Comic Con 2009

[ManaByte]

Someone find Tom Rothman at the Con and drown him in the bay:

From Phil LaMarr (via Facebook): “[20th Century Fox] just dis-invited the cast members who were supposed to appear [at the Futurama Comic-Con panel] so it may not be entertaining but it’ll certainly be interesting.”

The Futurama panel was going to be the entire cast grilling a Fox exec over bringing the series back.

[ManaByte]

AVATAR UNDERWHELMS

James Cameron showed over 20 minutes of select scenes from AVATAR in 3-D to a massive crowd in Hall H. I’m going to try to recap as much as I can on the fly.

The footage opened up with a shot of black military boots walking upon a polished surface. A gruff drill sergeant type (Stephen Lang) is barking at new recruits. We see glimpses of the back of this guy’s shaved head and there are scars that run horizontally across the back of his skull (we don’t see his face). He’s speaking to maybe 15-20 young people, some not looking like they belong there… nerdy types, not all soldiers.

The colonel says that this new planet is not a plaything, that every single indigenous creature wants to kill you. "It is my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed."

When the colonel turns around the scars continue from the back of his head to his face, like it was made from the claws of an animal raked across his entire face.

Sam Worthington rolls up in a wheelchair during this speech and there’s something between the two (maybe some history?), but nothing is said.

Let me take a second to talk about the 3-D in the live action spots here as this scene was the only to not have (obvious) CGI characters. I’ve long been on the record as saying 3-D is fun, but I don’t believe for a second it’s the future of cinema. I think it’s possible a form of 3-D could be in the cards in the future norm, but the problem I have with most 3-D is it dims the picture so badly that you only get half the effect.

Cameron lit his scenes very brightly so things really pop and you can tell a master’s eye went into the framing of every shot, giving real perceptible depth to something as mundane as a military type walking between rows of recruits.

There is a trade-off, though. That means we lose a bit of atmosphere (not a ton... it is a lab afterall) in these military base scenes, but I didn’t mind so much as the blocky structures and architecture already screamed James Cameron to me.

But the 3-D is eye-popping, some of the best use I’ve seen recently… maybe since Captain Eo in my youth. Cameron’s not just content to give you a Viewmaster depth, but he also puts layers on our side of the screen… not so much in the SCTV comin’ atcha way, but in that the only depth isn’t perceived through the window of the screen… it’s also in the audience itself, filling the peripherals as things move by.

After Lang gives his speech to the green noobs we move to Joel Moore and Sam Worthington going to see their Avatars.

If you don’t know the basic story there’s a new planet called Pandora discovered in the near future. On this planet is an element that is so rare it is worth incredible amounts of money on earth. The trouble is that the indigenous people and hostel nature of the planet make it nearly impossible to mine. The main threat are 10 foot tall intelligent blue aliens called Na’vi.

Scientists have figured out a way to grow their own Na’vi (mixing Na'vi and Human DNA) which are completely blank slates and then recruit warriors and scientists to come in and project their consciousness into these creatures, thus allowing them to travel Pandora without causing war with the Na’vi. In fact, Weaver's character is the head of the Avatar project, trying to make peaceful contact with the Na'vi.

Worthington is a crippled vet, disillusioned, but a warrior at heart. This is the perfect assignment for him as he is freed from the restraints of his broken body.

This shot scared me a bit… when Moore and Worthington are introduced to their Avatars, floating in blue liquid in tubes we get our first look at the Na’vi and… it looked just okay. Because of the liquid the definition of the alien (big, blue, wide-nosed, long pointy ears, thin tail) was at best plain and the real impressiveness of these creatures and the technology used to bring them to life doesn’t crop up until later scenes.

Apparently, this particular Avatar was produced for Huntington’s character’s brother, but is his now.

Now, these Avatars are Na’vi, but share physical characteristics of their users. So, Joel Moore’s Avatar is recognizably Moore in the face as is Worthington’s.

One of the scientists is none other than Dileep Rao, the psychic from DRAG ME TO HELL and another is fan favorite Sigourney Weaver. God, it was so good seeing her in a James Cameron movie again.

In the scene we get of her she’s very no nonsense, getting Worthington situated in his pod (he insists on hoisting himself out of the chair and into his pod without any help). Weaver plays her character a little mother hen as she straps him in and prepares the consciousness transmission.

