In the grand hall denoted only as “H”, swarms of Comic-Con goers were given a treat of global proportions. 24 minutes of James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar was screened for those on hand. Of course all recording devices were banned from use, but that didn’t keep bloggers away from their terminals as soon as the panel was finished. Here’s the low down of what we know was shown:

Jake Sully (being played by Sam Worthington) is shown entering a military briefing, confined to a wheelchair. We’re reassured by a gruff officer that it’s his job to keep them all alive… but (dun-dun-dunnnnnn) he assures the soliders in the room, including Jake, that he won’t be successful.

From here, we move quickly to a lab where we meet Jake’s ‘Avatar’, an artificial/alien body that will be piloted by Jake after his DNA is combined (via the Avatar program, natch) with the Na’vi alien race. We meet Dr. Grace Augustine (played by sci-fi fan favorite, Sigourney Weaver),  who helps load Jake into the Avatar machine, after a bit of playful banter.

Cue the special effects. We enter Oz, err, Pandora.

(more…)

As reported here earlier today, Twilight fans practically took over San Diego Comic-Con in a desperate attempt to get to be seated for the Twilight Saga: New Moon panel. Thousands of fans, many of them screaming with excitement, camped out in the hopes of being in the front row when the stars of the film, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner took the stage. Place-holding in line has become a huge controversy, and there were reports of minor scuffles over such disagreements  as anxious fans worried about where their place in the panel might be. The convention allowed the campers to come in a freshen-up in the morning, and many had high hopes of being spotted in the crowd by their favorite heartthrob. There are even reports of moms offering cash to people seated toward the front in exchange for switching seats with their daughters. By all accounts, the hours leading up to the panel could only be described as Frenzy, and New Moon has been a top trending topic off and on all day on Twitter. Right before the panel, many heartbroken fans were tweeting their sadness at not being able to get into the panel.

Earlier in the day, there was a press conference where the actors were asked questions about the upcoming film. As press pictures were released, flamewars began as some fans became catty about the seating order and appearance of the stars (check out some of the comments at this site).All of the stars seemed to be slightly bewildered by the the full media onslaught of the press conference. Pattinson described the convention as “terrifying” but was reportedly more talkative than at last year’s con. When asked about their new-found fame, Lautner replied “None of us saw it coming, and this past year has been a ride for us.”

In the hour prior to the panel, a rumor began to circulate that Robert Pattinson would not be in attendance at the panel. The Twitterverse did a collective sigh of relief when he was apparently spotted with some guards about 15 minutes before start time. Once the panel began, sites seemed to be crashing from overload left and right. The second someone posted a link to an alleged live feed, that site was overloaded with fans hoping to get a peek at what was going on. All accounts were likening the screaming crowds to the cacophony of fans at early Beatles concerts.

(more…)

If it’s a major convention, it must be Mondo Marvel. Panelists included Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, Jason Aaron (Wolverine: Weapon X), Dennis Calero (X-Men Noir), Matt Fraction (Invincible Iron Man), Paul Tobin (Models, Inc.), Frank Tieri (Dark Reign: Lethal Legion), Steve Wacker (Spider-Man editor), Jim McCann (New Avengers: The Reunion), and C.B. Cebulski (Marvel talent liaison) gathered to discuss Dark Reign, Marvel Adventures, and pretty much everything else the House of Ideas has on its plate. Newsarama’s got the liveblog, but here are some highlights:

• Black Widow: Deadly Origin by Paul Cornell and Rom Raney is four issues, starting in October. “Some deep, dark secrets from her past,” said Quesada.
• X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain is out in November, featuring the same team of Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero.
• Captain America/Black Panther is a 4-issue series by Reggie Hudlin and Denys Cowan, involving Black Panther’s father.
• Paul Tobin talked about the “bold new direction” for the Marvel Adventures line, with Quesada saying that they’re bringing “cohesion” to those books.
• Andy Diggle and Roberto de la Torre on Daredevil, starting in September.
• Matt Fraction got a compliment for “giving Colossus his balls back.” Yep.
• Quesada said that Allan Heinberg is in the midst of writing a “massive” story involving the Young Avengers.

More One More Day discussion, the return of Fantomex, and true tales of cosplay gone wrong at the full Newsarama liveblog as well as Marvel’s own recap.

Johnny Depp made an unannounced appearance at the 3D Disney panel at Comic-Con 2009, generating a roar of approval from the crowd. Depp will be playing the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s upcoming film, Alice in Wonderland, due out in March 2010. Burton himself made his Comic-Con debut as a panel guest. The panel also featured footage from the Alice film, as well as from A Christmas Carol (November 2009), and images from the new Tron film that just wrapped filming, whose official title will be Tron Legacy. Jeff Bridges and other cast members were there to answer questions.

Also on hand were director Robert Zemeckis (A Christmas Carol) and panel moderator Patton Oswalt (voice of Remy in Ratatouille).

Here are more details about what went on at the panel — including tantalizing remarks from Zemeckis about Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.

TheOneRing.net hosted a Hobbit movie panel at SDCC, and some interesting new details were revealed: first and foremost, they’re splitting it into two movies. The word is that they found a transition-point that seemed natural and would allow for them to add some extra details from the appendices from the book. They are looking at a holiday 2011 release (at least for the first film), and they’re 95% sure that Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellen, and Andy Serkis are returning to reprise their roles. In fact, Richard Taylor (from WETA) quoted McKellan as saying “Just tell them, I’m waiting for a phone call from Middle-earth.”

The first draft of the script is apparently still in the works, but with writers Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro hard at work, many fans are already very excited for the release. Just who will be playing Bilbo Baggins has not been released, and many details about the films are still being kept secret. WETA has already been working on details for nearly a year, so one can speculate that the scenes and visual details will be as meticulously attended to as in the LOTR films. For those who want to get back onboard the Middle-Earth bandwagon right away, it is rumored that del Torro, the film’s director, frequents the chat boards at http://www.theonering.net/ (where you can also find some behind-the-scenes sneak-peaks of what WETA is up to in preparation for the films). There is apparently also going to be a cruise to Middle Earth in 2010, and a scavenger hunt (with nifty prizes from WETA) at Comic-Con.

For the more details on what happened at the panel, check out G4’s liveblog here.

(Jenifer Rosenberg contributed to this report.)