Twilight's Goodbye, Arnold's Return and More Big Comic-Con News

Biggest news from the movie scene, including the first The Lone Ranger trailer, footage from Stephenie Meyer's The Host and talk of a Twins sequel

By Natalie Finn Jul 13, 2012 3:30 AMTags
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Wreck it RalphKevin Winter/Getty Images; Michael Buckner/Getty Images;

Thursday at Comic-Con was all it was cracked up to be.

From the weirdness of watching practically the entire cast of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 bid their fans goodbye to yukking it up with the muscled stars of The Expendables 2, the first full day of movie madness didn't disappoint in terms of A-listers, legends, laughs and news.

Of course, we expect every day of the convention to be like that, so we'd better get you up to speed pronto on what went down around the San Diego Convention Center and surrounding environs over the last 12-plus hours:

Kristen Stewart & Co. Say Goodbye: The awesomely awkward star of the Twilight series, who reiterated just how excited she was to finally be able to rev vampire Bella's engine and take her for a spin in the final chapter of the billion-dollar grossing franchise, told reporters that she cried each of the four times she watched Breaking Dawn Part 2. Think of how the fans who don't find the end of the era "bittersweet" as she does, but rather just bitter, are going to react!

Sequels and Coming Attractions:

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger, who received Comic-Con's Ink Pot Award for his contributions to film and pop culture in general following The Expendables 2 panel, said that he still really wanted to do a sequel to Twins, that original director Ivan Reitman was interested and that they are now "looking for a really great writer" to make it happen. "I'm looking forward to actually doing it because it will be hilarious," said the actor, who had punctuated his introduction to the panel with a hearty "I'm back." He did not, however, sound thrilled when a not-very-in-the-know fan's question about the scuttled Governator cartoon, which was abandoned while Schwarzenegger was enmeshed in scandal last year. "It's still being developed. We'll probably announce something very soon," he said, not very convincingly.
  • DreamWorks Animation has a few familiar-sounding titles in the pipeline: Kung Fu Panda 3 and Penguins of Madagascar. The studio has also slated Mr. Peabody & Sherman (last we knew, Robert Downey Jr. was attached) for next year and Me and My Shadow in 2014.

World Premieres: There were a lot of these.

  • Breaking Dawn 2 panel audiences were treated to roughly five minutes of exclusive footage from The Host, the Saoirse Ronan-starring adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's post-Twilight Saga book about look-alike aliens commandeering people's brains and the few humans who have managed to escape the scourge.
  • Tim Burton's audience enjoyed the trailer and clips from the funny and perfectly Burtonesque-looking Frankenweenie, in 3-D.
  • Director Rich Moore trotted out 10 minutes of Wreck-It Ralph, an animated comedy about a video game villain with a good heart who decides he doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore. The plot reminded us of Shrek, as did the numerous "cameos" by classic characters, in this case, video-game icons like a Pac-Man ghost and Bowser Koopa.
  • Those who stuck around for a minute after the Disney panel was over got the first look at a teaser trailer for The Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp.
  • As we mentioned before, Summit showed us the first seven minues of Breaking Dawn Part 2. Yowza, that vampire Bella is strong!

Getting the Reboot: Though not previewing any movies at Comic-Con this year, 20th Century Fox has revealed that new versions of Fantastic Four and Daredevil are in the works. Lionsgate is not, however, planning a Twilight revamp at this time. But just the fact that it hasn't been ruled out completely, considering the final movie isn't out till November, kinda has us shaking our heads.

• Quotes of the Day:

  • Everything Sylvester Stallone said at the Expendables 2 panel, from "Who's got the best lawyer?" when a fan asked which of his costars would win in a fight, to his steely, drawn-out "no" when Schwarzenegger said Stallone should make more Rocky and Rambo movies. Plus, when asked if he got the idea for the title from Rambo's "I'm expendable" quote, Sly admitted that he had. "Yeah, I ripped myself off, why not? It was either that or The Dependables, but, I figured, soon enough."
  • "I've moved on to dogs and little puppet characters, I'm moving up in the world," Burton joked when asked by a fan if he was tired of working with Johnny Depp yet. Also, "It makes me feel like my family has come to see me," when a group of fans immaculately dressed like Burton characters (including three Mad Hatters) ventured a question. But then he topped himself, timing-wise, when a guy asked what it was like to work with costume designer Colleen Atwood and he deadpanned, "She's a bitch."
  • "Riding Jacob-wolf, that was fun. I lost a tooth!" 11-year-old Mackenzie Foy said when asked about a favorite part of filming Breaking Dawn Part 2.
  • "Well, the movie is 11 minutes long," Rich Moore said when the crowd oohed and aahed over being treated to 10 minutes of Wreck-It Ralph.

Looking Forward: We had already kinda figured it wouldn't be much of a Man of Steel panel without him, but Henry Cavill has been confirmed for Saturday.