Another little detail in these scenes that I loved was just how awesome the transparent computer and information screens looked in 3-D. As Worthington slips under and the transfer begins Dileep is monitoring his brain activity on a floating screen. Dileep has to walk, so with a swipe of his hand he moves the screen onto a smaller portable screen that turns the x-ray brainscan around as he examines it.

Dileep walks into check on the two Avatars (Moore and Worthington). We get Sam’s POV as he wakes up in his new body and then our first real look at a Na’vi realized as he wiggles his toes, realizing he has full use of this body. The Worthington Na’vi is definitely excited and against the protests of Dileep he stands, getting used to his body, pulling cords out, knocking over equipment with a wobbly step or with his tail as he turns.

Don’t worry, it’s not a Jar Jar scene, but what’s really cool is that it’s the only time in the footage show we got a real sense of the scale of the Na’vi. It’s easy to say “they’re ten feet tall,” but seeing them stand next to a person and almost double their height, seeing one try to navigate a structure intended for humans… well, it does make them feel like creatures instead of animated humanoids.

From this point on the footage left our world and focused completely on Pandora as the Worthingon Na'vi is wandering alone.

One of the first things we see on the planet is Worthington’s Avatar playing with these tube-snake-like flora. He touches one and it disappears, sucking back into the ground with a FROOMPF. He’s delighted, playing around in this field of tall plants, making them disappear with a touch until he does that to one and it reveals a really pissed off giant rhino lookin’ thing with a hammerhead nose.

It brays at Worthington’s Avatar and stamps its feet, threatening to charge. The Moore Avatar and Sigourney Weaver Avatar are with-in shouting distance and Weaver stops him from using the giant machine gun he’s carrying, saying the hide is too tough and that shooting it will only piss it off.

The Worthington Avatar is unsure of what to do, even thought Weaver is telling him this rhino thing is just putting on a threat display and won’t charge if Worthington stands his ground. There’s a herd of rhino-aliens behind this one, which keeps braying and using his hammerhead horn nose to knock down trees. It shows its displeasure by a colorful ruff raising (like peacocks feathers but armored).

The creature doesn’t seem to know it’s just a territorial threat display and charges Worthington’s Avatar who just charges it right back, screaming. It stops and looks confused, then scarred, turning back and running away with the heard.

Of course that means a slick-skinned panther-like creature is behind Worthington. It leaps over him and charges the bigger game, which runs off… then it turns and realizes there’s another smaller, but just as tasty morsel right in front of him.

There’s a variation of the “Shoot or run?” type scene that plays here as they do both and scatter. Worthington seems to be on his own as he jumps between trees, under the large, gnarled and tangled roots of one old tree, trying to find a safe spot.

The panther-alien rips at the tree’s roots, tearing them away. Worthington’s Avatar shoots at it, causing it to back off before it darts in, bites down on the gun and rips it from his hands.

From here on out it’s a mad scramble to get away from the beast.

A female Na’vi hugs to a branch, sees the intruder and raises a bow and arrow, taking aim. It’s clear there’s poison on the tip of the arrow (mentioned by our colonel in that earlier scene), but just as she gets the arrow pulled taut a creature flutters into her field of vision.

It’s white and moves like a jellyfish in the air, floating as pumps it tendrils lazily… but it doesn’t look organic, more like a dandelion seed. However it obviously has an intelligence and isn’t floating randomly. This female warrior sees this and even in this crazy alien world this is not normal. You can tell by her reaction.

We find out later this is a Wood Sprite, a seedling from a sacred tree. It alights on the arrows tip momentarily before moving on. This Na’vi, Naytiri (Zoe Saldana), relaxes her grip and lets the clueless Worthington Avatar pass.

This is a good time to talk about Pandora a bit. Imagine the ocean floor if it would exist above the sea line and you’re close. It’s very much dense jungle, but the alien flora is very reminiscent of anemones. Also like the deep sea lifeforms many of the fauna have their own luminescence.

The sequence where Worthington’s Avatar meets Saldana’s Na’vi is a bit of a rescue scene as Worthington is being hunted by a pack of wild dog-like animals.

The dogs are slickly black skinned, like an eel and have sharp canine-like teeth, but when they snarl the lips pull back much further and are more menacing. The dogs are on him and suddenly Saldana’s character comes out of nowhere, arrows flying killing the dogs, swatting them away with her bow. Worthington takes advantage of the intervention and stabs the dog on top of him.

