The Latest: Singer says ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ occurs in 1983
Jul 11, 2015, 9:12 PM
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Here’s the latest from the Comic-Con International fan festival Saturday in and around the San Diego Convention Center (all times Pacific):
7:34 p.m.
Bryan Singer has revealed that “X-Men: Apocalypse” takes place 1983, 10 years after the events of “X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
He said in this world, “Mutants are for the most part accepted and embraced by society.”
The filmmakers also showed the first footage from the film, compiled from about five weeks of shooting.
Audiences got peek at the villain Apocalypse, who’s played by Oscar Isaac. The trailer hinted at the threats facing the mutants in this film, a look at bald James McAvoy as Professor X and Sophie Turner as a young Jean Grey.
Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Raven/Mystique, also said her character is a little more Raven in this outing.
“X-Men: Apocalypse” hits theaters on May 27.
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3:45 p.m.
The Muppets raised the curtain on their new series at Comic-Con.
They made their first-ever appearance at Comic-Con on Saturday during a panel to promote their upcoming ABC show.
The producers and performers said “The Muppets” will be a documentary-style series focusing on Miss Piggy hosting a talk show where Kermit the Frog serves as executive producer, Fozzy the Bear is her on-air sidekick and Gonzo, Pepe the King Prawn and Rizzo the Rat are on the writing staff.
Kermit the Frog was apprehensive about attending the crowded pop-culture convention.
“It’s a little dangerous,” Kermit said. “We’re quite small.”
The producers showed the crowd a 10-minute pilot presentation featuring appearances from Elizabeth Banks and Topher Grace. The footage won’t be used in the actual show when it premieres Sept. 22.
“You are the only people ever, ever in the history of the world who are going to see it,” executive producer Bill Prady said.
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3:40 p.m.
Director Duncan Jones is finally happy to be at Comic-Con with something to show audiences.
It’s his third year at the convention hyping his film “Warcraft,” a fantasy adventure based on the popular video game series.
Jones said he hopes the film appeals to an audience that isn’t familiar with the video game, like Peter Jackson did when he adapted “The Lord of the Rings” for the big screen.
The footage showed the elaborate world Jones created and teased an epic battle between the beasts and the humans.
Travis Fimmel plays the charismatic leader Sir Anduin Lothar who must protect the kingdom from its enemies and marveled that the footage looked amazing.
As the mysterious Magus Medivh, Ben Foster said he never hesitated to join the film. He asked the screaming audience, “who doesn’t want to be a wizard?”
Paula Patton, who plays half human, half orc Garona Halforcen laughed that it was a challenge to research the specifics of a mythical character.
“Warcraft” opens on June 10, 2016.
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2:30 p.m.
Quentin Tarantino says that even though he “screamed and yelled” when his “Hateful Eight” script leaked in early 2014, it didn’t affect his process.
Tarantino addressed the leak at Comic-Con. There he debuted a 7-minute reel of the Civil War-era Western, which stars Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Bruce Dern.
He was mainly dismayed that it was a first draft that still needed to be worked on.
After the script was leaked, Tarantino filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media when one of the company’s blogs published a link to download the script.
But, he still kept on doing what he was doing.
He said, “it just got more public than I wanted it to get.”
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12:20 p.m.
Springfield is welcoming a few new celebrity residents.
“The Simpsons” showrunner Al Jean told fans at Comic-Con that Stephen Merchant, Michael York, Kate McKinnon and “all the girls from ‘Girls'” will be among the celebrity voices appearing next season.
Guillermo del Toro, who directed an opening sequence for the show’s Halloween special, joined Bart Simpson voice actress Nancy Cartwright and the producers on stage.
“On behalf of all the fat guys, I want to say thank you for making Homer good in bed,” del Toro told them. He later petitioned “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening on stage to cast him as Bumblebee Man’s brother.
The producers also teased that Bart Simpson will be the focus of a “Boyhood”-inspired episode featuring Bart at various ages of his life.
“That was one of the hardest episodes I’ve ever voiced,” said Cartwright. She demonstrated for the crowd of about 5,000 fans what Bart sounded like saying “eat my shorts” at age 2, 14, 22 and 40.
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12:00 p.m.
The world is in turmoil in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” in the first full trailer for the superhero film. Comic-Con audiences were treated to an extended look showing how Ben Affleck’s Batman decides to fight Henry Cavill’s Superman in Zack Snyder’s film.
The powerful and godlike Superman is blamed for a massive tragedy and deemed a threat to society. The vigilante Batman endeavors to take control of the situation.
Affleck, Cavill and Snyder were joined on the Hall H stage with co-stars Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, and Amy Adams to talk about the legacy of their characters. Gadot plays Wonder Woman in the film, Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor and Adams reprises her role as Lois Lane.
