FINAL Comic Con: Quick hits from Day 1

Posted Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 3:22 PM Central

by John Couture

So, all the cool and pretty people are out in San Diego this week, eh? Well, what are the rest of us to do, huh? Why, sit back and surf the web in the leisure of our homes and get basically the same news that they get.

I will attempt to update each day with the notable things as they come out and become newsworthy. Consider us your home away from sunny San Diego. Stay classy!

The first little tidbit to come our way is that Disney has finally figured out what to do with their Tron sequel. It's no longer Tron 2.0 or Tr2n or the ubiquitous Tron. Nope, it shall now and forever (or until they change their minds) be known as Tron: Legacy. To be honest, I like this one the best of the bunch, but simply putting "Legacy" in the title isn't going to sway anyone. Personally, I would've gone for Tron 2: Electric Boogaloo, but that's just me.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ain't It Cool News, we can share with you the new logo for Tron: Legacy

Sticking with the Disney theme, Tim Burton debuted a teaser trailer for Alice in Wonderland and even brought the Mad Hatter himself Johnny Depp onstage as a surprise guest. The 21 Jump Street crowd swooned. The Twilight crowd, which we hear is overwhelming, wondered why some old dude was up on stage.

Well, sit back and imagine you're in Hall H because just below you too can witness the Alice in Wonderland in all its hacked glory. Well, at least until someone screams at us to take it down.

Well, apparently the New Moon panel has begun and all the collective moaning you hear from the west coast is the thousands of teens who just got shut out of the panel. While they fawn and digest every second of whatever it is that attracts them to that series, I'll take a moment to placate our main demographic.

One of the more interesting things to see while at Comic Con are the people themselves, both fellow attendees and the proverbial "booth babes" (hey, I didn't coin that phrase). Below is a tame shot from Coed Magazine's site where they will be updating their gallery throughout the weekend.

More images can be seen by clicking on the picture or from the link above, but I strongly warn you that you might find the images a bit on the racy side. Of course, they are out in public, so how racy could they be?

The last major revelation from day one centered around James Cameron's new film Avatar, an epic sci-fi movie that is supposed to push the boundaries yet again of special effects and 3D technology. Of course, pushing the boundaries is something that Cameron is familiar with as his last feature-length movie that he directed was Titanic, the highest grossing movie of all time.*

It seems that Jim is keeping the spirit of innovation alive when he announced that August 21st will be "Avatar Day." He claims that the will take over as many IMAX 3D screens as possible and screen 15 minutes of Avatar for free. Yes, that's right, free. I'm sure popcorn and coke will be extra as usual and the 15 minute clip will be proceeded by 30 minutes of trailers and previews, but still this is a pretty neat way to promote your movie.

I like to call it the drug dealer approach. The first hit is free to get you hooked, but the next one is going to cost you. Avatar hits screens on December 18.

If you're following the Comic Con from home as well, please send us the news bits you think we should include. Or give us your thoughts on what we post here.

* No need to bust out all intellectual about how flippant my remark is. I know this claim does not take into account inflation or the increase in ticket prices. I am simply referring to Titanic's massiv $601 million U.S. box office haul. A feat that may never be beaten.