Happily he goes to thank Saldana’s Na’vi, who speaks English… I didn’t catch how she does, but he does comment on it. Anyway, she ignores him at first, looking sadly down at the dog carcasses. The one she shot with the arrow at the beginning of the rescue is still alive and whimpering. She whispers to it in her native tongue as she puts it out of its misery.

She then turns angrily on Worthington’s Avatar, still trying to thank her. She is angry at having been forced into the position of killing these creatures, saying it is his fault. He is like an ignorant child wandering the woods and if he hadn’t been waving fire around and making so much noise he never would have been in danger and the animals could have gone on living in peace.

As she chastises him, she goes around to all the dead animals and whispers some kind of prayer or saying over them.

She also douses his torch and we come to find that she is right. He doesn’t need it. Not only does the forest glow naturally with its own light, but as Worthington makes his way in the dark trying to follow her he sees that his very own interaction with the world creates a light reaction. When he steps on a moss-covered log the moss turns bright green under his foot and tapers out a few feet from the impact point, when he passes by a plant and brushes the fern it glows in reaction.

Turns out Neytiri sees a good heart inside the bumbling fool and she’s not alone. With a giant grin on his face as he discovers the wonder of this jungle world, the self-luminescence, the Wood Sprite returns… with a few dozen of its brothers and sisters.

Worthington’s Avatar bats one away without a thought and Neytiri acts as if he just broke a cross in half or spit on the Buddha. The little jelly-fish like seeds don’t seem to mind and all alight on him, completely ignoring Neytiri. She tells him (and us) just what these things are and that it is an amazing honor to be chosen by them.

All that is from the first act of the film, by the way.

The final sequence shown is a bit of a training scene as Worthington’s Avatar is now a part of Neytiri’s tribe and going through an important rite of passage.

Gone are his human clothes, replaced by native gear and face paint, like a Native American warrior. He must bond with a winged creature, so the other warriors, there mostly to laugh at Worthington’s sure failure, and Neytiri take him to their nesting ground.

These are reptilian, brightly colored and mean little suckers. Worthington’s Avatar is pushed in, asking over his shoulder how he’ll know which one is his match, the one he was meant to bond with. “He will choose you.” Well, how will Worthington know he is chosen? Easy… the one who chooses him “will try to kill you.”

Cameron draws out the suspense as the creatures see him and back away or fly off, hissing and making territorial displays. Finally the one comes forward, a particularly mean looking creature. The other warriors laugh at Worthington’s Avatar, talking in their tongues together (subtitled) sure he’s going to be killed.

In order for a Na’vi to bond with one of these creatures they must bond, which requires Worthington to take his pony-tail, which has little vermicelli-like strands of nerve bundled up in there, and connect it to one of this beasts’ antennae. It takes some doing, Worthington’s Avatar almost getting flung off a cliff for his trouble, but he comes back, wrestles the beak shut and melds the two pieces together, which naturally entwine.

When that happens the creature’s wild eye goes soft, pupil enlarging. Worthington’s Avatar carefully removes the leather tie around its beak and it stands up, collecting him on its back. Neytiri says he must fly or risk breaking the bond. Their bond can only be concreted if they fly, so she sends the creature off the ledge with Worthington’s Avatar en tow.

They fly recklessly, Worthington's Avatar barely holding on. They crash into cliff walls, fly through waterfalls. The creature, quite dragonlike, actually, squacks and Worthington tells it to shut up and fly straight... And it does. The bond is complete as it glides through the air.

That’s the end of the footage.

All the Pandora stuff that was shown was incredibly detailed, layer upon layer of movement, life, detail. But it seemed to be completely mo-cap and computer animated. While I thought it looked fantastic I think people need to reel in their expectation a bit.

What I saw were glimpses at a fantastic bit of storytelling, a rich fantasy tale, by a master of the artform, but the CGI creatures and characters are just that. They’re amazingly executed, no doubt, but it’s not like when you saw your first CG dinosaur and you said, “This is a game changer” to yourself.

What I hope Cameron gives us is the character work to fill out this highly stylized universe and he hasn’t given me any reason to doubt him yet. This presentation was all about showing off the visual eye-molestation brought to you by Weta Digital, Workshop, Cameron and his talented crew.

