SDCC 2013 Rumor Mill: J.J. Abrams May Quit Star Wars?

Here’s some news that may cause massive system shock to Star Wars fans everywhere: Rumors that J.J. Abrams may be contemplating dropping out of Star Wars Episode 7! Dun Dun Dun! It’s pretty much just a rumor floating around the San Diego Comic Con, but still that would be dreadful news from the viewpoint of a geek like me, who thought there would never be another Star Wars movie ever! Then to find out that not only were there more coming, but they weren’t being directed by George Lucas! I love the J.J. Abrams choice for the man in charge simply based off the success of the Star Trek franchise these past 4 years. If he could turn a Star Wars fan like me (who hated Star Trek since first seeing it as a child) into a believer then just imagine what he can do with the galaxy far far away! Check out the rumor from over at IGN below:

 

[box_dark]Badass Digest‘s Devin Faraci claims that while at this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, he kept “hearing tons of rumors that JJ Abrams is on the verge of dropping out of Star Wars”.

Faraci added, “This has been something I’ve heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. I know that he didn’t want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for [Star] Trek 3 has been found yet – might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving Star Wars to someone else? I’m expecting Star Wars news out of the German Star Wars Celebration at the end of the month – if there is some sort of announcement of a title or casting and Abrams isn’t there, start wondering.”[/box_dark]

 

To sort of calm the nerves of Jed-Heads everywhere, Lucasfilm has denied any of these rumors thus far. However much comfort that provides everyone I’m not so sure, because of course they’re not going to admit to any problems with Disney’s newest milking of one of the most profitable franchises ever. Would Abrams departing be the end of Star Wars? No, of course not. Although, they would have been off to a great start to only settle for something mediocre with some of the talent out there nowadays. Here are my three worst case scenarios if J.J. Abrams jets from the project:

1.)    Star Wars, Directed by Brett Ratner

2.)    Star Wars, Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

3.)    Star Wars, Directed by Stephen Sommers

Please, Disney (and essentially Lucasfilm), spare me any of the above heartbreak or I just may explode into oblivion. I suppose we’ll see in the coming months after the D23 Expo from Disney and the German Star Wars: Celebration if these rumors bear any fruit. Fans are expecting some sort of casting news by the time these geek gatherings occur…. me included.

SDCC 2013: Game of Thrones Panel Discussion and Memoriam…

On Friday afternoon, July 19th,  in Hall H, some of the Game of Thrones cast gathered for a panel at the SDCC. Cast members Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, John Bradley, Kit Harington, Rose Leslie and Richard Madden, and author George R.R. Martin joined executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for the event.

The Game of Thrones panel began with an “In Memoriam” video played with Boys II Men’s “Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”. Such a horribly sad video, remembering all of those amazing characters that we won’t get to see again.

Here is a video that shows the entire panel: (Special Guest star at about 14:40)

Game of Thrones will return in the Spring of 2014.

 

SDCC 2013: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and More from the Marvel Studios Panel!

Joss Whedon made a huge splash at the Marvel Studios panel today, when he announced the title to the Avengers sequel, and shocked the crowd.

But before we get to that let’s talk about the rest of the panel (which you can watch here) showcasing some footage from both Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The new footage from Thor was introduced by a fully costumed Tom Hiddleston as Loki, which Hall H ate up. You can check his intro after the jump:

SDCC 2013: Blu-ray Exclusives – The Adamantium Collection, Predator and Dexter

Comic Con is always a place for exclusives, and 20^th Century Fox have outdone themselves this year. They have released photos of a new boxset  only available to pre-order at Comic Con. This Blu-ray set features not only every X-Men movies, but also The Wolverine. This is great timing as the film comes out on the weekend and fans will be clambering for X-related goodies. It looks simply stunning and actually quite life-like. Hopefully this will be on general release soon as something this amazing should not be kept as an exclusive.

Remember this image from our article on Comic Con film poster releases?

