Thursday, 1 p.m.; Hall H
Sony Pictures Entertainment brings two big-budget films to San Diego with a double-header panel featuring Angelina Jolie’s Salt and the sci-fi action flick Battle: Los Angeles. Expect fanboy pandemonium as Jolie will make an appearance to promote her new film, which opens nationwide on Friday, and which puts her in the $20 million paycheck club of Tom Cruise and Will Smith. Jolie plays Evelyn Salt, a seasoned CIA officer who is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent and must go on the run to clear her name, a role originally offered to Cruise himself. The panel will also feature Battle: Los Angeles’ Michelle Rodriguez, Aaron Eckhart, producer Neal Moritz and director Jonathan Liebesman who are on hand to discuss their own film, about a team of Marines who are L.A.’s last line of defense against an invasion from… well, that would be telling.
Friday, 5:15 p.m.; Ballroom 20
Returning once again to San Diego to sink its fangs into its rabid devotees is HBO’s True Blood, which will assemble a panel comprised of its sprawling cast—plus creator Alan Ball and novelist Charlaine Harris—to discuss Season 3 of the seductive vampire drama and tease details about what new plot twists will be deployed during the remainder of the season. Will Alexander Skarsgard turn up in pink spandex? Will werewolves storm the stage? (Likely no to both, as Skarsgard won’t be participating this time around.) However, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Nelsan Ellis, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley, Deborah Ann Woll, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Denis O'Hare, and Joe Manganiello will be on hand to answer questions and make you feel like being a vampire wouldn’t be so bad if you could look like these beautiful people. Get there early because this will be one panel that’s almost impossible to get into.
Thursday, 3:30 p.m.; Hall H
Yes, a nerdgasm is very likely when visionaries J.J. Abrams ( Star Trek, Lost, Alias) and Joss Whedon ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly) unite on stage for what’s bound to be one of Comic-Con’s hottest tickets. Moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s Jeff Jensen, the duo will participate in an in-depth conversation about “how technology, gaming, and global culture are reshaping how we tell and consume stories on television, film and the Web,” and offer their thoughts on whether the superhero sub-genre is waning or waxing and the future of entertainment. While it’s sure to be an amazing and insightful dialogue about current and future pop culture consumption, fans should also be sure to check out Joss Whedon’s solo appearance the next day for The Joss Whedon Experience (3 p.m.; Ballroom 20) in which he’ll likely discuss his upcoming film The Avengers and perhaps make some special announcements to a few thousand fans.
Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images; Kevin Winter / Getty Images
Saturday, 6 p.m.; Hall H
Producer Kevin Feige—and some undisclosed special guests—will offer a first look inside Marvel Studios’ upcoming superhero feature films, Thor and Captain America: First Avenger. It’s likely that there will be some major casting announcements as well about the widely anticipated team-up pic, The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, which will bring together Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and others as Marvel’s premiere superhero team gets its own movie. As for who those special guests will be, consider the casts of Thor, Captain America, and perhaps that for X-Men: First Class to boot. (Who wouldn’t pay to see Thor’s unlikely cast of Chris Hemsworth, Kenneth Branagh, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, and Natalie Portman take to the stage together?) Regardless, this will be one panel that fans of comics and comics-to-film adaptations should not miss.
Thursday, 11:15 a.m.; Hall H
Walt Disney Pictures will present an inside look at its upcoming 3D film, TRON: Legacy, a sequel to 1982’s TRON. (Yes, there’s been an almost 30-year gap between the two films.) On hand for the panel: cast members Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, and Bruce Boxleitner, as well as director Joe Kosinski and producers Sean Bailey and Steven Lisberger. It’s the third year that the studio will be bringing the long-gestating feature film to the Comic-Con crowds, but the first time that anything more than a trailer will be shown to the public. The studio will very likely be paying strict attraction to the crowd’s reaction to what they see; according to reports, Pixar’s Brad Bird ( The Incredibles) and Michael Arndt ( Toy Story 3) have been brought in to bolster the script ahead of reshoots on the film, which is slated to open on December 17.
Friday, 11:30 a.m.; Room 6BCF
AMC, best known for critic-friendly dramas Mad Men and Breaking Bad, is moving into the postapocalyptic realm with its new zombie drama, The Walking Dead, based on the comic series by Robert Kirkman. It’s a huge step for AMC, which has to date played in the sandbox of hard-hitting character-based dramas (save the unfortunate update of The Prisoner), so there’s a lot riding on the October launch of The Walking Dead, which follows the struggle of Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes, a police officer battling zombies and attempting to locate his wife and child. Lincoln will be joined on stage by Jon Bernthal, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Emma Bell, creator/director/executive producer Frank Darabont, executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, Robert Kirkman, makeup artist Greg Nicotero, and AMC’s Joel Stillerman as they discuss the making of this zombie drama.
Thursday, 6 p.m.; Hall H
It’s hard to explain to the uninitiated the joy of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s winsome and hysterical graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim, which recounts the misadventures of the titular hero as he attempts to woo the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, by battling her evil exes to win her heart. But one need only point them toward director Edgar Wright’s visceral filmic adaptation of O’Malley’s work, entitled Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. The genre-busting British director ( Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Spaced) has vividly brought Scott’s world to life, complete with epic battles, awesome music, and garlic bread to boot. Wright and O’Malley will be joined by cast members Michael Cera, Ellen Wong, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Kieran Culkin, Satya Bhabha, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, Mae Whitman, Anna Kendrick, and Aubrey Plaza for a special sneak peek of the film, which opens August 13.