I can say that Sam Worthington seems to giving his best, most relaxed and natural performance in this one, based on the footage I saw of him and the voicing of his fake Na’vi counterpart. At the very least his accent is consistent.

All in all this was a tech demonstration. The 3-D was a stand-out, but Cameron’s collaboration with Weta Digital and Workshop I think is going to yield a dense, sci-fi fantasy flick with hopefully lots of military on Na’vi battles… I just want to see one that goddamn Power Suit in action!

Honestly, I’ve never had a picture of this movie in my head. The plot has been vague, the details minimal… so I’ve only ever hoped to see a fun, kick-ass James Cameron movie. On that level, I’m positive the eye-candy will be there for me come December. But I will say lower those expectations. The footage was good, layered, incredibly detailed and full of imagination and incredible imagery, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s the next quantum leap forward in filmmaking. However there's no doubt Cameron's pushing the limits. Just don't expect to have your head blown out your asshole or eyeballs raped or whatever the newest talkback thing is.

No, what this presentation convinced me of is that AVATAR will be a strong return to narrative filmmaking from one of the best filmmakers of the last 30 years. Once we see the whole picture it might be more than that because I have a feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[Powerslave]

Funny, I just read on Maddox' site that he was gonna be there. San Diego right?

[ManaByte]

RUMOR: Warner is going to reveal the Smallville Superman costume for the Smallville movie Metropolis on Sunday. Tom Welling is flying in just to wear it at the panel...NO CAPE.

[Great Rumbler]

This movie is going to bomb.

 

[The Fake Shemp]

Yeah, people are going to be lining up around the block for a film called "Tron Legacy".

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, people are going to be lining up around the block for a film called "Tron Legacy".

Yeah, people are going to be lining up around the block to see some pirate movie based on a Disneyland ride.

All that is beside the point, however, which is: Why should I care whether it bombs or not? I want a Tron sequel that entertains me. Failing to do that is more or less the only thing that concerns me at this point, not whether it makes any money at the box office.

[The Fake Shemp]

Are you seriously going to argue that Tron has more of a mainstream appeal than pirates?

[border]

Someone find Tom Rothman at the Con and drown him in the bay:

From Phil LaMarr (via Facebook): “[20th Century Fox] just dis-invited the cast members who were supposed to appear [at the Futurama Comic-Con panel] so it may not be entertaining but it’ll certainly be interesting.”

The Futurama panel was going to be the entire cast grilling a Fox exec over bringing the series back.

Wow, I thought all the Futurama turmoil was just negotiation posturing and hype-building.  Sounds like it's gotten pretty deadly serious.

Listening to David X. Cohen on all the commentaries, I don't believe he will continue the series without its leads.  He's just too cool a guy to try and soldier for what, at this point, would just be a crappy money-grab.

I'll bet the Futurama panel doesn't even happen.....either that or it's all just one big elaborate ruse (hope, hope).

[Great Rumbler]

Are you seriously going to argue that Tron has more of a mainstream appeal than pirates?

When's the last time a pirate movie lit up the charts? Cutthroat Island and Yellowbeard certainly didn't. Hook made pretty good money, but I think that had more to do with Robin Williams, Steven Spielberg, and the Peter Pan story, than the pirates. Even Disney's previous pirate movie, Treasure Planet, was a financial disaster. The PotC movies have made far, FAR more money than any other pirate movie ever.

Now, Tron certainy doesn't have more mainstream appeal than the PotC movies, saying otherwise would be patently ridiculous. Of course, up until the Curse of the Black Pearl hit the big money, it probably wouldn't be that much of difference between the two. However, that wasn't really my point. My point was the Disney has recently had pretty good success in turning weird ideas into multi-billion dollar movie franchises.

Again, if it bombs: whatever. If it make a ton of cash: cool.

[Bloodwake]

Even though I'm going to see Tron and I'm pumped (I have a geek fetish for Tron) didn't the first fucking movie bomb? How is this going to pull in the cash?

[The Fake Shemp]

BECAUSE ITS THE SEQUEL

[Great Rumbler]

Even though I'm going to see Tron and I'm pumped (I have a geek fetish for Tron) didn't the first fucking movie bomb? How is this going to pull in the cash?

It's managed to double its budget, so I wouldn't call it a bomb. But it wasn't exactly a breakout hit, either.

It's got a decent cult following, but I don't know how much that's going to count for.