 

Well it appears it is not a sequel that is in the works, but actually a new Blu-ray release of the original Predator movie. You can also win prizes by hunting the Predator. Here is the web site if you want to have a go yourself, make sure you don’t look threatening and you should be safe from his wraith! The Predator Blu-ray “head box” is shown below.

What could be more exciting than that? Well, how about becoming a Predator victim! Read the official press release below to find out how.

[box_dark]In a first-of-its-kind activation at Comic-Con, fans can enter booth #3528 and have their photo taken with state of the art cameras courtesy of 3D Systems.  Their image will then be used to make them the victim as a customized figurine is created using 3D Systems 3D printing technology that features the Predator alien holding the fans’ severed head![/box_dark]

You can only get this if you pre order the Blu-ray from Comic Con. The Head box is $129.99 and the standard Blu Ray is $49.99. And who does not want the chance to be a victim of the Predator? The Blu-ray will be released in December.

Finally take a look at this box set for Dexter which has the entire series all on shiny Blu-ray.

Keep checking Grizzly Bomb Comic Con Coverage as it arrives.

SDCC 2013: Benedict Cumberbatch Talks Sherlock, Plus ‘The Fifth Estate’ Trailer!

During the Sherlock Comic-Con panel yesterday, after briefly touching on his role in the new Star Trek, and of course his work in the upcoming The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and finally his upcoming film The Fifth Estate in which he plays Julian Assange, Benedict Cumberbatch gave out a bit of a spoiler when it comes to Sherlock.

See in the last episode of season 2 of Sherlock, titled ‘The Reichenbach Fall’, Sherlock falls off a building. It is very sad and very emotional and very mysterious because obviously there is a season 3 and even more obvious, Sherlock is alive so how did he do it?

Benedict Cumberbatch himself tells us how:

Bonus Martin Freeman!

It’s such a shame that the feed went out. I suppose we’ll just have to wait for the premiere of Sherlock‘s season 3 in 2014. You can check out the important parts of the panel here. Now let’s take a look at Cumberbitch Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate trailer:

It’s going to be another big day at SDCC so be sure to check out all of our coverage here!

SDCC 2013: New ‘Batman: Arkham Origins’ Trailer Reveals Copperhead!

Batman: Arkham Origins might be the first prequel concept to hook me in a very long time: Two years into his career as the Dark Knight, Batman is a far more brutish and unrefined crime fighter than the hero we know from the previous games. His reputation as an ominous threat to Gotham’s underbelly inspires Black Mask to put a $50 million bounty on Bats’s head one Christmas Eve, attracting the attention of eight deadly assassins. Like Arkham Asylum, Origins sounds like it could play as a self-contained comic arc, but Origins will be even larger a game than Arkham City.

Developer Warner Bros. Games Montreal has been fairly tight-lipped with its cast of characters so far, but today at their Comic-Con panel they revealed Copperhead as one of the eight main villains in the game. Copperhead is a minor character in the Batman universe who in previous iterations either wore a super-powered snake costume or inherited snake-like powers a la Spider-Man. WB Montreal decided to revitalize the character as a woman (!) who, in line with the video game series, is much more realistic in design (Thank God). Arkham Origins‘s Copperhead doesn’t appear to have any supernatural abilities, but as a contortionist she can slink around and strike quickly with what seem to be poison-coated gauntlets. Take a look at the trailer:

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According to SuperHeroHype, DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns liked Copperhead’s re-imagining so much they’ve decided to use the likeness in their comics, sort of like how Harley Quinn became canon following her creation in Batman: The Animated Series. It’s always nice to see more women in games and comics; I just wish they hadn’t sexualized her in the process.

Batman: Arkham Origins will be released October 25th, 2013. For a full run-down of the game’s Comic-Con panel, click here. For more of our coverage from SDCC 2013, click here!

SDCC 2013: First Glimpse at the New Collectibles from Mattie Collector!

It’s Comic Con and you know what that means right? Loads of new collectibles! Mattie Collector (the collector’s branch of Mattel) has already started the ball rolling on their Facebook page  with a big collection of Master of the Universe figures and a few other surprises along the way.

