Day Two of Comic-Con featured a blend of the old and the new – for every X-Files and Robocop, there was Veronica Mars and Riddick. Take a gander at the day’s top stories from the center of unabashed (and don’t get us wrong – often glorious) nerd-dom.
Nothing Definitive For X-Files Fans: The last episode of The X-Files aired in 2002. Since then, the only new adventures for Agents Mulder and Scully have been in a moderately reviewed, moderately successful 2008 movie (this following a more popular mid-series big screen appearance in 1998). If the ten year pattern holds, there shouldn’t be much for certain this early in the game, so those with money on X-Files: 2018 should be feeling pretty good about now. Writers/producers Vince Gilligan and Chris Carter and stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny were all at Comic-Con for an anniversary panel (it’s been 20 years since the show premiered), but no one was willing to say a third movie was in the works. Anderson did hint that both she and Duchovny would be game for a third film, but firmly nixed the idea of any further series or miniseries.
Veronica Mars Cast Parties At Comic-Con: On the heels of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, the oft-delayed big screen adaptation of the popular TV series finally made it to production and wrapped principal photography last week. Naturally, the cast and creative heavyweights turned up to Comic-Con in a bit of a celebratory mood. At their panel, they unveiled not only the first trailer, but revealed that the cast included Jamie Lee Curtis. Veronica Mars is due out in the early part of next year.
Much Ado About Vin Diesel: The Fast and Furious star has a few irons in the fire at this year’s Comic-Con. First and foremost, he’s there promoting the new Riddick movie (simply titled Riddick). It’s now been nearly a decade since the last Riddick film, so this one’s being talked about as something of a reboot, although reports are that it pays significant homage to both its predecessors while acting as more sequel than true reboot. Unlike 2004‘s The Chronicles of Riddick (and more in line with 2000’s Pitch Black), Riddick is an independently produced movie, although Universal is distributing. Diesel and Co. also brought this red-band trailer for the new film to Comic-Con:
But that’s not all. Rumors (driven by very real meeting with Marvel execs) have been swirling for a little while that Diesel will be playing someone in an upcoming Marvel movie, but no one seems sure who or in which film. Counter to the “no idea what for” attitude that Diesel took into his Marvel meeting, he now seems to be in the know. “There is some big news coming at the end of the month,” he said. “Poor Marvel. Poor Marvel.” Parse that as you will.
More Divergent News: Yesterday we learned that teen sci-fi actioner Divergent will be released in IMAX as part of the Summit Entertainment panel. Today it was parent company Lionsgate’s turn to trot out stars Shailene Woodley, Neil Burger, Theo James, and others to support the upcoming film, which wrapped production just two days ago. Lionsgate also screened a short clip from the film, which featured protagonist Triss (Woodley) boarding a train to head off to her new faction (the premise centers on a society where Hogwarts house-like factions, each exemplifying a different virtue, comprise the social structure of the world). Lionsgate has also released a number of stills from the pic. Here are some of the highlights:
Amazing Spider-Man 2 Repeating the Sins of its Predecessor?: A press conference featuring director Marc Webb (still the best bit of happenstance in cinema), producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, and actors Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan stressed that the new Spider-Man movie is big (though still too small for Mary Jane). “This is operatic,” said Webb. The primary villain in the film will be Jamie Foxx’s Electro, who was teased yesterday, but also features Paul Giamatti as Rhino, with Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn figuring to be a player as well.
All of that sounds a little too much like the disaster that was Spider-Man 3 for comfort: multiple major villains, insistence that it would be epic and huge. But maybe Webb isn’t just giving a line when he says, “it’s cohesive and direct.” We can only hope.
Robocop Reboot Talk: Stars Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton were at Comic-Con along with director director Jose Padilha to talk a little about the updated Robocop. In terms of how the new movie differs from the original, the cast stressed the humanity of the pre-robotic Alex Murphy. Questions of ownership and personhood would seem to be key, which would play very much into modern debates over abortion. Padilha also talked about the thematic significance of the original film to its time, and Robocop‘s ability to be both an entertaining action film and a movie unafraid of asking philosophical a point of emphasis.
Kick-Ass 2 Gets a Four-and-a-Half Minute “Trailer”: The hyperviolent superhero quazi parody has a large presence at Comic-Con this year, highlighted by this glut of red-band footage. You have been warned.
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