San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog

Yesterday, foodies at the con rejoiced at the news the San Diego food trucks would be out in full force during the con. The website sdfoodtrucks.com gave the specifics on what cuisine we can expect to be present and where the trucks would be located. Does “Chop Sooey, Patty Melt, Super Q, Asian Persuasion, Two For The Road, Devilicious, SD Street Eats, Flippin Pizza and Green Truck” get your mouth watering?

But they might have given up something far more delectable.

Here’s the quote:

The entrance will be off 1st Ave, right next to the Comedy Central interactive park.  Warner Brothers and Disney will also be doing projects in the lot.

What could it be? Warner Bros. is all over the show, so it could be anything from a big blockbuster movie to a push for a new TV show. And what about Disney? Could it be a tie-in with a Disney XD show, like Tron: Uprising? Hands on their Disney Universe game from Disney Interactive? Or when they say Disney do they mean Marvel? Only a couple of days until we all find out.

Thanks to readers Zach Marcus and Jeremy Wein who pointed out this buried treasure.

Okay, let us get all sentimental for a second. Comic-Con isn’t just big Hollywood events. it’s about comics, too – let’s not forget that. And Comic-Con has lots of comic publishers and creators, from the mega-popular to the ultra-obscure. Somewhere in the middle is one of my favorite comic book companies, BOOM! Studios. Being a father, BOOM!’s kids line of books, now under the KABOOM! label, has the perfect lineup to start my children reading comics at an early age. And their classic Disney licenses, like Darkwing Duck, Ducktales, and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, to the recently acquired Peanuts comics, speak to the kid in me as I’m able to share my childhood delights with my children.

So last year, the first booth I visited was BOOM!’s, and had Travis Hill sketch me a custom Toy Story cover. I have this framed in my son’s bedroom. And everytime I see it, I get such joy out of being able to share something I love with my kids.

BOOM! Studios announced their booth schedule for Comic-Con 2011, and I couldn’t be more excited. Again, they have a signing and panel schedule that speaks to both the adult and kid in me. Personally, I couldn’t be more excited to see that Warren Spector, the famed video game designer who brought us such games as Deus Ex and Epic Mickey, at the booth supporting his Ducktales comics for the publisher. They also have a great lineup of Comic-Con exclusive variants, such as the aforementioned Ducktales, Planet of the Apes, and a Definitive Irredeemable Vol. 1 exclusive, signed and numbered by Mark Waid.

Thank you, BOOM! Click past the jump to see the entire line-up.

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The debate on whether or not Comic-Con can really help a movie’s box office continues to rage on, but studios haven’t seemed to notice. They know SDCC is still an amazing place to get the buzz going or bring it to a massive level for the films that can impress the crowds. 2011 is looking to be one of the biggest years for movies so far and the possibilities for what could be shown are huge. I looked through all the potential picks and chose the twenty films most likely to make big impact at the con. Will they all have a huge panel with amazing footage? Definitely not. But some likely will and others might be heavily promoted on the show floor. Check out the predictions after the break.

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Friday was another great day at the con. Though not as busy as other days there was still a lot of fun stuff. Check out the details here:

(Check out all my photos at http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad225/SDCC_Blog/ )

1. Warner Brothers Pictures

-Where the Wild Things Are – This was really a great panel. The kid who plays max was there and great. They showed some clips and a recut of the trailer to wondrous applause. IT looks great and really different and was visually amazing! This was a big hit!

-Book of Eli – First they showed a boring clip to the motion comic and then they showed a pretty bad trailer for the movie but then they had the entire cast. This included Denzel, Gary Oldman, and Mila Kunis! They were great together and the Q&A was way better than the footage. Too bad the movie looks so bad! Gary Oldman also announced that Batman 3 would start shooting next year!

-Nightmare on Elm Street – A pretty scary trailer was shown but there wasn’t much of Haley in the trailer. He was at the panel though and though there were many watchmen questions it was still a decent q&a.

-The Box – A 4 minute trailer was shown that made it look ok. It was hard to judge since it was mostly random weird clips but both Diaz and James Marsden was at the panel and it was a decent q&a.

-Jonah Hex – Trailer was shown. Looked pretty good considering they had such a small budget. It had a very big scale. Brolin and Fox were there and they had a really funny q&a.

-Sherlock Holmes – Extended trailer shown and it looks really cool. Downey was great for the entire panel and drove people insane! People loved the footage and Downey charmed his way through the entire Q&A!

2. Disney Animation

-Toy Story 1 & 2 3D trailer was shown. Sure we’ve seen both movies before but not in 3D!!! (I’m not impressed)

-Beauty and the Beast is coming in 3D!!!! (Big Whoop)

-Ponyo was shown. Looked good but much more mainstream then Miyazaki’s movies. He was there and was given a huge standing ovation!

3. 9

-Missed most of the panel but saw the final trailer that was very impressive and cool!

-They had a lot of star power like Tim Burton and Elijah Wood but that made most of the Q&A questions “I’m your biggest fan”.

-Not as good a panel but still looks like a good movie!

