 "Photo: David J. Olender, Photo Editor")
Many actors, directors and producers made appearances at this year's annual Comic-Con International as Hollywood attempts to turn the convention into a film and television festival for the sci-fi genre. The four-day event gave pop culture addicts, as well as comic-based movie buffs, a closer look at what the future holds for this genre of movies, TV and much more. Here's a look at some of the major highlights.
On Thursday, Hugh Jackman made an appearance and surprised conventioneers with a sneak peek of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," coming May 2009.
Friday brought out the director and cast of "Watchmen," a cult classic based on a graphic novel. The movie tells the story of aging superheroes negotiating a world full of modern-day dilemmas. Malin Akerman and Carla Gugino play Silk Spectre, Billy Crudup is Dr. Manhattan, Matthew Goode is Ozymandias and Patrick Wilson plays Nite Owl, along with many others.
"Once they asked me (to do the film), I kinda felt responsible ... whatever happened to the movie would ultimately be my fault," director Zack Snyder of the famed flick, "300" said.
The cast members also said they all felt honored to bring such classic characters to life.
Wilson said that while his character "(is) flabby, morose, down on his luck," he "has this light in his eyes."
Others had a different challenge in making their characters come alive.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan stars as The Comedian, a brash, abrasive thug of a man.
"It was a challenge, every day was a challenge," he said. "I found getting into the costume and sticking a scar on my mouth helped a great deal to get in the mood to kill people."
"Watchmen" hits theaters March 2009 and glimpses of the preview prove that it will be every bit the cult classic that the graphic novel has been.
Among other movie trailers at the convention were "The Day the Earth Stood Still," starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly; "Terminator Salvation," with Christian Bale; "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," bringing back Brendan Fraser to fight another mummy; and "Max Payne," starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis.
As for upcoming television shows, it appears that most are leaning toward serial dramas this season. The roundup showcased during the convention reminded viewers that superpowers and the supernatural will continue to be key elements in this year's new dramas as well.
From "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon comes "Dollhouse," starring Eliza Dushku as Echo. This show is about assassins, lovers or whatever you want the "dolls" to be.
Dushku says she thinks she can be quite an asset as Echo on the show.
"Some of the things I might bring are feist and fury - and maybe funny."
Echo is a doll; a person who has volunteered to have her memory erased and then rewritten for a period of time.
"She's a girl who has every personality in the world except her own," Whedon said. Whedon, who also created "Angel" and "Firefly," notes that his sporadic works appear to have little in common with the outside.
"Is there a common theme?" he asked. "Yes, and it's the search for the soul."
Set to air on FOX in January, "Dollhouse" looks promising and will stick around if it can attract more than just Whedon's rabid fans.
From the team behind "Alias" and the upcoming "Star Trek" movie comes "Fringe," a new pilot about the FBI and mysterious cases. Dealing with the supernatural, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) heads out to investigate unusual cases and recruits Joshua Jackson's Peter Bishop to help. The two must then track down the origins of these absurd cases.
Sound like "The X-Files"? The cast says it doesn't mind the comparisons.
Writers J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman all agree that parallels to such a successful show are more than welcome, and acknowledge the similarities.
The producers also intend to have a lot of accompanying viral marketing, such as comics to flesh out character development and introduce other story lines. Additionally, coming from their "Alias" and "LOST" backgrounds, the show will feature a plethora of inside clues and hints during each episode which may continue to be a topic of frustration for bloggers and viewers alike. The producers admitted they're all a bunch of bored people who love puzzles; now they have a chance to create them for other people and they hope the audience finds it as engaging as they do.
"Fringe" seems a little off the wall, but give it a try before you knock it. Don't be put off by the plot-heavy pilot either, and stick it out for a while before deleting it from TiVo.
Overall, the extravagance of comics, video games and entertainment managed to cram a year's worth of information into a mere four days, and this was only a tiny sampling of some of it. Check out www.comic-con.org for more information and news.
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