Affleck said if he thought too hard about the actors who’d played the part of Batman before, he wouldn’t have taken the job.
His Batman is different. As Snyder told him, he’s older and a burnout.
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” hits theaters on March 25, 2016.
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11:45 a.m.
The first footage of director David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad” was shown at Comic-Con to thunderous applause. Audiences saw the misfit supervillains get recruited by Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller to conduct shadowy black ops missions.
As Deadshot, Will Smith says in the trailer “So that’s it, we’re the patsies. We’re some kind of suicide squad. So let’s save the world.”
The trailer also showed a sinister, sniveling Jared Leto as the Joker.
The cast, including Smith, Margot Robbie and Davis walked on stage, waved, and exited quickly.
Smith said, “we’ll see you all next year.”
“Suicide Squad” opens on August 5, 2016.
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11:30 a.m.
“Pan” is not the Peter Pan story you know already.
Director Joe Wright said at Comic-Con that it is a “complete reframing” of J.M. Barrie’s book. Hugh Jackman stars as Blackbeard, the main foe to newcomer Levi Miller’s Peter in the fantasy adventure.
Garrett Hedlund, who plays James Hook before he gets the hook, said Wright sold him on the idea for the story by telling him that he wanted to make it as dark as possible. Hedlund said, “it will teach children that no matter how dark the fear they can always overcome the nightmare.”
Wright built real sets to create the Neverland experience, which Jackman said were about three times the size of the massive Hall H room.
They also debuted new footage of “Pan” introducing Jackman’s ruthless Blackbeard.
“Pan” hits theaters on October 9, 2015.
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11:25 a.m.
“Game of Thrones” star Maisie Williams is going undercover at Comic-Con.
Well, maybe not now.
Williams told the massive crowd gathered in San Diego Convention Center’s Ballroom 20 that she donned a mask at last year’s pop-culture extravaganza to navigate the fan-filled show floor in peace — and it worked. She wasn’t spotted by any fans.
The Arya Stark actress wanted to repeat her incognito plan Saturday afternoon.
“I’m gonna try to do it again, but I’ve just now told everyone,” she said realizing she had just blown her cover in front of about 5,000 fans. “You don’t know what mask though.”
“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe famously sported a Spider-Man costume at last year’s Comic-Con to explore the sprawling show floor uninterrupted.
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10:45 a.m.
Merida is galloping into Storybrooke.
The ABC drama “Once Upon a Time” revealed that the Scottish heroine from Pixar’s animated “Brave” will appear in the upcoming fifth season of the live-action fairytale drama. A clip was shown at the end of the show’s Saturday morning Comic-Con panel teasing a young red-haired woman armed with a bow and arrow.
Disney-Pixar released “Brave” in 2012.
The fifth season of “Once” will focus on Jennifer Morrison’s Emma Swan’s new role as the Dark One.
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9:31 a.m.
The showroom floor isn’t the only place to acquire exclusive art pieces at Comic-Con this year.
Documentarian Morgan Spurlock, along with Gotham Chopra and Kevin Smith, launched “Geeks for Peace” late Friday, a fundraising party that included an auction of more than 25 one-of-a-kind paintings and sculptures.
The event benefits Kids for Peace, a nonprofit that encourages young people to respect others and serve as worldwide advocates for peace.
Red superhero capes, each emblazoned with a big, white peace symbol, were also for sale.
Spurlock plans to make Geeks for Peace an annual event.
“Next year will be even bigger, even better,” he said.
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2:19 a.m.
Nighttime at Comic-Con is a study in randomness. The parties all boast red carpets, step and repeats, and long lines, but what you find inside isn’t usually standard fare.
On one end of the Gaslamp District, Elijah Wood was disc jockey on a diverse set of house music and ’80s fare for the crowd at Mashable’s MashBash party. Instead of tiny passed hors d’oeuvres, servers walked around with full pizza boxes as guests danced, ate, chatted and applied temporary tattoos.
A few blocks away, “Arrow” star Stephen Amell braved the crowds and scantily clad women at the boisterous Playboy party. Clips from the film “Self/less” played on the screens, while women in skintight dresses danced to the pulsating music amid the flashing blue and purple lights.
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12:34 a.m.
Zack Snyder knows how to pick a car. The “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” director drove through the streets of the Gaslamp District at Comic-Con early Saturday morning in the Batmobile.
Snyder also stepped out of the hulking superhero car and tossed T-shirts to the many fans planning to spend the night camping outside of the convention center.
He’ll be taking the Hall H stage in a few hours to preview the film starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill.
“Batman v Superman” hits theaters in March.
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