4. District 9/Legion

- Legion – Looks horribly bad. There are angels with machine guns, evil ice cream men, and old killer grandmas. And it’s a completely serious movie. It was just sad!

-District 9 – They showed a 7-minute trailer and it looked really great! Was super intense and looked way better than earlier trailers. Peter Jackson also had his first appearance and made it a good one. He also said that the Hobbit script would be done in 4 weeks and casting would start in 2 months. Overall D-9 looked really good!

Winners: Tie between District 9, Sherlock Holmes, and Where the Wild Things Are!

Flynn’s Arcade:

-This was some of the best marketing I’ve ever seen! You stood outside a discreet building only labeled Flynn’s, you get inside and there are about 20 vintage 80’s arcade games, and you freak out. For about 20 minutes you can play the games while listening to some 80’s tunes and then the Tron Machine opens up and there’s a passage behind it. In the secret hallway there’s production art leading up to the big reveal, a full size light bike! It was awesome and you got to take pics. The score by Daft Punk was also playing and you got a shirt as you left! It was crazy cool and I hope they do it again tomorrow!

Overall it was a very good day!

Follow me on twitter @SD_Comic_con for more updates

And stay tuned tomorrow for another great day!

Thursday got the con kicked off to a great start! Heres the details:

Photos: Check out all my photos at http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad225/SDCC_Blog/

Panel Highlights:

1. Disney:

-Tron Legacy – New title revealed, pre-production pics (see them on photo link), cool new test footage, test footage from last year in 3D, 2D scene from movie shown. Daft Punk doing scoring. Test footage was cool and 2D scene was interesting but it’s too early to really tell. Should be huge next year though.

-Alice in Wonderland – Short trailer shown 3 TIMES! IT was worth it though! Great trailer set to time to pretend by MGMT. Johnny Depp showed up to say 3 words and then left. Tim Burton was fun. Not much footage but what was there looked great!

-A Christmas Carol – Robert Zemeckis showed off a clip/tailer thing and it looked really cool! More scarry and creepy then i expected and it had some great 3D. Not as good as the rest of the panel but it still looked good!

(Via Wired)

Disney’s official fan community D23 drops into Comic-Con International’s pop-cultural maelstrom for the first time this year, opening a booth filled with props and costumes from the studio’s mixed sci-fi history.

That’s good news for the Tron nuts making the annual geek pilgrimage to San Diego later this month, who will get a chance to scope the original Tron costume, whose design, viewable below, was created by legendary comics artist Moebius, otherwise known as Jean Giraud.

Combined with Comic-Con’s screening of the first official trailer from Tron’s forthcoming sequel, Tron 2.0, it should make for quite a head-trip back to the future.

D23, which launched earlier this year, has other memorabilia to share from its less amazing sci-fi releasesThe Rocketeer, The Black Hole, Condorman and Sky High in what it’s calling the Heroic and Robotic exhibition. And the fan club’s even handing out free, robot-centric lithographs from Disney artist Dave Pacheco to keep its booth humming.

But all eyes are on Tron 2.0, which could be Comic-Con’s crowd favorite after all is said and done. For its time, the original Tron was a blinding triumph. But computers have evolved so much since then, the mind reels at the coolness of what could come of a reboot, provided no one screws it up.

Costumes from movies such as the rocketeer will also be shown. Overall it seems like an exciting time to be a Disney sci-fi buff.

BURBANK, Calif. – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Animation greats Hayao Miyazaki and John Lasseter and directors Robert Zemeckis and Tim Burton will take part in their first ever Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center July 23-24. The filmmakers will be on hand to help Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures showcase a wide-ranging roster of upcoming films, including 3D juggernauts ALICE IN WONDERLAND, TRON and DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and animated gems THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, PONYO and the TOY STORY trilogy.

Zemeckis, Burton, Miyazaki and Lasseter will take part in industry panels.

COMIC-CON’S FIRST EVER 3D PANEL – Veteran directors Robert Zemeckis and Tim Burton join TRON producers Sean Bailey and Steve Lisberger on Thurs., July 23 at 11 a.m. for an unprecedented presentation featuring behind-the-scenes filmmaker insights about the highly anticipated 3D adventures DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and TRON. In addition to Q&A opportunities with each of the filmmakers, the 90-minute panel will feature never-before-seen concept art, trailers, actual 3D film footage and other Comic-Con-only footage debuts. In a groundbreaking technical feat, this is the first time ever that 3D footage will be shown at Comic-Con. Patton Oswalt will moderate.
ANIMATION PANEL – Animation legends Hayao Miyazaki and John Lasseter join veteran animation directors Lee Unkrich, Kirk Wise, Ron Clements and John Musker on Fri., July 24 at 12:45 p.m. for an animation panel which will highlight upcoming animated films, including Disney•Pixar’s TOY STORY/TOY STORY 2 double feature, Disney•Pixar’s TOY STORY 3, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ half-hour holiday TV special PREP & LANDING, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG and Miyazaki’s PONYO. John Lasseter will host the panel and Patton Oswalt will moderate a group Q&A following the presentation, which will include filmmaker insights, trailers and select film sequences.