Comic-Con 2007

comic con 2007 Bookmark this page. This is where you'll find photos and up-to-the-minute buzz from the 2007 Comic-Con Convention. From opening day through the closing panel, we'll be showing you photos of what's happening inside the packed halls of the San Diego Convention Center, where major announcements in the world of movies and TV are made, exclusive trailers premiere, and teaser posters are propped up all over the place. We'll also be scouring for other Con-related sites and blogs for you to check out. Enjoy!

Day 3 -- See all photos

This morning we laughed hysterically upon spotting a guy dressed up like a Cylon Centurion warrior using a scanner at the Kinko's inside the Convention Center (it seemed so counterintuitive). Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, we began to wonder if the TV presentations aren't becoming slightly more popular than the movie panels among Comic-Con's most discerning attendees. Saturday began early with a special presentation of the upcoming ABC show from Bryan Fuller (Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me), Pushing Daises, which overlapped with a first-look at NBC's The Bionic Woman. The line to get in to either hall was long and windy, but we're going to assume that no other event in Comic-Con history caused a traffic jam as surprising as the Heroes and Battlestar Galactica panels, which were positioned back-to-back this afternoon. The line began to spiral back on itself like one of QT's screenplays.

And what of the movies? As expected, we couldn't get on the road to Springfield, since the The Simpsons Movie had 'em lined up outside the doors to Hall H, though Jon fired some memorable shots from the press line. Fortune smiled upon us for the next big presentation when the room opened up for the Disney/Pixar showcase, which offered two tech-friendly looks at 2008 tentpoles The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Wall-E. Though we would have kvelled if Tilda Swinton materialized, Narnia director Andrew Adamson was beemed in via satellite with the prince himself, the amiable Ben Barnes, and the duo synched up with an in-person panel featuring some Caspian's premiere crew members, including creature-maker Howard Berger and costume designer Isis Mussenden. About two-thirds of the film has been shot, and Adamson was refreshingly open about the problems the production encountered in adapting the second story of C.S. Lewis's epic fantasy. (In response to a fan's request to compare Lewis's stories to J.K. Rowling's, he offered: "Well, Lewis wrote more efficiently.") His technicians had a spirited volley on practical effects vs. CGI/visual effects, and we learned that Caspian will not only offer darker drama and ratcheted-up action -- both of which are inherent to this particular story -- but also a more-varied range of creatures in terms of age, sex, body types, and ability levels. A previsualization sequence stoked the crowd, but the remark that elicited a bigger cheer was that we can expect a Narnia film every year in May starting with the release of Caspian (Dawn Treader is pegged to begin production next February).

A brief intermission followed, so the Pixar people could set up for director Andrew Stanton's presentation. We thought we might get an actual-real demonstration of trash-compacting robot Wall-E's abilities; instead, we were treated to a different surprise: Ben Burtt, known by many as the man behind R2-D2's many sounds, who showed us how he is working with what we think is Pixar's coolest animation to date. Proving again that they aren't afraid to take risks with their story ideas (by the way, Stanton developed this script while procrastinating on Finding Nemo), Wall-E is set 700 years in the future, where humans were evacuated from Earth after we literally buried it in garbage, leaving behind Wall-E and the rest of his kind. (P.S. Humans have lived aboard pleasure vessels for a number of years, turning into figurative couch potatoes.) Though he said he didn't want to give any spoilers, Stanton went on to frame what has to be the movie's basic structure: Wall-E becomes a thinking, caring machine, devises a way to reach space, and develops feelings for Eve, a female robot who has not yet parsed emotions into her programming. Stanton demoed some of Eve's abilities and specs, introduced two other bots (M-O, short for "Microbe-Obliterator," and Auto, a multitasking workhorse), then acknowledged the movie will include some live action, before deftly bringing the panel to an end. What we can now say is the director looks to make good on his remark that he hasn't been satisfied with any of the post-70s cinematic voyages into space, and he really wanted to pay homage to the films he loved as a young man.

Speaking of homage, at the Sony/Marvel panel, The Incredible Hulk director Louis Letterier defined the word as being "French for stealing from American movies and not getting sued for it." It was the best pull quote from a well-received discussion about the movie, which began production approximately two weeks ago in Toronto and was declared to be a "Part 1" of a potential series. We were unaware that the newest Bruce Banner, Edward Norton, helped write the screenplay, and he outed himself as a comics nerd -- in particular, a Hulk fanatic -- and announced the film is not necessarily an origin story because he doesn't feel it has to "begin at the beginning." Cue major applause. There was also some mention of particular technology that has come online over the last half year that will allow Norton to interact with his inner monster in never-before-seen ways, but no one on the panel would go into specifics. As for Liv Tyler, well, we can say that she changed outfits between The Strangers panel and this one. And because filming has just begun, there was no footage to screen, but we did get to see a rendering of the Hulk's scale and facial features, a single drawing that garnered oohs and ahhs. Oh, Letterier said 350 scenes are to be shot, which did cause his producers to trade quizzical looks.

