The Warner Brothers panels was buzzing before anything started—while they’d already announced spots for Jupiter Ascending, Mad Max: Fury Road, and the final Hobbit film, everyone was hoping for a peek of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Chris Hardwick was moderating cosplaying as Marty McFly, which is the only way to go for moderating big panels like this.
They revealed SO. MANY. SCREENS (pic from jonniechang on Twitter):
And then they launched right into Batman v Superman!
Some nice 3D concept paintings shown…
And Zack Snyder is arrives! And he has a tiny bit of footage. Here’s what they’ve got:
Batman on a roof in Gotham in the rain. Not wearing the same armor that the promo shots show, it’s bigger. His eyes glow white like the cartoon!
He unveils the bat signal!
Superman is hovering above him looking none too pleased. His eyes fire up red with heat vision as he glares…..
Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot hit the stage, and there’s a poster of Wonder Woman! Here’s the trio:
The costume is properly armored, she’s got a shield and sword! (It’s strapped behind her back like Captain America does it. No, the armor isn’t practical in a literal sense, but it is a fun riff on costumes past. The shin and knee guards are a nice touch.) Here it is:
They move right into Jupiter Ascending: Channing Tatum hits the stage.
They start with a montage of footage—Tatum’s character introduced to Kunis’ character, saying that humans are silly to think they could be alone in the universe. Apparently humanity was seeded on Earth 100,000 years ago?
Lots of gorgeous visuals. Fun fight with a big reptile creature…
Mad Max is up!
Tagline is “Fire. Blood. Oil.”
Video greeating from Charlize Theron who is filming elsewhere.
Montage of footage from the old films that then leads into the new one…
George Miller takes the stage! He talks of how the idea for the film was like an imaginary friend; the idea hit him and wouldn’t go away. He praises Hardy’s work on the film, takes a picture of the audience. (It’s his first Comic-Con.)
Footage: There’s a two-headed lizard. Max is standing out of focus. He says, “My name is Max. My world is fire. And blood.” Tornadoes in the desert and a chase! Bodies and cars being sucked up into it. Really gorgeous visuals. Tagline here reads “The world belongs to the mad.”
Miller talks about Theron’s character Furiosa. She’s the boss of a war rig. Max gets sucked up into her story, though he’d rather be left alone.
Miller says that having a bigger budget changed his filmmaking. He says the film is closer in tone to Road Warrior.
Hugh Keays-Byrne—Toecutter in Mad Max—is a villain in the new movie. Wearing a cool mask, so no one gets confused seeing him.
Time for The Hobbit!
A montage of all Jackson’s Tolkien films… and then Stephen Colbert! He’s filming his scenes in Laketown.
Stephen Colbert is HERE. In his costume. Now he’s the moderator, and he’s got a kid with him. He tells him, “Go tell the Master of Laketown that The Hobbit panel is about to begin.” Kid runs off.
Here he is via the blackfilm Twitter:
It’s adorable, he’s talking about how he wishes that he could send a movie to a 13-year-old him. And about how closely he followed the first LOTR trilogy. His biggest problem with the films is that they were “Too. Damn. Short.”
The true hero of the films is his cameo character: Laketown Spy. Of course.
They’re going to show a deleted scene featuring another Laketown Spy—Peter Jackson.
It launches into a gag reel for all the Middle-earth films!
Hugo Weaving is doing his Elrond scenes as Mr. Smith from The Matrix, Ian McKellen is dancing in his underpants with his Gandalf beard on…
During the riddles scene with Freeman and Serkis, Freeman slipped and fell, and Serkis, without missing a beat, asks in Gollum-voice: “Are you all right, Precious?”
Jackson and cast hit the stage: We’ve got Phillippa Boyens, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Graham McTavish, Luke Evans, Orlado Bloom, Cate Blanchett and Lee Pace! (McKellen and Armitage are still shooting.)
Jackson says that the original plan had been to shoot The Hobbit as one movie in 1995 for Miramax. And if it had worked, to make two LOTR movies.
Jackson says he’s excited that he got to kill people in the upcoming Hobbit film. He is hoping that the tone of the final film will match the tone of Return of the King, so the trilogies match.
Colbert asked Boyens and Jackson what they would have added to the films if they could, Boyens votes for Tom Bombadil.
Cumberbatch says that it’s easier to do motion capture work, then to respond to someone else’s motion capture work. Luke Evans talks about how long he’s been working at his bow skills for the film.
Apparently, Galadriel is going to “lose it a bit” in the coming film, according to Jackson. Blanchett played Bard in a school production of the The Hobbit.
Colbert managed to beat Boyens in Middle-earth trivia. His wife came up to her later and said “This is the greatest night of his life.”
Andy Serkis first met Jackson back in 1999. A lot of the mo-cap technology they use on the films had to be built around him, to accomodate his talents.
And we’ve got the new teaser trailer for Battle of the Five Armies!
It’s underscored by a sad-sounding version of “The Walking Song.” Everyone is shown preparing for battle. Thorin asks Bilbo to stand with him.
Cate Blanchett says that she didn’t wear underwear while playing Galadriel because elves don’t wear underwear. Then she said that maybe that was a bit too much info.
Jackson wants to open an LOTR Museum so that the props and costumes can be open to the public.
In reagrd to motion capture performing, Serkis says that all he really needs to work are a pair of human eyes to look into.
One fan asked the cast where their characters would go at SDCC, to which Cumberbatch replied, “Hall H—I don’t think I’d fit anywhere else!”
Serkis asked Gollum, who replied, “I would like to go back stage with Stephen Colbert!”
On fan asked if the inevitable six-film box set will have even more extended version of the LOTR trilogy. Jackson admitted that there are scenes from those films that still haven’t been released to the public—including Aragorn and Arwen meeting for the first time!
And that’s all, folks! Oof. Time to collapse.
