Quentin Tarantino, ‘Iron Man 3′, ‘The Hobbit’, ‘Pacific Rim’, Juice Comic-Con Saturday
Luke Y. Thompson is contributing to Deadline’s Comic-Con coverage. This year’s event runs July 12-15.
Ever since 20th Century Fox showed the naked wrestling scene from Borat a few years ago at Comic-Con, the convention has been a lot stricter about R-rated clips, and companies like The Weinstein Co. and Lionsgate have scheduled off-site events for edgier genre fare such as Machete and the later Saw sequels. But when an icon of pop culture asks for a panel at the biggest pop-culture
convention, well, you give Quentin Tarantino a Saturday slot in Hall H to show Django Unchained clips. Cast members who’ll attend were not announced in the Saturday lineup posted today. That may mean they probably don’t know if Jamie Foxx’s schedule will allow it for sure (last time I remember him coming down was for Stealth. Remember that one?). Similarly, the special guests for Marvel’s Iron Man 3 panel also remain anonymous so far, though I’ll be amazed if Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t show up, as he tends to make appearances every year. Expect that Marvel panel to also show something for Thor 2, and maybe make a more formal announcement about Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man and the Russo brothers’ Captain America sequel.
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The Warner Bros-Legendary panel is shaping up as the must-see of the show, with footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Zack Snyder’s Superman movie Man Of Steel the obvious draws, and Pacific Rim (aka Guillermo del Toro’s “giant fucking monsters against giant fucking robots”) likely to please. Rumors have been circulating that there may be another giant monster in the house, as Legendary has a Godzilla remake in the pipeline. It would also be a big deal if they announced anything about the movie based on the Mass Effect video games, mentioned as being in development last year, and hugely anticipated by gamers. Guests for this panel, again, are not yet confirmed, but Snyder can never stay away from the Con, and we’d be amazed if Henry Cavill didn’t tag along.
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There’s always one studio that tries piggybacking a movie which isn’t much of a fit on top of another, and this year it’s Open Road Films, who have the Silent Hill 3D sequel — which is a potential hit with the gamer-horror crowd who generally liked the first one — and End Of Watch, which isn’t. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena as cops in South Central … unless they’re fighting ghosts or monsters (and they aren’t), this is just gonna play generically. If Open Road is smart, they’ll open with this to get people to stay for Silent Hill.
Columbia Pictures’ After Earth is a sci-fi epic starring Will Smith and Jaden
Smith, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, but neither of them are scheduled to come. Instead, screenwriter Gary Whitta and D.P. Peter Suschitzky will participate in a panel that also discusses the upcoming comic book, and takes place upstairs in regular-sized room 6A. Unusual move, but could be rewarding for those who skip the Hall H experience. As usual, Saturday will close out with Kevin Smith free-form yakking for two hours, and the Masquerade Ball.
Dude, Kevin Smith is nothing. A fine promoter. That’s all.
Yeah, you’re right. I mean, he’s only one of the founders of the 90′s indie movement with CLERKS. I guess accomplishments in this industry are so quickly forgotten.
There’s apparently a rule in fandom — once a person or a property becomes too popular, then it suddenly becomes fashionable to bash them.
Seems like Comic Con will be alot better this year. Last year’s SDCC sucked.
Superman will be poorly received as no one seems to understand that the old Supe id dead in the high tech imaginations of new millennium geeks.
Epic Fail.
Despite what Kevin Smith may think, he is no longer relevant. And even when he was relevant, he was a minor player at best.
Kevin Smith told a story about making Cop Out (it’s on one of his Q&A dvds, which are fantastic) and the struggles he had working with Bruce Willis. Bruce asks Kevin, the director, what lens he’s using for the particular scene. Kevin doesn’t know, and uses his hands to show Bruce the framing. Bruce asks again, what lens. As Kevin is telling the story, he makes Bruce seem like a bully, which he very well may be, but Kevin confesses he knows nothing about lenses. What?! After all those movies, some good, some bad (like most directors), he doesn’t know anything about lenses. I honestly lost some respect for Kevin “the filmmaker” after that story. He should never have been a director. Writer? Yes. Director? God no.
Will Smith should be ashamed of himself for turning down Django and agreeing to do something by M. Night Shyamalan, and he should really be ashamed of himself for doing MIB 3, Bad Boys 3′ and really ashamed of doing I, Robot 2.
I have noticed attempts to smear Will Smith’s decision to not accept the role of Django in Django Unchained and concluded that both Harvey Weinstein, Quentin Tarantino, and their fans are bullies.
Clerks didn’t start anything. The indie “movement” started in ’86 with Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It! and a year later with Robert Townsends “Hollywood Shuffle”. Kevin Smith is one of THE most over-rated non-funny/untalented film-makers in the history of film… he’s the white “Tyler Perry”.
EASY RIDER started the Indie Movement.
Yep. At least in the US it did.
You really could count the 4-walled, horror movies of the 50′s, technically, as indies.
most of the film noirs in the 40s and 50s were indies as well.
Will Smith is an excellent actor, with his eye firmly staring at how to make a dollar. Hence all the poor choices and sequels. He’s like Nic Cage, without the tax problems.
PS: I’m still surprised how nobody has made any ‘Is that a porn film?’ references to PACIFIC RIM.
Am I the only one disturbed at the news of the Russo brothers doing Cap 2? Don’t they do comedy? Something tells me this next wave of Marvel movies won’t be as good as the first.
That’s a ridiculous reason to lose respect for a director. First, maybe Bruce was doing that on every shot and Kevin just got so annoyed he didn’t answer. But even if he didn’t know what lens they were using on a particular shot, who cares? He’s not a DP. He has bigger concerns.
It is so weird to look at that list and know that the thing I’m most looking forward to seeing (until, well, they show the first footage from “Pacific Rim”) is “Silent Hill.” That original flick was something special.