The San Diego Comic Con happens this week and contrary to what you might have heard, it's more than shwag girls in Wonder Woman outfits tantalizing geeks into handing over their credit card information. It's also a lot more than comics. Comic Con is heaven for movie and TV geeks too and Cinema Blend's own Katey Rich will be hopping a plane to put her feet on the ground in San Diego in less than 24 hours, where she'll drown us in an unending stream of California awesomeness.
How do you know Comic Con is good? Because half a mile away are some of the most beautiful beaches in the United States, yet somehow no one ever remembers to bring a swimsuit to the convention. Beaches? What beaches? Instead we're working ourselves up into a frenzied anticipation over just what this year's Con has in store. As a primer, to get you ready for what's headed our way here on Cinema Blend, below is our quick hit Comic Con list of the things we're hoping to see, and the people we just can't stand to miss. Browse below, and then make sure you're glued to Cinema Blend starting Wednesday for our complete coverage of these and all the other amazing things this year's Comic Con has up its sleeve.
Information That Could Make This A Free System Again
Last year Disney debuted test footage for Tron 2.0, dangling it out there almost as if to test whether we were interested. The world went nuts. In response, they're actually making the movie and this year not only will Comic Con audiences see actual footage from the movie, but maybe they'll also found out just what the hell it's going to be called. Please oh please oh please don't let it be TR2N.
Will Tim Burton Continue To Molest Our Childhood?
He turned Willy Wonka into a pedophile, what happens when Tim Burton tackles yet another classic, childhood literary masterpiece? If the concept art we've seen from Alice in Wonderland is any indicator, continue to scare the shit out of us, that's what. Alice in Wonderland will be knocking around during the big Disney panel alongside Tron and audiences will, hopefully, be treated to the first ever footage from Burton's trippy trip down the rabbit hole.
Discover Exciting Robert Rodriguez Projects Which Will Never Happen
Whenever Robert Rodriguez shows up anywhere he divulges a litany of incredible sounding future projects which, as it happens, never actually seem to happen. Last year he showed up talking about doing Red Sonja, even handing out t-shirts bearing an artist's rendition of his star Rose McGowan licking a blood-dripped sword. A year later Red Sonja is pretty much dead in the water and Robert has a whole new list of awesome sounding projects which will never happen to talk about. Show up, listen, and construct some sort of drinking game around everything he says that will, sadly, go nowhere.
Star Wars: It's Not Just For Homoerotic Hutts Anymore
Even though it's long since fallen out of fashion, the San Diego Comic Con continues to designate Friday as Star Wars day. In any other year this would probably be a good opportunity to skip out on the related panels, hit the convention floor, and ogle women in Wonder Woman costumes; but this year there's a chance, a small one mind you, that Star Wars may show up with something worth paying attention to. There's a Star Wars panel on the schedule right now in Hall H and the schedule claims it's there to talk about Clone Wars, which no one cares about. I'm betting that maybe, just maybe, instead Lucasfilm may finally show us something from that long gestating live-action Star Wars TV show we've been hearing about. Roll the dice, you'll either have your mind blown or be raped by gay, cartoon Hutts.
Hole Up With The Head Hobbit In Charge
Peter Jackson is crawling out of his New Zealand Hobbit hole and flying to San Diego for multiple Comic Con appearances where he'll mildly interest people in District 9 and, hopefully, blow our minds with talk of The Hobbit. That is if we're lucky. Or maybe he'll force us all to sit at attention where he praises Neil Blomkamp. Where's our Halo movie dammit?
Damn The Spoilers, Bring On The Funny!
Not every panel can be as mind-blowingly revelatory as that surprise debut of Tron 2 footage last year. Sometimes it's better simply to be entertained. If you've had it with stale studio presentations then make sure you're first in line for the infamous Lost panel with showstopping geniuses Damon Lindeloff and Carlton Cuse. You don't have to care about Lost to show up and laugh your ass off. Or for that matter, make sure you're present for whatever Kevin Smith does. The guy played Carnegie Hall after all, he's a world class communicator. His words are entertainment.
Amorphous, Unearned Anticipation At Last Substantiated
We've been talking about movies like Avatar and Kick-Ass for years now, with very little concrete evidence to prove their actual existence let alone anything real which might justify the amount of time movie blogs like this one have spent on them. That changes in a few days when at last something real will be seen both from James Cameron's Avatar and the considerably less groundbreaking though happily McLovin filled Kick-Ass.
Fight The Future
Fox recently announced that Futurama would return… only they're replacing the entire voice cast. Suck it Billy West! All of the show's original voice talent, including the recently sucked Billy West, will be on hand Saturday, to discuss the show and presumably lead fans in some sort of pitchfork wielding riot. Actually the panel's description promises a reality-show style announcement about whether Futurama lives or dies so, maybe there's a chance we'll get the words we really want to hear: Futurama's back and so is the cast.
What's In Favreau's Iron Underwear?
I'm not sure how many surprises Iron Man really has hidden in his cold metal underwear, but whatever there is you can bet director John Favreau will bring with him. Hopefully one of those surprises will be an appearance by Robert Downy Jr., but really I think what everyone is hoping for is footage. They just wrapped the movie yesterday, has he had enough time to get something together? I'm betting yes.
