San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog

Yes, Hall H is a magical place. It’s where the biggest movies at Comic-Con go to premiere footage and bring out the star power. It is also packed, sweaty, hard to get into, and huge enough that most people won’t even be able so see the talent on stage. Many attendees (including me) have gotten used to this and spend much of their SDCC time in the Hall, but for those who don’t want to, here are some movie panels that are in the smaller rooms of the con:

10:30-11:30 Danny Elfman— From Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure to Alice in Wonderland, composer Danny Elfman discusses his 25-year collaboration with director Tim Burton. Their legendary partnership includes such films as Beetle Juice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Joining Mr. Elfman will be Warner Brothers Records executives to announce their plans to celebrate this quarter-century milestone. Room 6BCF

10:30-11:30 TheOneRing.net Talks The Hobbit movies— Chris Pirrotta, Cliff Broadway, and Larry D. Curtis, staff members from TORn (the gold standard of fansites and a consistent breaking news source) talk about the latest on the two coming Hobbit films, including mainstream news, spy reports, and rumors. Special guests are a possibility; audio and visuals are a given with a Q&A and all sorts of fun. Room 7AB

11:00-12:00 That Chris Gore Show— Attack of the Show’s film expert Chris Gore promises a glimpse into geekdom and a raucus Q&A. Gore will show a preview of his upcoming documentary, present a sneak peek of his new show, and finally answer the burning question, what is the greatest DVD of all time? Room 5AB

11:00-12:00 The Clockwork Girl— The Clockwork Girl is in production as a stereoscopic 3D computer generated feature film based on the comic book series published by Arcana. Producer Sean O’Reilly will talk about how CJ Entertainment financed Dreamworks Animation in 1995 and is now behind The Clockwork Girl through Luximation Animation.Alexa Vega (Spy Kids) and Sean Covel and Doc Wyatt (Napoleon Dynamite) talk about the feature film and show an exclusive featurette for The Clockwork Girl. Room 9

1:00-2:00 Digital Bits: Blu-ray Producers 2010— Bill Hunt, Adam Jahnke, and Todd Doogan (of TheDigitalBits.com) drill down on the latest DVD and Blu-ray developments with some of the leading special-edition producers in Hollywood! Panelists include Cliff Stephenson (Rambo: Director’s Cut, Expendables), Charles de Lauzirika (Robin Hood, Alien Anthology), Javier Soto (Predators, Mimic, The Devil’s Backbone), and Brian Ward(Transformers, G.I. Joe, Max Headroom). Don’t miss out on all the insider scoops, audience Q&A, and sneak peeks at great upcoming discs! Room 32AB

2:00-3:00 Walt Disney Animation Studios: Character Creation!— Throughout the years, Walt Disney Animation Studios has brought us some of the most memorable, unique, and appealing onscreen characters. Disney Animation’s upcoming release Tangled introduces a fresh and irresistible new bunch. Nathan Greno and Byron Howard (directors), Glen Keane (animation supervisor), and other artists from Tangled discuss the creation of their unforgettable characters. Room 5AB

3:00-4:00 Masters of the Web— Hollywood writer/producer Roberto Orci (Cowboys & Aliens, Transformers, Star Trek) and AMC Theatres blog editor John Campea(AMCTheatres.com/ network/ scriptscreen), moderate a panel of the most popular movie website personalities as they come together to discuss how new media has influenced moviemaking and marketing, what it takes to run a popular site, and much more in a panel discussion and Q&A session. The panel consists of Jen Yamato (former senior editor of Rotten Tomatoes, now writing for Cinematical, Hitfix, Film.Com and FEARnet), Edward Douglas (Coming Soon.net), Vic Holtreman (Screenrant.com), Mike Sampson (Joblo.com),George “El Guapo” Roush (Latino Review.com). Erik Davis (Cinematical.com), and Devin Faraci (CHUD.com). Passes to the annual, highly anticipated “From Dusk til Con” party will be given out to a few lucky attendees, and one attendee will win a pass good for one year of free movies at any AMC Theatres location. Room 32AB

9:30-11:45 Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated Screening and Panel Discussion—NOTLD: R is a collection of animated and illustrated responses created by nearly 150 international artists/animators and arranged to the original 1968 film’s audio track by curator Mike Schneider. Contributing artists John Chesnut and Josh Barnett (claymation and cut-out animation), Jacquelyn Bond (watercolor paintings), Grant Fuhst (mixed-media artwork),Sean Williams (hand-drawn animation), Zina Lahr (toy modification/ experimental animation), Brad Uyeda (stop-motion animation), Anthony Amos (digital animation), andEric Schock (comic book illustration) meet to screen NOTLD: R (which comes out on DVD July 27), discuss their involvement with the project, and take questions. Moderated by Beth Accomando (KPBS film critic). Giveaways at the screening will include horror-hosted DVDs ofNOTLD: R and limited-edition teaser posters. Room 5AB