[Bloodwake]

And whoa, wait. There's a Smallville movie coming out? Like made for TV or theatrical release?

[The Fake Shemp]

Made-for-TV.

Warner Bros. was so badly burnt by Superman Returns that I doubt we'll see a Superman theatrical movie anytime soon.

[Phoenix Dark]

Are you seriously going to argue that Tron has more of a mainstream appeal than pirates?

And not just any pirates, fucking Johnny Depp

No one cares about Tron except nerds. I'd imagine they'll sex it up but even that won't save it. It's Tron, not Star Trek

[border]

Warner Bros. was so badly burnt by Superman Returns that I doubt we'll see a Superman theatrical movie anytime soon.

Was it really that awful?  I imagine it underperformed expectations, but there's clearly a great deal of life left in the franchise.

Aren't they pretty much guaranteed to fast-track something now that the rights to the character will revert in a couple of years?

[ManaByte]

Warner Bros. was so badly burnt by Superman Returns that I doubt we'll see a Superman theatrical movie anytime soon.

Was it really that awful?  I imagine it underperformed expectations, but there's clearly a great deal of life left in the franchise.

Aren't they pretty much guaranteed to fast-track something now that the rights to the character will revert in a couple of years?

Yea they lost that lawsuit. And today at the con, Brandon Routh basically said Superman: The Man of Steel was starting to move forward very fast.  Iiirc the judgement said Warner needs to start production on a new movie within two years or else as DC loses rights to Superman in 2013.

[The Fake Shemp]

He never said that.  He said there was a "new momentum" on the project, but his Huntington also said there was no news to report.  There's no director, screenwriter, etc.

Don't hold your breath.

And, yeah, Superman Returns sucked.

[fistfulofmetal]

hopefully Tron 2 will be in IMAX.

[ManaByte]

hopefully Tron 2 will be in IMAX.

It was announced for IMAX 3D.

[fistfulofmetal]

yay!

[Great Rumbler]

Rumbler... you are very, very wrong about Tron vs Pirate movies. Tron will bomb so hard. It has no appeal outside 40 year old, loser nerds.

Again, I don't care. At all.

[chronovore]

Making Akira a live action film is an AWFUL idea. It would be like turning Taxi Driver into an anime staring Johnny Yong Bosch or video game.

But there was a Taxi Driver videogame. It was canceled in the aftermath of Psychonauts and Advent Rising Majesco's aborted attempt to become a legitimate publisher: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/taxidriver/index.html

[Great Rumbler]

Rumbler... you are very, very wrong about Tron vs Pirate movies. Tron will bomb so hard. It has no appeal outside 40 year old, loser nerds.

Again, I don't care. At all.

Ok man, but Pirates? Didn't Pirates gross like $1B? Tron won't make 1/10th of that.

My point wasn't that Tron would gross as much as Pirates. My point was that Disney has had success in making money off ideas that people thought the general public wouldn't go for.

Having said that I don't think Tron will make much more than $100 million. But maybe Disney will be able to draw on some of the cult appeal its built up over the years to bring in some decent money.

[chronovore]

This movie is going to bomb.

It'll be better than Transformers.

The two statements are surely not mutually exclusive.

[ManaByte]

Gary Oldman was on the panel for THE BOOK OF ELI (which looks really cool, by the way) and was asked about when the next Batman movie is coming out. Surprisingly, Oldman was open. He said he thinks they shoot next year, so look for the next BATMAN flick to come out the year after 2011 (his words).

"But you didn't hear it from me," with a laugh.

[Great Rumbler]

Gary Oldman was on the panel for THE BOOK OF ELI (which looks really cool, by the way) and was asked about when the next Batman movie is coming out. Surprisingly, Oldman was open. He said he thinks they shoot next year, so look for the next BATMAN flick to come out the year after 2011 (his words).

"But you didn't hear it from me," with a laugh.

 

[ManaByte]

The Hobbit

With The Hobbit, I didn't want to be too involved with looking over the shoulder of the director. Part of the reason I wanted to produce the films and not direct them was not to compete against myself… Guillermo is there because I thought he'd do a terrific job with that movie. It wasn't the job for a novice filmmaker.

