Comic-con, a convention devoted to comics, graphic novels, games and movies, was held July 23 through the 26 at the San Diego convention center. The convention celebrated its 40th anniversary and saw a record number of attendees eager to hear the latest news from the entertainment industry.
Some of the biggest names in the comic book industry were there to preview the newest comic series and novels. Among some of the companies present were DC, Marvel and Dark Horse Comics. The biggest announcements in the industry were Marvel’s new series starring the Incredible Hulk entitled World War Hulk, as well as a new series revolving around the popular video game Mass Effect.
Many television studios were also present at the convention. NBC showed off footage of the fourth season of Heroes and the new season of Chuck. Heroes premieres this September and Chuck begins in March. ABC discussed their remake of the 1983 series V and details on the final season of Lost. Fox brought clips of the new season of The Simpsons as well as Family Guy and spin off series The Cleveland Show and series creator Matt Groening talked about the new season of Futurama. Although the show was canceled in 2003 but earlier this year Comedy Central ordered 26 new to be made.
In the movie business, director Zack Snyder, director of 300 and Watchmen revealed that a sequel to 300 is in production and, similar to the first one, will be based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller. A trailer for the graphic novel adaptation of Whiteout, starring Kate Beckinsale was shown to visitors. Robert Downey Jr. made an appearance to promote Iron Man 2, sequel to the popular movie based on the comic by Marvel set to be released May 2010, as well as for his new movie Sherlock Holmes based on the novel of the set name releasing December, 25 2009. Also, director Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) and writer Chris Morgan (Wanted) discussed the movie adaptation of the popular video game series Gears of War, although not many details were given since the film is still in its early stages of production. Disney had a few large announcements including footage of the long awaited Tron sequel titled Tron Legacy, set for release next year, a trailer for Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Coral starring Jim Carrey which uses the latest in computer animation and 3D effects, and Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be re-released in digital 3D for two weeks this October.
Many game developers showed off brand new footage and gameplay of their latest titles that were announced earlier this year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June. Microsoft showed off the recently announced South Park game, South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play! and confirmed that Project Natal, a camera that enables controller free gaming as well as voice, face, and object recognition will be released fall of 2010. Also, LucasArts released new downloadable content for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed which, although bashed by critics, sold well. They also announced that the game will be available for PC and Mac this fall. Plus, an ultimate sith edition of the game is being created, which lets players experience what wou