Banner 960

SDCC 2012 – Saturday Round-Up: Hobbit, Man of Steel, Marvel Phase 2 and Ballroom 20

I don’t think anyone will argue with the statement that Saturday at SDCC 2012 will surely go down in Con history as one of the best Hall H days ever. And that’s ignoring all the awesome stuff going on outside the Hall doors. Now that the day is finally coming to a close, we’re once again rounding up all of what went down in Ballroom 20 and Hall H. Read on!

Hall H

Django Unchained – Tarantino is basically con royalty by now and he kept Hall H happy with some great new footage of his western re-imaigning. Sure, much of the conversation revolved around how awesome he and the movie will be, but it was hard to argue. Plus Tarantino revealed that Django is a ancestor of Shaft. So that was awesome.

Silent Hill Revelations / End of Watch – Neither film came in with much excitement or expectations but that may have been a good thing. Silent Hill had the cool news it’s being turned into a creepy Universal Studios theme park attraction (that will use the actual sets) and the panel’s enthusiasm for the film bumped up opinions on the footage from negativity to neutrality. Cop drama End of Watch was a weird fit but the film itself looked pretty impressive with interesting POV elements and attention keeping characters.

Warner Brothers – This was a landmark Comic-Con panel. WB busted out two extra giant screens on either side of the stage and then proceeded to pummel attendees into happy submission with great Pacific Rim footage, followed by a great Godzilla pre-production trailer, a very funny Ferrell / Galifianakis Q&A for The Campaign, a great first Man of Steel trailer, and a great 12 minutes of Hobbit footage. So yeah, pretty great. There wasn’t a slow moment or sour note in the whole panel and it just started so strong before going up even further. All four films jumped straight onto many best-of-the-con list.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Iron Man 3 / Marvel – But then Marvel came back with a vengeance, announcing Thor & Cap sequels, confirming Guardians of the Galaxy, showing the cool Ant Man test reel, and an impressive sizzler reel for Iron Man 3. It was “Phase 2” of the Marvel Movie Universe and fans ate it up. The Iron Man Q&A only confirmed that the film is far from a cash grab and that it should be much more interesting and original than Iron Man 2.

The ‘Once Upon A Time’ Panel

Ballroom 20

Warehouse 13 – Less a discussion and more an informal cast & crew hangout, the Warehouse 13 panel still left plenty of time for fan appreciation as well as a sneak peek of season four. The Q&A was lively and all the panel members seemed genuinely thankful for fans in the audience that have gotten them into such a big room.

Once Upon A Time – Taking a bit more formal approach, this panel mainly discussed plans for their second season which they won’t even start filming for a week. The big reveals: Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, and Captain Hook will be featured on the show next season. Taking full advantage of that ABC/Disney crossover.

Futurama – The cast and crew came out in full force, showing part of an upcoming episode and previewing some future story lines. The real fun was at the end of the panel though, as series heads Sandoval and Groening competed in a drawing contest. They had three minutes to draw a Futurama inspired image and the crowd crowned Sandoval winner. There was even a costume contest to wrap things up. Loose and fun, much like the show.

The Simpsons – A fun if not particularly memorable panel, they showed the short in theaters now with Ice Age as well as a section of the upcoming Treehouse of Horror. Other than that it was mostly obscure trivia and funny voices. With so many Simpsons panels in the past, it’s hard to expect much more.

Family Guy / American Dad – Again, what do you expect? It’s Seth MacFarlane being funny, showing clips from the upcoming seasons, and partaking in very odd Q&A’s (one fan ate a jar of mayonnaise while asking their question). Biggest news was on the American Dad side, as future guests voices Nathan Fillion, Jon Hamm, Rupert Grint, and Sara Michelle Gellar were announced.

The Vampire Diaries – Plot details for the upcoming season were all but nonexistent but the panel was still a big hit with the stars answering tons of Twitter submitted Q’s that were (luckily) moderated down to the very best. It was a lot of fun trivia and the cast really seems to love being on the show. For everything revealed plot-wise, head over to TVFanatic.

True Blood – A montage of clips from the rest of the current season included (via AP) “Lafayette channelling spirits, Tara working as a burlesque dancer, and Sookie trying to forget about Bill.” In addition the cast joked about how much fun the show is to make and praised creator Alan Ball who announced he’s leaving the show. For fans of the series, it seems like the biggest draw was just seeing so many of the starts in one place.

Did you have a favorite panel? Or one you were most angry you missed? Leave a comment!

 

Tags
Scroll to Top