We're about three weeks from turning over the script for the first Hobbit movie to the studio. We wrote a treatment for the two films which we pitched to the studio…There was talk about doing The Hobbit as one movie and then doing a bridge movie to Lord of the Rings. We worked through the storyline and thought that we could squeeze The Hobbit into one movie, but even with a three hour movie, you'd be amazed with how much of that story you'd have to lose…We included all the events that we'd like to see, plus the fact that we wanted to embellish a few things and put a couple extra narratives in for Gandalf and the Necromancer. So we decided that the two movies should be The Hobbit, Part One and Part Two.

We'd been talking about releasing the first movie in December 2011 and the second in December 2012 – and that's what we're aiming for – but the studio is obviously not going to sign off on the films until they see a script… We haven't offered a single role to any actor yet. There are some people in mind. Obviously, the thing that we want to do is that any characters that were seen in The Lord of the Rings, we want the actor who originated them to appear. In terms of new characters, in some regards, we are talking about people as ideas, but…we need to know the in's and out's of the particular character and their function in the script before we talk to actors…

[ManaByte]

The Temeraire Series

The Temeraire are a series of books we've optioned. I think it's going to be six books soon. I love the idea of the Napoleonic times, when there was a Navy and an Army, but there's also an air force, which are these dragon-like creatures. So the British have an air brigade, but the French do, too. You have these great, Napoleonic battles with flying dragons and ships.

I'm thinking about whether it should be some form of miniseries. With six books, I really don't like the idea of making a big-budget movie of the first book and it not doing well at the box office and suddenly that's the end of the series. Six books makes such a compelling story that I like the idea of adapting that as a series.

 

[ManaByte]

TRON LEGACY TRAILER!!!

http://www.flynnlives.com/media/video/0xendgame.aspx

[Great Rumbler]

TRON LEGACY TRAILER!!!

http://www.flynnlives.com/media/video/0xendgame.aspx

The look of this movie is just flat-out awesome.

By the way, I'm pretty sure that's the same trailer that was shown at last year's Comicon.

[ManaByte]

Yes, but this is in HD not blurry shaky camera phone.

[ManaByte]

Posted in the other thread...Disney recreated Flynn's Arcade for Comic Con and had a lightcycle there:
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

That music is part of Daft Punk's soundtrack to the movie.

[The Fake Shemp]

Well, it's already better than the crappy original.

[Diunx]

Marvel bought the rights to Miracleman!!! .

[Great Rumbler]

Tron was awesome and made me believe in the internet and video games!

Well, it's already better than the crappy original.

It was better than Transformers, at least.

[The Fake Shemp]

No, the original Transformers was at least entertaining.  Tron sucked.

[The Fake Shemp]

Marvel bought the rights to Miracleman!!! .

I will believe it when I see it.  I've heard that for ages.  I just want Gaiman to finish his run, goddamit.

[Great Rumbler]

No, the original Transformers was at least entertaining.  Tron sucked.

lol

[The Fake Shemp]

Nerds lol

[Great Rumbler]

Did I mention that Tron taught me how to walk and cured my blindness?

What can't it do?!

[demi]

Give him a decent hair cut

[Mr. Gundam]

I wonder how Bloodwake's girlfriend feels about Tron?

[ManaByte]

The Jonah Hex panel is what makes Comic Con Comic Con:

Even though Jimmy Heyward's film was sandwiched between presentations for Where the Wild Things Are, The Book of Eli and Nightmare on Elm Street, among others, Jonah Hex roused the crowd with a terrific (if short) screening of footage and an appearance by cast members Michael Fassbender, Josh Brolin and, perhaps most importantly, Megan Fox.

The teaser trailer more resembled a spaghetti western than a modern action film. In the footage, Hex is almost mythological, a gunslinger whose story is bandied about among dusty townsfolk; in one shot, a crow climbs out of his mouth and flies away. As co-star John Malkovich announces, "The war begins here," Hex retorts (via editing), "I figured hell would be something like this," as trains explode and mayhem ensues. Hex's appearance is jokingly addressed ("I cut myself shaving") but never specifically explained: the right side of his face boasts a gaping hole that is sort of contained by stretched piece of flesh, and Brolin looks creepily authentic as the disfigured cowboy.

Then, of course, there's Fox, who spends most of the clip in a corset and pantaloons; she looks terrific, but it appears that her character is by no means eye candy, firing pistols with both hands and taking out would-be aggressors while dropping clever catchphrases. She was also the focal point of many of the questions once fans were availed of the Hall H microphone, but she deftly navigated her way around any of the less appropriate questions to talk about her character, whom she marveled about getting to play.

