Boing Boing » San Diego Comic Con

Attention Tolkien fans: There might be a third Hobbit movie (maybe)

Jamie Frevele — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:28:05 +0000

Don't get too excited yet, but Peter Jackson is talking about possibly turning the two Hobbit movies he just completed filming -- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again -- into a trilogy. Why? Because 1. Warner Bros. has the rights to the additional notes from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has all this groovy stuff in it that relates to The Hobbit, and 2. Jackson has all this extra footage lying around, just waiting to be seen. He spoke with Collider, warning that all of this is only in the earliest of stages:

Well, it’s very, very premature. We have got incredible source material with the appendices. There’s the novel, but then we also have the rights to use the 125 pages of additional notes where Tolkien expanded the world of The Hobbit. We’ve used some of that so far, and just in the last few weeks, as we’ve been wrapping up the shooting and thinking about the shape of the story, Philippa [Boyens], Fran [Walsh] and I have been talking to the studio about other things that we haven’t been able to shoot and seeing if we could possibly persuade them to do a few more weeks of shooting. We’d probably need more than a few weeks, actually, next year. The discussions are pretty early, so there isn’t anything to report, but there are other parts of the story that we’d like to tell, that we haven’t had the chance to tell yet. We’re just trying to have those conversations with the studio, at the moment.

I have a question: How hard would it be, really, for Peter Jackson -- a person who is Peter Jackson -- to "persuade" Warner Bros. that he can give the studio yet another epic Tolkien trilogy? Because that other one did fairly well, doncha know... (via Geek Tyrant)

Karl "Bones" Urban promises Star Trek 2 footage, shows us something else

Jamie Frevele — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:46:20 +0000

Karl Urban, who plays Leonard McCoy in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, promised Comic Con attendees that he'd show them new footage from the set of the wrapped sequel. But first: surfing. And a Judge Dredd teaser poster. Sorry, Cumberbitches. No Urban-spoilers today. (via Geeks of Doom)

Marvel announces it will continue making sequels to everything and then some other stuff

Jamie Frevele — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:02:44 +0000

While the DC filmmaking universe languishes and prepares to go into hibernation after Man of Steel is released next year, Marvel is doubling down on every movie it's made already. Can you really blame them? I mean, they're kind of on a roll here. Marvel execs -- such as Kevin Feige -- might also might be convincing themselves that S.H.I.E.L.D. is real and they are S.H.I.E.L.D., what with their official announcement at Comic-Con of "Phase Two." No, really, Marvel's slate of sequels is being referred to as "Phase Two," as if it was a second wave of Chitauri arriving on Earth. I just hope that Phase Two includes a certain cellist-dating S.H.I.E.L.D. agent...

While there was no Diamond Jubilee for Marvel like there was two years ago when the cast of The Avengers was first revealed (remember that, you guys?), it was still "exciting business as usual" with the panel for Iron Man 3, which featured Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle (making penis jokes, according to the AV Club, and that's just delightful, because what better people to watch make penis jokes, really?), and Feige, the head of Marvel Studios. That's where Phase Two was mentioned, and it's pretty straightforward what it's all about: all the sequels to all the Marvel movies that have been made in the last few years. There's Iron Man 3 hitting theaters May 3, 2013, plus Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier (coming April 4, 2012) and Thor 2: The Dark World (November 15, 2013). No real plot details about either of the latter two movies were revealed, but readers of the comics are speculating that the Cap sequel will include the return of Bucky Barnes, who we all saw fall to his death in the first movie. But since Bucky was resurrected as the Winter Soldier in 2005, then it kind of makes sense for people to speculate about something so blatantly obvious.

What did get some special attention was the non-sequel news, specifically new information about Guardians of the Galaxy -- expected to fill the August 1, 2014 slot -- for which Feige provided some concept art (a tease of which appears above; see AV Club for the full picture) as well as one of the characters, the Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant himself, Rocket Raccoon.

Don't be fooled -- just because you have seen a similar creature dead on the side of the road does not mean you should underestimate Rocket's superb marksmanship.

Edgar Wright, who was lying about being in London and not Comic Con while he was totally at Comic Con, also showed his test footage for Ant-Man also showed off his test footage for Ant-Man, which has also been officially confirmed. That video has not hit the web yet (because Wright must be holding a gun to someone's head), but Empire has a blow-by-blow:

It begins with two agents - ominous, shades-wearing - at the end of a long, white corridor. We pull back behind an air vent to reveal... Ant-Man, tiny as they come, sporting a red-and-black suit, with a mask that's a nod to the original Kirby design. ... He then jumps through the vent, runs along the corridor and zaps to normal size. The agents draw their guns. Ant-Man changes back and leaps INTO the mouth of one of the agents, knocking him out. He then grabs the tie of the other and flips him through the window. Agents dealt with, he changes back to normal size, enters an elevator and then zaps back down again.

All we know is that Ant-Man is really, truly happening -- no casting, no release date, basically nothing except precious hope.

