The San Diego Comic-Con 2009 in Review

Published on Aug 7th, 2009
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Written by Ryan Hamelin
RyanHamelin@TheCinemaSource.com

You've read the reports, you've seen the pictures, and some lucky few of you were actually there to witness it, but we here at the site missed out on Comic-Con this year. Due to forces beyond our control we were unable to continue our annual tradition of sending writers from our site to the big industry shindig in San Diego, and it seems like it might have been one of the worst years to miss. That's not going to stop us, at least belatedly, from rounding up all the juicy tidbits from this year's show and providing our two cents on the upcoming 2009-2010 film season. Without further ado, lets get started"¦

Jonah Hex

The Jonah Hex panel at Comic-Con revealed multiple surprises. The first, that the film would be a violent and bloody affair (our money is on an R rating when all is said and done) and that the footage shown would reveal not one, but two Megan Fox sex scenes. In between the other news from around the Con, a tidbit regarding Oliver Stone's new Wall Street movie was dropped citing Mr. Brolin himself as Javier Bardem's replacement as the villain of the film. More on this as the story develops. The kickass new poster art can be viewed below:

Avatar

Yes everybody and their mother wanted to feast their eyes on James Cameron's Pandora goodness at this year's event (hell I would have considered flying out myself just to take it in) and out of the 25 odd minutes that were shown the consensus seems to be that the movie, while not as revolutionary as previously believed, will still manage to kick all kinds of ass. The surprise was that Cameron announced that August 21st will be unofficially christened "Avatar Day" as the studio plans to buy up all the Imax screen space they can to show 15 minutes of the film in Imax 3D"¦. FOR FREE!!!! That's right, if you get your butt to almost any Imax screen in the country, you will be privy to a free 15 minute look at Cameron's latest epic. How cool is that?

Oh yeah, and for those still wondering about the plot, here's the official press release:

In the epic action adventure fantasy AVATAR, James Cameron, the director of Titanic, takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination. On the distant moon Pandora, a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love — as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization.

The story's protagonist, Jake Sully, is an ex-Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. In order to participate in the Avatar program, which will give him a healthy body, Jake agrees to travel to Pandora, a lush rainforest environment filled with incredible life forms "” some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also the home to the Na'vi, a humanoid race that lives at what we consider to be a primate level, but they are actually much more evolved than humans. Ten feet tall and blue skinned, the Na'vi live harmoniously within their unspoiled world. But as humans encroach on Pandora in search of valuable minerals, the Na'vi's very existence is threatened "” and their warrior abilities unleashed.

Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na'vi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies in the real world, controlled by a human driver through a technology that links the driver's mind to the Avatar body. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake can be whole once again. Moreover, he falls in love with a young Na'vi woman, Neytiri, whose beauty is matched by her ferocity in battle.

As Jake slides deeper into becoming one of her clan, he finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Na'vi "” forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world.

Conceived 14 years ago and over four years in the making, AVATAR breaks new ground in delivering a fully immersive, emotional story and reinvents the movie going experience.

Oh yeah, and check out the brand spanking new poster art that just hit the web:

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Terry Gilliam is back. From all accounts the film rocks, Heath Ledger is marvelous, and the three actors who help Ledger to finish the role he started (Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law) each apparently kick all kinds of ass. Here are the latest pics and clips from the show.

Clip #1

Clip #2

Clip #3

The Book of Eli

Just watch the trailer, enough said.

The Book of Eli Trailer

Now, here's the actual news from the panel. One Gary Oldman decided to drop this doozy of a scoop about Batman 3, "we start shooting early next year, you didn't hear that from me." Between when he left the stage and when the nearest reporter got him to elaborate on that explosive sound bite, Warnerbros. already had him back pedaling. David Goyer has also since released a statement saying that Nolan is "busy with Inception" and that any further film plans remain unconfirmed. Look for this story to continue to develop over the next few months as Inception gets closer to completion.

Tron Legacy

Besides a ridiculously cool Flynn Arcade presentation, the unveiling of the new cycle, and showing off the concept trailer from last year's Comic-Con in 3D, the filmmakers behind Tron Legacy also debuted some new footage from the film that had Hall H roaring its approval. The concept footage has made its way online in good quality as a sort of teaser trailer for the flick, which can be seen below, and new reports reveal that Michael Sheen has been cast as the not-necessarily-human villain in the new film. Only time will tell.

Tron Legacy Teaser Trailer

2012

Roland Emmerich. End of the world. Again. Despite the audience fatigue surrounding disaster movies, one director has managed to produce the kind of visually destructive spectacle that was once reserved for the Statue of Liberty at the end of Planet of the Apes. Between Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, the earth is never safe when Emmerich steps behind the lens, and if the footage at the Con was enough to get James Cameron to geek out about it in front of a reporter, you know this one's going to be one hell of a ride. The new decidedly horrifying poster art is below.

Iron Man 2

You've probably heard all about this one already. They showed some crappy green screen behind the scenes footage, Robert Downey Jr. told them to grow a pair and give the audience some real stuff, and Jon Favreau obliged. Among the highlights, Scarlett Johanssen kicking the crap out of a load of goons, Mickey Rourke hurling his character's trademark electrified whips through the air, and Rhodes getting the chance to try on War Machine's armor for the first time. Some new pictures follow this post as a way of tiding you over until the trailer gets officially released some time this fall.

UPDATE: Bootleg Footage Released

Comic-Con Iron Man 2 Footage Bootleg

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Not many people are choosing to report on this one which I think is sad as I just wrote a whole column wondering where the finished film is. Turns out it is coming out on November 1st, the panel at Comic-Con was an absolute blast, and the trailer which was supposed to premiere to the world yesterday is on its way out for national consumption. I will be sure to add the trailer below here when it finally premieres.

The Boondock Saints II Trailer

If it seems like there was a lot going on, that's because there was. There were a lot more panels and events that I haven't even had a chance to cover for you here, but hope you will learn more about them as the studious officially unveil their tentpole movies. Fingers crossed that next summer manages to be everything this summer could have been but wasn't.

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