Fassbender is a relative unknown to most American audiences, but his anonymity should be short-lived after playing one of Malkovich's henchmen in the film, a guy who he says he took inspiration for from a combination of "Clockwork Orange and 1970s Riddler, Frank Gorshin." His appearance even in the clips was memorable, not the least of which because of his physicality (his face is covered with tattoos), but because his character has an anarchic quality that is the kind that audiences love to hate. Ironically, he was most emphatic about his work with the absent Malkovich, whom he described as "so softly spoken and yet so menacing" in the film.

As for the film's potential fantasy quotient, Heyward took a moment to clear up a few rumors. "There's no voodoo, no army of the undead," he said. "It's a western action picture." But Brolin called the film "a phantasmagoria of insanity," revealing his hope that other films will be influenced by their film, which he admits was itself was inspired as much by '60s and '70s spaghetti westerns as it was the comic book series.

Fox's appearance again distracted the crowd from the film itself, especially when an attendee made an inappropriate request for her to participate in a sex tape. (Thankfully his microphone was cut off and he was ejected from the room.) But her pantaloons, corset and bustier notwithstanding, Jonah Hex promises (perhaps unfortunately) to be less about the actress showing her ass and more about kicking those of others alongside Brolin, Malkovich and her male counterparts.

[Phoenix Dark]

The Temeraire Series

The Temeraire are a series of books we've optioned. I think it's going to be six books soon. I love the idea of the Napoleonic times, when there was a Navy and an Army, but there's also an air force, which are these dragon-like creatures. So the British have an air brigade, but the French do, too. You have these great, Napoleonic battles with flying dragons and ships.

I'm thinking about whether it should be some form of miniseries. With six books, I really don't like the idea of making a big-budget movie of the first book and it not doing well at the box office and suddenly that's the end of the series. Six books makes such a compelling story that I like the idea of adapting that as a series.

 

Interesting. I'd also love to see Jackson get involved somehow with the HBO adaption of Game of Thrones, assuming it gets picked up

[ManaByte]

Downey Jr. on Holmes:

"My take is what the puritans would expect, if the puritans knew what they were talking about," Downey said today at a press conference in San Diego. "Several of the most surprising things right off the bat are that oft associated props have never appeared in the short stories or novels. Even the long pipe is just something [William] Gillette used to not obscure his face on stage."

Downey even went back to original texts to add authentic Doyle lines to the script. "'It's tough to make bricks without clay,'" Downey quoted. "There's a million of them; they're the best lines to say. I really do think Doyle was an amazing writer and storyteller. I didn't quite know how great he was until we would keep reaching out to find quotes, things he said, descriptions he said, really more philosophical points of view that Doyle used through Watson and Holmes."

[The Fake Shemp]

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched to see Sherlock Holmes.

[ManaByte]

I would have loved to see the look on the crowds faces when he said that.

[Barry Egan]

Tron looks sick.  And with Daft Punk?  Fuck yeeeaaaaaaaaa 

[Dickie Dee]

I read the first couple Temaire books, I thought they were pretty poorly written, but the basic plot outline could make for a pretty kickass movie.

[Eel O'Brian]

still think jonah hex is gonna be a turd

[ManaByte]

Wil Wheaton spotted him. It's apparently the same guy who got thrown out of Otakon for stalking underage girls.

[Great Rumbler]

(Image removed from quote.)

Wil Wheaton spotted him. It's apparently the same guy who got thrown out of Otakon for stalking underage girls.

The picture isn't showing up and the url doesn't work.

[ManaByte]

Oh, it was the Pedobear guy.

[Mr. Gundam]

What's with all the Star Wars stuff being announced early? Makes me wonder what they're saving for the actual panel that's airing on G4 in 45 minutes...

[ManaByte]

The panel was last night. G4 is distinguished mentally-challenged.

[Mr. Gundam]

The panel was last night. G4 is distinguished mentally-challenged.

What the hell?

Well, actually, that's not bad. Who the hell is home on a Friday night? I'm not.

[ManaByte]

No, G4 is distinguished mentally-challenged as they are advertising it as LIVE coverage.

[border]

What Star Wars announcements have there been?

I thought they were supposed to be talking about the live-action TV show....