Comic-Con '09 | Thursday (Day 2 of 5)
(left) Walking across the lawn to get in the Hall H line. San Diego was very gray and hazy in the mornings until the sun came out and burned it off.
(right) A girl in line dressed up as The Mad Hatter.
THURSDAY: Walking down the street to the convention center, the sidewalks were already filled before 9am. We were hoping to start with the Disney 3D Panel in Hall H (the largest room at the convention center, which holds 6,500 people and thus is where all the really big panels and presentations are held) but as we got closer, expectations lowered: 'Twilight' fans had camped out for their panel since the previous afternoon (people said anywhere from 18-22 hours in advance) and the queue line was packed. There were so many people already, that the line for Hall H filled the convention center's entire front lawn (see Perez Hilton's twitpic) and had stretched out across the street, down the block, and was filling up on the boardwalk near the harbor. Even after we got into line, people kept joining until the line on the boardwalk had doubled over on itself 3 times -- nearly 10,000 people all waiting to get into Hall H.
(left) The Hall H line BEHIND us, extending and wrapping around itself down the boardwalk.
(right) Kara! She and Matt both had their iPhones with them, which proved interesting and helpful throughout the week as they could read blogs and Twitter and find out how things were elsewhere in the convention, what panels had filled up, where Nathan Fillion was located, etc.
(left) Adam and a sleepy-looking Yoda backpak. We were never bored while in line: if we weren't talking to each other, we were talking with all the super-friendly geeks around us, or just checking out all the costumes, swag, and geek paraphernalia everyone had with them.
(right) The statuary on the convention center lawn, around which the Hall H line wrapped. That's the Padres baseball stadium in the background.
When the line finally started moving, we got all the way up to the chutes leading into the actual building (yes, we were cattle) and people were let in 20 at a time, until we got to the final 10 people in front of us and then they stopped. The head of security (whom I called 'cowboy hat') tapped the people in front of us on the shoulder and said that their chances of getting in for Disney were "pretty good", then he tapped me and said "less likely." As a result, for the rest of the trip I had the nickname "Less Likely," or "Less" for short. We chatted up another security guard while the stupid orange chain prevented us from entering, Matt jumped out of line to buy us all water, and the anticipation nearly killed me until they finally let us into the building!
(left) One of Adam's favorite anecdotal stories from the trip: While in the inside queue for Hall H, we all spotted this girl dressed up as Nibbler from Futurama, talking on her cell phone. I called out "Hey Nibbler!" and she turned around, said "Hang on a second" to her phone call, struck this pose, and then immediately went back to her phone call as if this was something she did every day.
(right) Deliciously neon "plastic nachos."
Once we got inside, we found that there was another queue line of 60-or-so people in front of us who still weren't inside Hall H! In the end, we didn't get in for Disney 3D and had to listen to odd muffled sound effects and audience cheers while we stood in the lobby. Bummer. But! We did cave and bought delicious "plastic nachos," as Matt called them, which proved to be our last time eating lunch for the rest of the trip.
(left) This photo doesn't begin to show how ginormous Hall H was. It was almost a disorienting illusion because it just kept going. The people you were going to see / hear were waaay up in the front, and mere specks to the naked eye. Thus, several high definition screens were hung throughout the hall which were of high enough quality that most of the photos I shot during panels were of the images on those, not of the people themselves.
(right, clockwise) Director Chris Weitz and actors Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson, and Kristen Stewart during the "Twilight Saga: New Moon" panel. All are photos taken of the projected images on the hanging screens.
Finally inside Hall H, we were handed 3D glasses and found four seats together near the back, settling in for the Sony Pictures all-3D panel. We were shown an extended trailer for "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" which I'm still holding out hope is fun entertainment; Director Joe Dante (of "Gremlins" fame) showed off a trailer and couple scenes from his new movie "The Hole" which is trying to be a kids horror movie but as a result of the demographic looked overly bland; and an extended full-on splatter-fest trailer for "The Final Destination" which, just like the previous ones, looks silly-snuff-film fun, but now with the blood and guts in 3D.
Next up was Summit Entertainment who showed off an unfinished "Astroboy" trailer, which I hope turns out well, a trailer for their slasher flick "Sorority Row," iintroduced by the complete cast of ladies, and then finally, amid ear-piercing shrieks the likes of which I've never heard before, brought out the panel for "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." It was the only time we heard people "boo" the entire convention, but they were easily overpowered by the entire front of the hall who'd been waiting in line an entire day for this. Director Chris Weitz seemed generally glad to be working again after his experience on "The Golden Compass," Robert Pattinson seemed to give a proverbial eye-roll to all his attention, while Taylor Lautner was in his glory and kept telling the fans that it "was all for them." Poor Kristen Stewart, however, looked mighty uncomfortable and like she might puke at any moment; it was obvious she wanted out of there and did NOT like all the attention she was getting for her role (the jet-black, ruffled hair and hardcore hoodie added to her facial expressions throughout). The panel talked, some clips with both male leads shirtless were shown, and the audience got to ask questions (or make statements: "Hello my name is Twilight and I am a Dracula"). In the end, it was actually quite the entertaining panel, but it was impossible not to notice when our suspicions were realized and after the panel ended nearly HALF of the hall completely cleared out. Blurg.
