WatchmenWatchmen is based on the graphic novel that is considered to be the Citizen Kane of comic books. Director Zack Snyder (300) introduced the film by showing us the first 22 minutes of the movie. Looks really cool - I'll certainly be there opening day. With a running time of 2.5 hours, I'm not sure if I can handle a midnight showing though. The opening scene is quite spectacular and appropriately brutal. There's still some of the slo-mo Snyder used in the 300 fight scenes. Rorschach looks badass. Afterward, the majority of the cast came out and did a Q&A. However, I was kinda distracted by Batman wandering around the hall. "Is that Batman in line?" asked Snyder (or maybe the moderator asked that).
Top to Bottom: Zack Snyder plus Moderator, Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, Malin Ackerman as Silk Spectre II, and Dave Gibbons (original artist of Watchmen)Caught the tail end of this panel. It's a small movie in the vein of old alien invasion movies. Stars Eric McCormack (Will from Will & Grace).
Star Trek
I was able to make my way towards the front of the room, so I could actually watch the panel without staring at the giant screens. Director JJ Abrams (Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible 3) came out and showed us a new trailer for the movie.
Top: JJ Abrams Bottom: Three on the left are Saldana, Pine, and QuintoThe 9
Based on an Academy Award nominated animated short, The 9 is about a group of ragdolls looking for their place in a post apocalyptic world. Elijah Wood, who voices the main character, and the director of animation gave a Q&A. Nice to know that Elijah is a self-proclaimed fellow geek. The trailer looks amazing, probably 'cause of the awesome soundtrack - the clips that were shown haven't sold me. This will be a movie I'll wait for the reviews for.
Up
We were treated to about 17 minutes of clips from the uncompleted movie. Funny stuff. The movie is described as an adventure movie with an 80 year old curmudgeon and a little cub scout. Director Pete Doctor (Monster's Inc) and Jonas Rivera gave a Q&A. There were a lot of good questions about the animation process and what they look for in a good animator. Later that evening they screened the first 45 minutes of the movie at the Metreon.
Terminator Salvation
Director McG brought out the cast of the upcoming Terminator movie. First he tried calling Christian Bale (although the voicemail recording was a girl's voice?), who was a no show, chastising him for not coming out to Wondercon. McG was a little crazy in his excitement. Standing on tables, calling up random audience members to join the panelists at the table (some guy who does an Arnold impression, and some guy just dressed up in ridiculous garb). We saw the new trailer coming out and a few clips with visual effects still uncompleted. I'm still not sold on the movie. Looks very Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Mad Max like.
Hopefully the movie asks some really interesting science fiction questions. I think they try to go into the question of at what point does a cyborg cease to become human and becomes a machine. For example, with hip replacements and other artificial stuff we put in ourselves, it doesn't seem too far fetched for there to be artificial heart replacements or artificial portions of our brains. What then, does it mean to be human? Also, John Conner (Christian Bale) has to trust the guy he's going to send to the past, to impregnate his mom, so that he can be born into existence. Weird, huh?
Left to Right: Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Bryce Dallas Howard, McGOkay, no convention would be complete without getting a quick free sketch from someone. I got one from Travis Charest. I have to admit, I haven't read any of the things he's drawn for, but I've always liked what I've seen of his art. Some of it is very Drew Struzan-esque. I left it up to him to choose what to draw.
And here's a crappy image of a guy dressed up as Pikachu:
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