Marvel unveils surprise plan to keep making Marvel movies [AV Club]

Overheard at Comic-Con: The new Community showrunners promise not to ruin the show

Jamie Frevele — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:15:17 +0000

Talk about those times when you really wish you could transport yourself to the opposite coast of a country for the nerdiest thing ever. There was a really fun-sounding panel for NBC's Community today, and it featured a reassuring quote from the new guys running the show, David Guarascio and Moses Port. You might recall that they were brought on when Dan Harmon was fired. Dan Harmon, the person responsible for creating the very specific, quirky voice of this hugely unique show. This show that is being banished to Friday nights following Whitney. Whitney. Whit. Ney. Here is what Guarascio had to say about preserving everything we love about Community:

"A couple of months ago, we were a lot like you: just huge fans of the show who thought it was one of the most special things on television," Guarascio said at the panel discussion. "Suddenly we're here, helping to keep it going. The only thing we care about is keeping it this weird, wonderful gem that it's always been. That's not gonna change."

Joel McHale went on to say that while it was going to be different moving forward with different people in charge of what he called "the greatest show in the history of television," he has confidence in them and vouches for their work.

"They're terrific guys and really good and a lot of the writers are back. So it's definitely like this strange transition time, but I'm still insanely excited to do the show. He [Harmon] will be missed and it's gonna be interesting to see how it all goes, but just talking to the writers -- they're breaking stories and they sound great."

But still -- no pressure. It's only the greatest show in the history of television.

'Community' Comic-Con Panel: New showrunners and cast make commitment to stay weird [HuffPo]

Overheard at Comic Con: The Walking Dead will be around for a while

Jamie Frevele — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:58:38 +0000

The creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman offered up this quote concerning the end of the series:

We have talked about an ending that we’d do if we ever got to that point, right before our joint suicide, but with the popularity of the comic, and now the show, I don’t see an end anytime soon.

So, that's a "No" on the end of the comic, right? Good to know.

Talking to the Walking Dead Panel [Bleeding Cool]

Neil Gaiman is writing a prequel to Sandman next year

Jamie Frevele — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:13:03 +0000

Last night at Comic Con, during a DC Comics panel that focused on its Vertigo imprint, it was casually mentioned that Neil Gaiman would debut a prequel to his Sandman series in November 2013. In a prerecorded message, he provided the following quote:

"When I finished writing The Sandman, there was one tale still untold. The story of what had happened to Morpheus to allow him to be so easily captured in The Sandman #1, and why he was returned from far away, exhausted beyond imagining, and dressed for war."

We thought you might be interested.

Neil Gaiman's writing a prequel to Sandman in 2013 [io9]

Comic-Con opens in San Diego

Jamie Frevele — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:54:48 +0000

Photo: Port of San Deigo (cc)

Yesterday was the official first day of San Diego Comic Con following Preview Night last night, and that means that stuff happened! The panels have commenced, the pictures are starting to surface, and here are some of those points of interest.

AMC's The Walking Dead booth gives everyone the Madame Tussad experience by letting attendees pose as one of Michonne's armless pet. They will most likely get to keep their arms, unless wax Michonne comes to life. Oh my god, I just pitched Night at the Convention!

Attention Browncoats: Go to The Mary Sue to find out when you'll be able to see the Firefly reunion panel on TV, because you know that 13 episodes and a movie was never enough.

There might not be any new movies rom the DC universe after The Dark Knight Rises and the new Superman come out, but the CW screened its new Green Arrow show -- entitled Arrow -- last night. G4 has a recap.

Bleeding Cool has reviews of three shows that are premiering this fall: The Following, 666 Park, and Cult. One of them (666 Park) has Terry O'Quinn in it, so it will probably be mysterious. Also, the whole "Number of the Beast" thing doesn't scream "ABC Family."

Ahead of the Adult Swim panels, the creators of The Venture Bros., Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, have discussed on Huffington Post how they've so successful incorporated LGBT characters into their show, saying that actually, they are also not women, nor former boy adventurers, nor necromancers, so writing a character with different sexuality is not actually that big of a deal. Hey, how about that? S.P.H.I.N.X.!

Remember that time Comic Con was about comic books and nothing else? There are still comic book things happening there, everyone! AV Club has a look at all the comics... that are being adapted into TV shows and movies. Okay, that was not what I was going for, but I'll take it. Among the planned adaptations: Joe Cornish adapting the graphic novel Rust and a TV series based on Zenescope's Alice in Wonderland graphic novels.

And, let's not forget that this is the very last Comic Con that will feature a Twilight panel. Until it's rebooted. The Hollywood Reporter summarizes the whole thing, which began with a moment for the fan who was killed outside of the convention and included a look at Stephanie Meyers' new movie (directed by Andrew Niccol) The Host.

But one of the cooler features was the panel for Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and Powerful, where the trailer was screened, and even though Bruce Campbell was missing from it, it looks pretty great. Fortunately for us, it has hit the web, so head on over to Cinema Blend to give it a watch.

San Diego Comic Con Roundup: Day -1

Jamie Frevele — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 02:12:14 +0000

Unfortunately, I am not at San Diego Comic-Con to cover it because, well, I am in New York. But in my travels through the internet today, I've found some interesting developments leading into Preview Night tonight. For starters: a logo for the new Evil Dead.

• Bleeding Cool found a banner for the remake--shooting right now--which has Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell on board as executive producers.

• Geek Tyrant has the trailer for the Trekkie documentary , William Shatner's Get a Life!, which is screening at 7:00 PM local time.

• Bleeding Cool spotted all the suits from Iron Man 3.

• io9 has a super-detailed flow chart about where everything is at SDCC and how to find it depending on your mood.

This is barely an amuse-bouche for the crazy feast of nerditude that is about to come our way: the show opens tomorrow. Alas, I'll be watching from the opposite coast.