In less than six hours from the time I started typing this sentence I will be on a plane leaving sunny Seattle, Washington for 80-degree weather and 70% humidity in the sauna known as San Diego for my fourth trip to the San Diego Comic Con and while this was the week we began looking at the potential Oscar nominees it is also the week we will take a look at next summer’s blockbusters. Then again, even Oscar has a presence at this year’s Con.
Of course, I could make a bit of a stretch citing the attendance from Oscar nominees (and some winners) including Peter Jackson, Denzel Washington, Jackie Earle Haley, Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Diablo Cody, Jason Reitman, Nicolas Cage, Terry Gilliam, Robert Zemeckis, Jennifer Connelly, Woody Harrelson and Don Cheadle, but I think you all know who I am talking about… James Cameron.
Cameron is sure to be the highlight of the weekend with Avatar, his first major feature film in 12 years. The film has a huge likelihood of being a major blockbuster and award season crossover and the first public screening of 3-D footage from the film is set to be part of a huge opening day on Thursday along with a packed weekend of comic-related feature presentations and stars.
My plan this year is to immediately post the big news out of the convention as well as keep up daily news reports as usual, but I also will provide daily diaries from the convention with news, notes and descriptions from as much as I can get out of every single moment. I have a mini video camera in hopes of bringing some video footage capturing the insanity and I am set up for an interview or two with folks that aren’t necessarily the made of steel, but iron sounds just about right…
It’s going to be a packed four days as you can see from my schedule below. I don’t think I will be able to get to everything listed below, but I am going to do my best and report back with what I find out.
Take a peek at what’s on the docket and stay tuned for daily diaries and I expect plenty of breaking news.
Disney: 3D Panel
- A Christmas Carol
- Robert Zemeckis
- Alice In Wonderland
- Tim Burton
- Tron
- Sean Bailey (producer)
- Steve Lisberger (writer)
3D Showcase
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- An extended 3D clip
- The Hole
- Director Joe Dante (Gremlins 1 & 2, Innerspace, Explorers, The Howling)
- Actress Haley Bennett (The Haunting of Molly Hartley)
- The Final Destination
- An exclusive clip in 3D
- Craig Perry (producer)
Summit Entertainment
- Sorority Row
- The cast of Sorority Row will debut footage from the film exclusive to Comic-Con 2009
- The Twilight Saga: New Moon
- Members of the cast will answer questions and debut never-before-seen footage
20th Century Fox
- Avatar
- The first public screening of 3-D footage
- Jon Landau and cast members
Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
- The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus
- Terry Gilliam (Time Bandits, Brazil, 12 Monkeys)
Overture Films
- Pandorum
- Ben Foster (X-Men: The Last Stand, 3:10 to Yuma, 30 Days of Night)
- Cung Le (The Ultimate Fighter)
- Antje Traue
Kick-Ass
- Kick-Ass
- World premiere footage from Kick-Ass
- Matthew Vaughn (Stardust, Layercake)
- Nicolas Cage
- Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad)
- Comic co-creator John Romita Jr.
- Others, including a surprise guest
Focus Features
- Thirst
- Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook
- Park will show clips from the movie and discuss his career
20th Century Fox
- Jennifer’s Body
- Footage screened
- Megan Fox
- Diablo Cody (writer)
- Karyn Kusama (director)
- Jason Reitman (producer)
Warner Bros.
- Where The Wild Things Are
- Max Records
- The Book of Eli
- Denzel Washington
- Mila Kunis
- Gary Oldman
- Gary Whitta (writer)
- Albert and Allen Hughes (directors)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Jackie Earle Haley
- Samuel Bayer (director)
- Brad Fuller and Andrew Form (producers)
- The Box
- Cameron Diaz
- James Marsden
- Richard Kelly (director)
- Jonah Hex
- Josh Brolin
- Megan Fox
- Jimmy Hayward (director)
- Andrew Lazar & Akiva Goldsman (producers)
- Sherlock Holmes
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Rachel McAdams
- Joel Silver (producer)
- Susan Downey (producer)
- Lionel Wigram (producer)
- Dan Lin (producer)
- Shorts
- Robert Rodriguez (director)
Disney: Animation Panel
- Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (both films being converted to 3-D)
- John Lasseter (Director)
- Lee Unkrich (Co-Director on Toy Story 2, Editor on Toy Story)
- Beauty And The Beast (also being converted to 3-D)
- Kirk Wise (Director)
- Toy Story 3
- Lee Unkrich (Director)
- The Princess and the Frog
- Ron Clements (Writer/Director)
- John Musker (Writer/Director)
- Ponyo
- Hayao Miyazaki (Writer/Director)
Focus Features
- 9
- Shane Acker (Director)
- Tim Burton (Producer)
- Timur Bekmambetov (Producer)
- Elijah Wood (Voice of 9)
- Jennifer Connelly (Voice of 7)
Sony Pictures Entertainment
- Legion
- District 9
- Peter Jackson (Producer)
- Neill Blomkamp (Director/Co-Writer)
- Sharlto Copley (Stars as Wikus)
Entertainment Weekly: The Visionaries (One of the best things from last years Con)
- James Cameron (Avatar)
- Peter Jackson (District 9)
Miramax
- Extract
- Mike Judge
- Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”)
- Mila Kunis (Forgetting Sarah Marshall)
- Kristen Wiig (“Saturday Night Live”)
Sony Pictures
- Zombieland
- Woody Harrelson
- Jesse Eisenberg
- Emma Stone
- Ruben Fleischer (Director)
- 2012
- Roland Emmerich
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment
- Iron Man 2
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Jon Favreau
- Scarlett Johansson
- Don Cheadle
- Kevin Feige
Roadside Attractions
- Mystery Team
- Dominic Dierkes
- Donald Glover
- DC Pierson
- Meggie McFadden
- Dan Eckman
- All-new Mystery Team short film
1:00-1:30 Overture Pictures
- Paper Heart
- Charlyne Yi
- Nick Jasenovec (producer/co-writer)
- Jake Johnson
