Jul 21st, 2010 Film and TV guide to Comic-Con panels
Billy Crudup (left) and Matthew Goode attend Comic-Con to promote "The Watchmen." Photo: Audiohollywood.net
By Sandra Kraisirideja
Comic-Con offers so many options over a four-day period that it’s nearly impossible to choose what to attend and invariably there are panels and presentations that overlap.
Due to its democratic nature, even press members have a difficult a time when it comes to deciding what panels to attend. On top of that there are the TV press lines, roundtable interviews and press conferences squeezed in between everything else.
Comic-Con veterans know there is a pattern to the schedule and covering the event is possible with some planning and patience. For film and television enthusiasts, the main rooms to focus on are Hall H, Ballroom 20, Room 6BCF, and the Indigo Ballroom at the San Diego Hilton Bayfront.
Hall H focuses only on film (except for last year when “Lost” was the lone TV show to be allowed in the room) and is open Thursday to Saturday. It has a 6,000 seat capacity and fans line up early Wednesday night to make sure they get a seat up front.
This year the “Twilight” franchise will not be presenting any footage but Comic-Con programmers still managed to put together a must-see schedule for Thursday (including panels for “Tron,” “Salt,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and a discussion with J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon) so expect to still see a line around the building and plenty of sleeping bags.
Hall H offers the best programming in terms of A-list talent and the caliber of performers who grace its stage each year continues to improve. Last year Johnny Depp gave the crowd a quick wave to promote “Alice in Wonderland” and this year Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman are likely to appear during the panel for Summit Entertainment’s “RED,” an action-comedy about a group of elder CIA agents who become a liability to the agency for the secrets they know.
Television fans stick to Ballroom 20 and Room 6BCF for most of Comic-Con. The programming in these rooms does not change much since popular shows return year after year. Ballroom 20 holds the more marquee TV titles such as “Chuck,” “True Blood,” “Family Guy” and “Glee.”
Room 6BCF showcases TV shows on cable networks that have a following but aren’t as mainstream as the shows in Ballroom 20. Newcomers to Room 6BCF this year are “Aloha, Earth,” “The Walking Dead” and “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” which all have panels on Friday. “Aloha, Earth” is a remake of “Hawaii 5-0” that will have a supernatural twist.
The Indigo Ballroom at the San Diego Hilton Bayfront, located next door to the Convention Center, is slowly building a reputation for interesting panels. Last year it hosted the “Glee” panel, which this year moves to Ballroom 20. Noteworthy programs being presented this year include “Penn + Teller: 35 years of Magic & BS” on July 22 at 7:30 p.m. and the cast of “Community” on June 24 at 3 p.m.
For a detailed schedule listing visit the official Comic-Con Web site: www.comic-con.org.
Movie panels in Hall H:
“Megamind”
“TRON: Legacy”
“Battle: Los Angeles”
“Salt”
“RED”
“The Expendables”
“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
“Drive Angry 3D”
“Skyline”
“Super”
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”
“The Other Guys”
“The Green Hornet”
“Priest”
“Green Lantern”
“Sucker Punch”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”
“Let Me In”
“Resident Evil: Afterlife”
“Paul”
“Cowboys & Aliens”
“Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger”
Television panels in Ballroom 20
“Burn Notice”
“White Collar”
“Psych”
“Dexter”
“Californication”
“Weeds”
“Stargate Universe”
“Caprica”
“The Big Bang Theory”
“Bones”
“True Blood”
“Chuck”
“Family Guy”
“The Cleveland Show”
“Futurama”
“The Simpsons”
“V”
“Fringe”
“The Vampire Diaries”
“Smallville”
“Supernatural”
“American Dad”
“Glee”
“Sons of Anarchy”
“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”
Television panels in 6BCF
“Aloha, Earth”
“The Walking Dead”
“Spartacus: Blood and Sand”
“Robot Chicken”
“Venture Bros.”
“Metalocalypse”
“Warehouse 13”
“Eureka”
“Nikita”
“Human Target”
“Mythbusters”
“Leverage”
“Sanctuary”
“Community”
“Castle”
“Unnatural History”
At 88 miles per hour, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd took millions of spellbound viewers on a high-flying voyage across the space-time continuum in a trio of wildly inventive tales that broke box-office records around the world. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Academy Award®-winning cinematic franchise that generated nearly one billion dollars worldwide, the Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy will debut on Blu-rayTM on Oct. 26 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The 25th Anniversary Trilogy will also be available on DVD.
Some will kill to have it. He will do anything to protect it. The Book of Eli, featuring Maximum Movie Mode, arrives on Blu-ray and DVD on June 15 from Warner Home Video. Denzel Washington stars in this post-apocalyptic tale about a ravaged humanity and those who seek to protect and destroy it.
By Sandra Kraisirideja
By Sandra Kraisirideja