Comic-Con 2010
By Anthony Daquano
July 26, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
From a total geek perspective this was a fantastic weekend, from seeing the San Diego Convention Center for the first time to seeing all sorts of fans, whether they are there for movie and TV panels, video games, comics or the entire experience it quickly becomes apparent that there is lots to process. I would quickly find out that it becomes easy to miss stuff when going after one panel, or looking for an autograph session or to looking to spend some time at a bar, it becomes easy to miss a smaller panel that features a larger star, special screening or cool parties. Going into the convention, much of the buzz was placed firmly on Tron: Legacy and the Marvel panel, but other panels ended up stealing the show (Scott Pilgrim and Cowboys and Aliens).
Tron: Legacy
If you’ve ever attended Comic-Con you know of the insanity of Hall H, an insanity I hadn’t quite prepared myself for. Upon arriving at the convention center and registering, I quickly made my way to find Hall H to attend the Tron panel. Needless to say, the line was already long. After waiting about two and a half hours and staring at the Hall H doors for about 40 minutes, they let us in after the Megamind panel was cleared and finished. Given the large presence Tron has had at Comic-Con over the last several years, I expected perhaps a slightly great reveal of footage, but the anticipation was heavy in the crowd. After bringing out the cast and crew, including Jeff Bridges, eight minutes of the film was debuted. As someone who did really enjoy Tron, but not the avid fan that some are, I have to say the footage I saw was great. It only makes sense that a film that was far ahead of the curve in terms of computer graphics be able to effectively use 3-D technology to make the world of Tron seem far more realistic than it ever has. The 3-D is easily the best I’ve seen since Avatar, and as many of have seen from the trailers, the costumes and the music are up to as par as well. Fans are certainly ready to make a huge opening weekend for this film, and the IMAX and 3-D screens should make for a large opening weekend. Whether this movie breaks out like other “geek” films is more difficult to gauge. The movie is firmly implanted in pop culture, but that has more to do with its uniqueness than anything. Still, with the marketing power of Disney the success of Tron should be interesting to track. Following the Tron panel, Jack Sparrow made a surprise appearance via video, but I can’t get excited for another Pirates movie. The real surprise came afterwards when Gullermo del Toro came out to announce The Haunted Mansion, without Eddie Murphy. Del Toro did a great job of explaining his love of the Disney ride, so combined with the popularity of the ride and del Toro’s unique vision, Haunted Mansion should be an interesting project to track.
Super
One of the nicest surprises of the Con for me, was the panel for this movie that has failed to find a distributor. Starring a great cast including, Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Nathan Fillion and Kevin Bacon and directed by James Gunn, the movie is not short on talent. The footage shown as well shows a definite black comedy that will fit its indie roots. The crowd was certainly enthusiastic about what it saw, so hopefully that will allow a distributor to take a chance on what appears to be a very funny film.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
Another project of Guillermo del Toro, is another horror remake. However, del Toro seems very confident in this project and his director. The movie certainly seems better than your average horror shockfest, but I’m not sold this will be one of the scariest movies you have ever seen.
Let Me In
I spent all of Saturday in the madness of Hall H, which included a stabbing and the return of trailer park to the Con. The first of the panels I saw was Let Me In, a remake of the new classic Let the Right One In. This panel went a long way in assuaging my fears that this would be another pointless remake. The entire cast seems very game for this picture and the director, Matt Reeves, looks to have effectively captured the tone of the Swedish masterpiece. The clips shown display a great respect for the original film, and the second scene is a particularly tense one that was very effective. Reeves showed a great knowledge and respect of Hitchcock, so hopefully he can a bit more success here than he did with Cloverfield. While I still don’t quite get the need to re-imagine this so soon, the panel showed that this might still be a very respectful remake.
Resident Evil: Afterlife
I’ll be honest, I have no interest in this movie. I only stuck around so I wouldn’t have to re-enter the Hall H line again. The clip they showed was pretty cool, but I still refuse to see this movie. Still Milla Jovovich was very, very excited.
Paul
Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are easily two of the funniest movies of the last decade. Paul should add to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's comedic filmography. This panel ended up being a tribute to Comic-Con and its hoard of fans. The panel demonstrated a great love to the audience and the audience responded very well. Needless to say, the movie looks to be the duo’s attempt to kind of send up the American road trip movie. The panel also included Sigourney Weaver, Bill Hader and Jason Bateman. Pegg and Frost are clearly very popular, and it should be good to have them have in an American production. The movie looks vulgar, crazy and like a tribute to geeks, and also one the funniest movies of next year.
Cowboys and Aliens
Jon Favreau has rocked Comic-Con in the past with Iron Man, and he really delivered with Cowboys and Aliens, complete with bring-out-geek-god Harrison Ford, which resulted in the largest geekgasms ever recorded. Hall H was certainly rocking at this point, and I can only wonder if the vibrations were felt in the exhibit hall. Despite only having filmed for about a month, Favreau debuted some impressive footage, including an impressive action sequence involving an alien attack. Favreau did what he does perfectly and started the buzz on a film that won’t be released for over an year. Yet, in a summer that will be filled with superhero franchises, Cowboys and Aliens will be an original property that looks true to the roots of a western while infusing sci-fi elements.
Captain America
Chris Evans as Captain America doesn’t do much for me, and the test footage of him in costume doesn’t make me feel much better. However, the clip starring Hugo Weaving seems to be promising, but he refused to share his Red Skull voice. I was guarded about this production before the panel and I remain just as guarded.
Thor
The only problem I see with Thor is the use of 3-D. Other than that the extended trailer for Thor had me very excited. Kenneth Branagh seems to fully know what he wanted to do with this film, while finding a great sense of adventure and action. I have read some other guarded responses, but while Thor may not be the success of Iron Man, I expect many fanboys to be very happy with the end result.
The Avengers
There's not much to say about The Avengers, but it did end up being a great photo-op. Yet, it was exciting to hear Jeremy Renner cast as Hawkeye, and that great cast of talent assembled on one stage, including Robert Downey Jr. taking the mic. Each actor got a large response, save for Mark Ruffalo (but seriously, is it really his fault Edward Norton got screwed over?). This film has two years to build some very positive buzz and if it doesn’t capitalize it will be seen as a colossal failure.
That’s my brief wrap of this year’s comic-con, with Tron, Scott Pilgrim and Cowboys coming out as clear winners. Scott Pilgrim used multiple screenings and a great exhibit in the Gaslamp to build its profile and was very successful at doing so. Edgar Wright used the power of Twitter to build the buzz even further. If you aren’t following him on Twitter you should do so now. The Expendables also seemed to have a very popular panel, but will have to contend with the far more popular Scott Pilgrim. I also took the time to attend a Chuck panel, and saw the great reveal that Linda Hamilton will be playing his mom. I also found out that it looks as if an adaptation of Garth Ennis’ The Boys may be moving forward. Disney also set up a mock Flynn’s arcade for a couple of apparently wicked parties, I was busy getting drunk elsewhere so I missed that. Robert Rodriguez also served up some hot dogs and footage for Machete, a movie while with limited box office potential should become wildly popular among young men. Even Jackass 3-D debuted footage that apparently killed. My first visit to Comic- Con ended up being very special and I hope to make this terrific trip yearly. Next year I will have a better lay of the land, so hopefully I can bring you all more updated reports.