We stuck around for the second look at Iron Man, which was again attended by Jon Favreau, who introduced his principal cast: Terrence Howard, Gwyenth Paltrow, and the gum-chomping Robert Downey Jr. All this one needs in terms of promotion is for Favreau and Downey Jr. to do the circuit together; the former's enthusiasm embraces the latter's sarcastic charm and gives anyone within hugging distance a loving embrace -- even Stan Lee felt the effects. Without a doubt, Tony Stark emerged as the people's hero from this year's festival. And though we had our doubts as to whether Jon Favreau could produce an effects-driven film, he pleasantly surprised us with a vision that seems based around an imaginative, contemporary origin story, dialogue tinged with Favreau's trademark wit, and practical effects that left comics fans feeling elated.

Here are some more photos and bits from Saturday's Comic-Con events:

Day 2 -- See all photos

Today was Star Wars day at Comic-Con, which proved that it was indeed possible to cram even more people into the Convention Center. But while we were all filing in during the morning, the biggest news of the day had already broken ... the night before. Warner Bros., who held the day's first major-studio conference, leaked a Dark Knight teaser online (warning: it's a major download). So while the stage was populated by notables such as Get Smart's Steve Carrel (huge ovation), Whiteout's Kate Beckinsale (huge catcalls), and The Invasion's Nicole Kidman (huge projected face), Heath Ledger as the Joker owned the early-morning buzz. Check the Cinematical link below for a well-documented overview of the event.

After the WB wrapped it up, our colleague and photographer extraordinaire Jon stayed encamped in Hall H, while we hit the convention floor for a piece. Bumping into Borat's Ken Davitian was a treat, though we kind of ruined the experience with our still-slippery grasp of Armenian pleasantries. He bought a Superman bank, let us snap a photo, then split. Still, it was a highlight. Syd Haig was on the floor as well, and little did we know that we'd end up meeting two other Devil's Rejects this day, director Rob Zombie and his wife, Sherri Moon. We nearly started purring in the pressroom, where Zombie's Halloween star, Scout Taylor-Compton, talked "Gilmore Girls" and horror remakes with us before posing for a couple snaps. We now totally love her and her tendency to store personal items in her cowgirl boots. Today's down-to-Earth award was split three ways, between Brandon Molale, who is rumored to be playing Captain America in Peter Segal's Shazam!, the humble and kind Danny Trejo, and Daniel Myrick of Blair Witch Project fame.

For a last bit of coverage today, we slumped down for New Line Cinema's presentation, which was basically dedicated to their September 7th release, Shoot 'Em Up. Writer-director Michael Davis proved you can turn repeated failures into a Hollywood success story, as he displayed his good-natured energy and the frantic animatic that helped turn a 7-year-old screenplay into what might be the weirdest American action movie in recent memory. Star Clive Owen, meanwhile, proved just too attractive. Sandwiched between this and a second look at The Golden Compass was a surprise trailer: Michel Gondry's Mos Def/Jack Black starrer, Be Kind Rewind, which slapped the audience happy and acknowledged Gondry's sensitive side.

We headed back to the hotel to upload all these photos, while Jon remained behind to get shots from the last big panel of the day: Kevin Smith's now-annual, no-holds-barred nighttime panel. Did he discuss Zack and Miri Make a Porno and/or Red State? We'll assume so, and we'll hope he's cast Rosario Dawson in both projects. Check back tomorrow to see if we were right!

More photos and news from Comic-Con:

Cinematical live-blogs the Warner Bros. panel
Ain't It Cool has the Southland Tales poster
The blog to beat: The Advocate -- Part One and Part Two
IGN's Covers Battlestar Galactica

Day 1 -- See all photos

Here are two names for you: Leonard Nimoy and Karen Allen. While neither performer is at the top of Hollywood's Power List, they both generated major buzz for their respective projects, Star Trek and Indiana Jones 4. Yes both Spock and Marion Ravenwood are back, and the announcements quickly made their way out from the San Diego Convention Center's overstuffed conference halls to its cramped showroom floor. Score two for Paramount, who also presented the now-officially-awesome Iron Man, a Footloose-inspired sequence from Hot Rod, and footage from their two risky literary adaptations, Beowulf and Stardust.

Not to over-focus on R-rated horror's downtrend, but we were surprised at how many people trailed out during Lionsgate's presentation, built around a panel for the latest chapter in the fan-favorite Saw series. Their varied line-up included also sneak peeks at Midnight Meat Train, Good Luck Chuck, and 3:10 to Yuma, though by the time Jessica Alba and her "C-3PO shoes" sashay-shanted off-stage after the first panel, the crowd began to thin -- in fact, it was so empty we got the feeling the Saw IV filmmakers decided against showing the 5-minute reel the Comic-Con deemed "too controversial." (Perhaps they should have cast Jessica Alba in it after all.) Regardless, we definitely want to relay what a delight it was to see Yuma co-stars Peter Fonda and Ben Foster on stage together, even if their inside jokes didn't help to keep the audience involved; their film looks like Best Picture nominee material to us, by the way ...

We figure you'll hit up other sites and blogs for more sightings and dirt from the Con, so we thought to provide you with some miscellanea we picked up from today's panels:

In 1996, screenwriter Roger Avary's script for Neil Gaiman's Sandman was soundly rejected by Warner Bros.
Dane Cook chipped Jessica Alba's tooth on the set of Good Luck Chuck
Clive Barker dreamt up the title Midnight Meat Train under the influence of pot cookies
David Hackl will direct the probably-in-development-already Saw V
Saw IV director Darren Lynn Bousman has a remake of Scanners lined up
J.J. Abrams and his Star Trek screenwriters are trying to find a way to write Shatner into the film

And here are some sites we recommend: