SAN DIEGO, July 23, (Agencies): Hollywood took over downtown San Diego on Thursday as the giant annual Comic Con convention kicked off a four day celebration of pop culture.
Angelina Jolie flew in to promote her new spy movie ‘’Salt’’, Johnny Depp greeted fans by video from the set of the fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean’’ movie, and Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde turned up to chat about their hotly-anticipated sci-fi thriller sequel “TRON: Legacy’’.
Around 126,000 fans of comics, movies, video games and TV series are expected to descend on the San Dieo Convention Center for the show, which started life as a gathering of comic book fans but has now become a key stop in Hollywood’s bid to attract influential young male audiences.
Lines for the “TRON:Legacy’’ panel wrapped around the convention center long before the show officially kicked off.
But before some 6,500 lucky fans were treated to eight exclusive minutes of 3D footage from Walt Disney’s Dec. 17 release, Disney had a few other surprises.
“Hellboy’’ director Guillermo del Toro will write and produce a big screen adaptation of Disney’s “Haunted Mansion’’ theme park ride, Disney announced. No release date was given.
Stage
In an event Disney dubbed “ComiTRON’’, Bridges, Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen and Garrett Hedlund joined the original 1982 film’s creator, Steven Lisberger, and new director Joe Kasinski on stage for an hour-long panel.
“When we did TRON, there was no Internet and we carried around phones in suitcases,’’ recalled Bridges. “Looking back, the same thing that attracted me to TRON attracted me to this one, getting a chance to play around with all of this cutting-edge technology. This TRON makes the old one look like black and white TV.’’
Disney used the convention to launch the “TRON:Legacy’’ iPhone App which sent fans on a real-life treasure hunt to unlock golden coins that will grant them access to a recreation of Flynn’s Arcade — complete with video games — throughout the weekend.
Disney also offered a different type of interaction with the “TRON’’ audience. Kasinski recorded five minutes of crowd chants and foot stomping that will be used in the actual film as spectators who congregate to watch “the games.’’ He said if it wasn’t for the Comic Con audience, “TRON:Legacy’’ wouldn’t have become a reality.
Jolie joined her “Salt’’ co-star Liev Schreiber, producer Dino di Bonaventure and director Phillip Noyce to promote the Russian spy thriller, which opens on Friday.
“You can get away with so much in fantasy like bending a bullet, for example. So this one was a nice challenge because we had to work so much harder to convince the audience that all of these things are possible. I think these stunts in this movie are better than in other action movies that I’ve done,’’ she said.
Chance
Live music, free t-shirts, video postcards and a chance to play the new Ubisoft “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’’ videogame are all available throughout the weekend.
Elsewhere, “Machete’’ writer/director Robert Rodriguez and stars Michelle Rodriguez and Danny Trejo handed out tacos from a truck before screening footage from the new horror film and hosting a party.
Lindsay Lohan, arguably the biggest attraction of the September movie release, is in jail in Los Angeles serving what is expected to be 14 days of a 90-day jail sentence for violating her probation in a 2007 drunk driving case.
Meanwhile, Will Ferrell kicked off Comic-Con in costume.
The funnyman stepped onto the pop-culture convention’s stage Thursday decked out as his villainous animated character from the upcoming Dreamworks superhero tale “Megamind.”
Ferrell, donning blue facepaint and a bulbous helmet, also brought breakfast for the attendees, which numbered more than 6,000: a box of doughnuts and a jug of orange juice.
“I didn’t think there would be so many of you,” Ferrell joked.
Ferrell was joined by his costumeless co-stars Tina Fey and Jonah Hill, who respectively play a perky reporter and nerdy cameraman caught in the middle of a battle between a superhero and supervillain.
When asked to name his real-life arch rival, Hill teased that Mel Gibon’s ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva was his nemesis.
“I just want to come out and officially support Mel,” Hill deadpanned.
Brad Pitt, who plays the muscle-bound protagonist in “Megamind,” was also in attendance — albeit in cardboard cutout form.
Superheroes are enjoying a new career path, heading straight from the pages of comic books into video games and no longer having to stop at Hollywood to collect their credentials first.
For every movie blockbuster like Marvel Entertainment’s “Thor’’ and Universal Pictures’ “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,’’ there’s a video game counterpart but in many cases comic book games are now launching without any Hollywood tie-ins.
“Not everyone reads comics, although most people know the major superheroes, but the majority of people play video games,’’ said Jim Lee, co-publisher of DC Comics and executive creative director for Sony Online Entertainment’s “DC Universe Online’’ game.
“Games are a portal for us to bring new people into the world of comic books,’’ he said on the sidelines of Comic-Con International, the world’s largest comic book and popular arts convention taking place in San Diego this week.
“DC Universe Online,’’ an upcoming massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game, will allow fans to create their own superhero and interact with characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in environments like Metropolis and Gotham City.
Lee said DC Comics will unveil a “DC Universe Online’’ bi-weekly print comic book that will launch before the new game this fall and tie into the video game’s backstory.
“We’re going to look for opportunities where maybe we take individual player-created characters from the game and bring them into the comic book and give gamers a thrill by becoming an official part of the DC Universe,’’ said Lee.