready to jump back into the “Heroes is awesome” deep end quite yet? Eh… not quite yet. But “Redemption” looks like it definitely has potential.

Some other highlights: HRG trapped in a car filling with water while in mid-traffic; a super speed knife fight between Peter and Ray Park; Mrs. Petrilli’s sister having Nathan/Sylar whacked Godfather style and buried alive; the aforementioned girl kiss; and finally…Sylar rising from the grave. And that’s all just the beginning!

Kring spoke to recent criticism of the show while not quite speaking about them. He said that this season they’re stripping away the “unrelatable elements” of the show (super powered beings fighting it out) and getting back to the characters we know and love. When one fan asked a question about whether or not the Heroes cast would go back to being as diverse as it used to be, Kring hinted that at would, and to keep an eye out for casting announcements.

Funny anecdote to end on: When Zach Quinto was asked by the moderator who would win in a fight between Spock and Sylar, Quinto said, “Spock…I believe that good should ultimately triumph over evil.”

When asked who would win in a fight between old Spock and new Spock, Quinto said (with a sly smile), “[Leonard Nimoy], in one round.”

UPDATE: Check out what fans had to say about the upcoming season (who’s that handsome guy in the “Philly” shirt near the end of the video ????):

Heroes: Redemption premieres on September 21st on NBC.

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Tron 2 Trailer, Name Change, Concept Art At Comic-Con

Rob Keyes — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:20:54 +0000

[Update: An HD version of the new Tron Legacy VFX test has been made available - Check it out Here!]

The third and final segment of Disney’s opening presentation, which also happened to Comic-Con’s first ever 3-D panel, involved the sequel to the cult classic, Tron.

Tron made a big surprise splash at last year’s Con by showing an exclusive test clip of Tron 2 which featured Jeff Bridges returning to his role of Kevin Flynn from the first film. Having that under their belt, we in the crowd expected a big show from them this year.

On the panel for this part of the Disney presentation, introduced again by Patton Oswalt – the MC for Disney’s 3-D presentation, were director Joe Kosinski along with Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and Steven Lisberger.

Lisberger, writer and director of the first Tron, is an important piece of the puzzle according to Kosinski, it was absolutely “critical” to have him aboard for the sequel.

Jeff Bridges received a strong welcoming applause when he came on stage and right off the bat, he was asked about Disney’s new official title for the film which was showing up on all the screens as Tron Legacy. Bridges explained that it has to do with the story about a son in search for his father, and that the sequel would be “superized,” a new term he coined on the spot which resulted in Oswalt teasing Bridges.

The film has been through so many name changes, I really don’t think another name change matters at this point.

Moving on, director Joe Kosinski explained that they didn’t have too much to show as they just finished principal photography last week but he did have some concept art to show.

The images featured some of the vehicles we’ll be seeing in the sequel, the city of Try and the cool looking arena where the 16-player disc tournament takes place. In the Disc game, each game takes place simultaneously and as each player gets eliminated, the board shifts to place the remaining players together and this continues till the final two have one large board to themselves.

I took some photos myself but Peter and his crew over at /Film did a fantastic job of nabbing better-angled shots so here a few thanks to them (continue through the pages for more! [Update: Trailer on Page 4]):

The modular Disc Wars Arena

Click to continue reading ‘Tron 2 Name Change, Concept Art & Comic-Con Panel’

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Comic-Con: Solomon Kane is Surprisingly Very Awesome

Rob Keyes — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:57:53 +0000

(This article was written by Screen Rant guest contributor Ryan Connors).

In Saturday’s lineup of major Hall H events, Quint from Ain’t It Cool News moderated a surprisingly entertaining panel on Michael J. Bassett’s upcoming film, Solomon Kane.

The panel consisted of Producer Samuel Hadida, director Michael Bassett and lead actor James Purefoy (Rome, The Philanthropist).

Solomon Kane is a fictional puritan adventurer created by Robert E. Howard (think Conan the Barbarian). In this film, we see Kane (played by James Purefoy) as a ruthless man who would do anything to achieve his goals, set out on the path of redemption. He eventually finds himself part of a family, and sets out on a rescue quest when one of his loved ones is kidnapped.

The panel started off with a trailer for the film, and then proceeded to show several clips, revealing both the action and character building aspects of the film. Despite the low budget, the visuals and special effects were impressive, and the short clips really pulled me in.

The first clip was pure action and showed Kane and a band of his warriors storming some sort of keep. It included heavy sword battles that were well choreographed and seemed very real and harsh. Purefoy explained that they actually dressed up a pig carcass in leather and hacked away at it to see how real flesh reacts to different sword attacks.

Subsequent clips showed Kane’s more human side as he travels alongside his new family. In one scene the group stumbles upon a witch-burning-gone-wrong and ends in suspense as one of the characters discovers the sole survivor.

The clips then shift gears again back to action, as Kane is thrown into a pit of scary-ass freaky-looking zombies. Then Kane is shown in a “helm’s deep” type battle at the end of the film. The fighting is extremely gritty and real, with gore effects reminiscent of 300. In one scene, it takes Kane three heavy swings with his sword to fully decapitate his foe (awesome!). He later threw the head to the ground as the next combatant approached.

Official Solomon Kane Poster [Click to Enlarge]

Bassett talked lot about Kane describing him as “cool despite himself” and that he had a “Batman vibe about him.” I did see a lot of Batman in Kane as the self-sacrificing hero. In one scene, Kane is wearing a black cape and a shot from behind is eerily similar to Batman as well – I’m not sure if that was intentional, but it’s obvious if you think Batman while watching it.

Bassett also said that since Lord of the Rings worked, it gave him the courage to deliver a real, intelligent fantasy picture, knowing that it can be done. This movie does seem a step down from Lord of the Rings, however. The budget is much smaller, the director and cast are much less known, and the amount of footage that was shown seemed as though it was a little desperate for attention.

This makes sense as Solomon Kane does not currently have an American distributor.

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