Firstly let us look at the solo figure of the bunch, The Comedian figure from the iconic graphic novel Watchman. This design is based on the comic rather than the movie (which had its own line of figures a few years back). It looks fantastic and I am hoping that we are going to see a lot more of these coming in the next few days.

 

Next up is the life sized collectibles from Ghostbusters and the Adam West Batman series. These include a full size utility belt from Batman, along a trap and Neutrino Wand. Now thanks to The Examiner we know the rod will cost about $130, but no prices on the other items quite yet. That’s a pretty awesome price for something of that quality and who among us would not want to pretend to be a Ghostbuster or the Caped Crusader for the day? Well, here is your chance.

 

Last but not least is the reissuing of some of the classic Master of the Universe lines of toys (seen below). The End of Wars pack has a ton of weapons and spare parts and also comes with your very own Kowl figurine from She-Ra. We also have some old favorites like Rattler, Roboto, and Trap Jaw all making an appearance mixed in with some more obscure characters like Nepthu. We also get to see some pretty fantastic looking vehicles like The Jet Sled with its pilot Sky High. My favorite out of the bunch has to be the inclusion of the Rock Men, who were some of my favorite toys as a kid. Lord knows why a bunch of transforming rocks held so much appeal to me when I had Transformer toys to play with, but that’s the way it was.

Keep checking with Grizzly Bomb for more collectable news as it arrives, and for more on SDCC 2013 click here!

SDCC 2013: Best of Instagram, Preview Night, & First Look at ‘Days of Future Past’ Sentinel!

Well Comic-Con is upon us, finally! While not all of us can go to San Diego, thanks to social media platforms like Instagram we can live vicariously through those that do. I’ve gathered up some of my favorite Instagram photos from yesterday’s Preview Night (and day). If you want to keep up with Grizzly Bomb’s Comic-Con coverage, be sure to follow us on Instagram as well as Twitter.

SDCC 2013: Trailer Released for DC’s ‘Necessary Evil: Super-Villains of DC Comics’

Not to be undone by Sony’s brief teaser for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 that featured Jamie Foxx as Electro, DC has released a full trailer for an upcoming documentary featuring a few more legendary villains. Necessary Evil: Super Villains of DC Comics takes a look at arguably the most menacing villains that the comic world has to offer.

Lets check out the trailer, which was revealed last night during Preview Night:

SDCC 2013: Harrison Ford in New ‘Ender’s Game’ Promo, & the SDCC Fan Experience!

The marketing push for Gavin Hood’s (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tsotsi) upcoming sci-fi movie Ender’s Game is under way, with the launch of a viral campaign designed to make the audience feel like a trainee of the International Fleet. The latest piece of the campaign has just been revealed, consisting of a short propaganda video featuring Harrison Ford in the role of Colonel Hyrum Graff. Watch the clip from SuperHeroHype below:

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While the world looks a lot more sterile and shiny than I’d imagined from Orson Scott Card’s novel, the focus on the IF and its “Last Stand Against the Buggers” philosophy is right on point. I’m anticipating Ender’s Game with some caution, but it looks like it could be a decent action flick if not something as special as Card’s Hugo winning book series.

Ender’s Game follows Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a young recruit in the International Fleet’s Battle School, in his training to become a military commander fit to defend against an inevitable attack from an alien species that decimated the Earth in the past. The movie stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Viola Davis, as well as the aforementioned sci-fi God himself, Harrison Ford.

And over in San Diego, the Ender’s Game Fan Experience invited the huge structure based off of the Battle School, which houses numerous rooms full of props and costumes that Con attendees can move through, as well as an area that allows fans to sit in on a Battle School session hosted by Harrison Ford as Col. Hyrum Graff (not in person, unfortunately). You can check out more on the Fan Experience here.

Movie Fone unveiled three new character posters for the film as well, including this one of Hailee Steinfeld in full Petra garb:

Ender’s Game hits theaters November 1, 2013. Be sure to check out SDCC 2013 for more on our coverage from San Diego!