(left) Adam and I in the sleek Dolby-produced 3D glasses (photo by Kara). Besides the headwear, Dolby should also be congratulated for the ricockulous sound system in Hall H: louder and clearer than just about any movie theater I've ever been in. Balls-to-the-wall bass, too.
(right) James Cameron, introducing "Avatar."
Next up, the one we'd all been waiting for. James Cameron came out to introduce footage from his first narrative film since "Titanic," 14 years ago: a new sci-fi adventure that had been hyped up to wazoo called "Avatar." Cameron continued his veil of secrecy through the introduction, telling us that he didn't want to tell us the plot and just wanted us to see it for ourselves ... with 30 minutes of footage from the film. The crowd exploded in applause and shocked "WHOA!"'s. Pretty darn cool. So we slipped on our glasses and watched a series of scenes in linear order but not chronological. Billed as the next evolution in the performance capture technology that brought us Gollum and "The Polar Express," it was insanely impressive how much avatar creatures resembled their actors. But due to all the overwhelming hype about "changing the face of cinema" and "the best special effects breakthrough since 'The Matrix'," and I was disappointed. It was definitely cool and beautiful and there was a helluva lot of work involved, and I'll totally be there on opening day, but it just wasn't quite the earth-shakingly-creative-something-new it had been built up to be. Anyways, after the footage, Cameron, Sigourney Weaver, and other members of the cast answered a few audience questions and chatted about the entire language created for the film, the plethora of creatures, and how long it all took to achieve. Neat, geek-world stuff.
(left) Terry Gilliam. | (right) Pikachu and I are SOOO happy to be back together again, we even wore the same color!
Adam and I stuck around for Terry Gilliam's panel on his new film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," talked with a long-time Gilliam fan in the 15-minute break that happened between every panel, and got to move even further up in Hall H. We were shown a fluffy featurette, a couple scenes, and a rough cut of a new trailer for "Parnassus," interspersed amongst Gilliam's stories told in his usual dry humor, anecdotes about the film, and questions from the audience. He was also joined by actor Verne Troyer, and at one point the two did discuss working with Heath Ledger during his last days. The film looks pure, classic Gilliam and I hope it holds together. Fingers crossed. Leaving Hall H for the day, Adam and I met up with Matt and Kara for a brief walk through the exhibition hall before splitting up again.
(left) The poster for "Trick 'r Treat." Despite shuffling around the movie for several years without giving it much exposure or a theatrical release, Warner Brothers certainly seemed ready to push it on the geek audience THIS year at Comic-Con: not only was there a screening and a panel, but WB chose the poster as one of the ones to prominently be displayed on their swag bags, produced glow sticks, comic books, and posters all to be given out, and even licensed 'Sam', the character from the poster to be made into collectibles and at least one figurine.
(right) Our hotel hosted private parties just about every night we were there, from unnamed ones, to the DC Online Universe, to the one Thursday night: a private party to promote Diablo Cody's new film "Jennifer's Body," starring Megan Fox. The 3rd-floor pool/spa/nightclub section of the Hyatt was re-lit in red lights, the trailer was playing on a screen behind a stage, and the title of the movie was strung across the pool on a wire and then lit from above, making it look like the letters were floating in a perfectly straight line. Pretty cool.
Kara went with Anna and Val, while Matt, Adam, and I took a walk up into the gas lamp district to buy bottled water at the closest grocery store to the 'con, "Ralph's." After putting the water in the mini fridge at the hotel, we headed back over to the 'con to get in line and eat the sandwiches we'd also picked up while waiting for the screening and panel of "Trick 'r Treat." Due to the late-night presentation (it didn't start until after 9pm), the panel discussion went first: director/writer Mike Dougherty was a lot of fun to listen to and had the audience sing "Happy Birthday" to Anna Paquin's voicemail, Brian Cox seemed very involved in the project which was cool, and moderator Harry Knowles of "Ain't It Cool News" seemed a bit full of himself and kind of a tool, although excited and enthusiastic for the movie. The film was exactly what I was looking for: a bit creepy, a bit bloody, but mostly "decorated" like Halloween from corner to corner, top to bottom. Dougherty's animation background shone through, as every frame was packed with things to look at and the Halloween mood was pushed well past clichés into heightened nostalgic imagery. In short, a LOT of fun. A huge shame that it's taken it 2 years of limited festival play to only get it a straight to DVD release later this year without any sort of theatrical run at all. It was a great end to the night, at least, and Matt, Adam, and I headed back to our hotel where we promptly woke up Kara just in time to go to bed.