Warner Bros. Television once again headlines the television portion of San Diego Comic-Con, bringing a jaw-dropping 14 series to the convention and blanketing the schedule with genre-specific programming from Chuck to Supernatural. But there are a few extra-special standouts this year, as Tom Welling is traveling down to San Diego for the second time ever for the Smallville panel, amid what is sure to be major fanfare as the show prepares to go into its tenth—and likely final—season this fall. Meanwhile, the studio is also bringing international sensation Maggie Q ( Mission Impossible III) down to promote the latest iteration of La Femme Nikita—the simply titled Nikita for the CW, as well as the cast of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory, and Anna Torv, John Noble, Joshua Jackson, and Jasika Nicole, who will return for a third year to promote Fox’s breakout sci-fi series Fringe after an incredible second season.
Frank Ockenfels
Thursday, 4:45 p.m.; Hall H
Lionsgate’s testosterone-heavy action flick The Expendables descends on Comic-Con with Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews in tow for this panel which will offer “exclusive scenes” and “inside scoop on every punch, kick, and bloodied lip from the most iconic cast of heroes and villains ever assembled.” (Ahem.) The project—which was written and directed by Stallone—features an all-star cast of action names who need only go by one name, including Jason Statham, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The plot revolves around a group of mercenaries whose mission is to remove a South American dictator from power but who find themselves betrayed by one of their own, but really it’s an excuse for some bloody mayhem and massive explosions south of the border.
Friday, 6 p.m.; Room 6A
The cast of HBO’s True Blood aren’t the only vampires and werewolves making the trek down to San Diego. Returning for a second year after a massive—and unexpected—response last year is BBC America’s supernatural drama Being Human, which follows the lives of three very different roommates—werewolf George (Russell Tovey), vampire Mitchell (Aidan Turner), and ghost Annie (Lenora Crichlow)—as they grapple with the titular subject. All three cast members—along with Sinead Keenan, who plays George’s love interest Nina—will appear on stage with creator Toby Whithouse to take part in a Q&A and offer a look at the second season of Being Human, which premieres in the US this weekend.
Saturday, 11:45 a.m.; Hall H
Warner Bros. Pictures offers a look at three very different upcoming feature films with a panel dedicated to dark and dreamy action fantasy Sucker Punch from director Zack Snyder ( 300), superhero drama Green Lantern—which stars Ryan Reynolds as a test pilot who is inducted into the Green Lantern Corps and given an alien ring with which to defend his sector of the universe—as well as the latest Harry Potter film installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sucker Punch has some serious buzz building going into Comic-Con and Harry Potter has a built-in audience, so Green Lantern is the unknown quantity here. Clearly, Warner Bros. hopes to transform this B-list hero into the next Iron Man, but it could wind up being the latest Incredible Hulk, a prestige pic that didn’t smash the box office. Another green superhero, Seth Rogen’s The Green Hornet, will also be at the con: you can find it Friday at 4 p.m.
Saturday, 1:30 p.m.; Hall H
With Let Me In, writer/director Matt Reeves ( Cloverfield) remakes the haunting and lyrical 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In (itself based on a novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist), which revolves around the blossoming of an unlikely relationship between a young boy and a young girl, the latter of which conceals a deadly secret about herself. Featuring a stunning cast including Kodi Smit-McPhee ( The Road), Chloe Moretz ( Kick Ass), and Richard Jenkins ( The Visitor), Let Me In offers a very different look at the—SPOILER ALERT!—vampire craze, casting Moretz, whose precocious nature stole every scene in Kick Ass, as the world’s saddest and loneliest vampire. It will be interesting to see whether Reeve’s version hedges closer to the Swedish film or the original novel, which had some rather challenging elements, including pedophilia and prostitution. Regardless, U.S. audiences will likely swoon for the remake as much as the original.
Saturday, 4:45 p.m.; Hall H
Universal is pairing sci-fi comedy Paul and action-thriller Cowboys & Aliens onto a single bill on Saturday afternoon. From director Greg Mottola ( Superbad) comes Paul, which in a meta twist revolves around two sci-fi obsessives whose sedate road trip to Comic-Con winds up taking a bizarre detour when they meet an actual alien. The picture stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jeffrey Tambor, Joe Lo Truglio, Seth Rogen, and Sigourney Weaver and audiences will get a sneak peek, as well as a Q&A. Jon Favreau’s alien invasion/Western Cowboys & Aliens is based on the cult favorite graphic novel of the same name. While it’s not likely that stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford will turn up at the panel, stranger things have happened at Comic-Con in years prior. Fingers crossed that the men who play Bond and Indy will make an appearance, after all.
Thursday, 2:15 p.m., Hall H
Perhaps the most unlikely set of actors to appear together in an action film: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Mary-Louise Parker. Yet that’s the cast for Summit’s new action-comedy Red, which revolves around former members of a crack CIA team. While the panel is meant to offer exclusive footage from the film (based on a graphic novel written by the one and only Warren Ellis), directed by Robert Schwentke ( The Time Traveler’s Wife), it would be a fitting tribute to the unpredictable nature of San Diego Comic-Con if Academy Award winner Helen Mirren turned up at the panel. In the meantime, Ellis and Schwentke will preside over what’s bound to be a packed room to share footage from the film as well as Red’s final trailer.
