Comic-Con director Eddie Ibrahim kicked off the panel by introducing the extended screens Warner Brothers likes to present on.
A sizzle reel of Lord of the Rings, 300, The Matrix, Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, Inception, Batman v. Superman, Mad Max and other Warner Brothers movie takes the massive screens which are now wrapping around the room. The reel concludes and Conan O’Brien is brought to the stage to moderate the presentation.
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Another reel take the screen with footage from Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman, and DC comics logos. Ben Affleck is on video describing their heroes’ timelessness. Leto says that diving into these worlds ignites people’s imaginations. Other cast members and directors narrate the footage, highlighting their excitement.
Logos flash across the screen for upcoming movies: Wonder Woman, Justice League, Flash.,Aquaman, Batman, and Green Lantern Corps.
O’Brien introduces Suicide Squad director David Ayer, Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins, Justice League’s Zack Snyder, The Flash’s Rick Famuyiwa, Aquaman’s James Wan, and Batman’s Ben Affleck.
Ayer starts out by talking about turning bad guys good with Suicide Squad. “I believe the worst of us are capable of doing some of the best things,” he says. Jenkins says she’s been a lifelong fan of super heroes since Superman I came out. “This feels like the best time in the world to make this movie,” she says of Wonder Woman. Snyder compliments each of his actors. Famuyiwa describes his first time at Comic-Con and says he’s very excited to be a part of the DC films world. Wan says joining this world feels incredible. It’s his first time in Hall H and he compliments the filmmakers around him. “F—in’ Aquaman, what can I say?” he laughs. He’s excited to explore the “wondrous world” of Atlantis. Affleck compares directing Batman to taking on a great play that his been done already a million times. “There’s a tremendous amount of pressure and tremendous amount of work that goes into it,” he says before adding how interesting the Batman character is.
Wonder Woman claims the screens. World War I settings are all around. Diana and Steve are about to kiss in a still image.The logo takes the screen and the lights come back. O’Brien welcomes Patty Jenkins to the stage again. She enthusiastically describes her excitement for the film and to be here today before introducing Connie Nielson who plays Hippolyta, Chris Pine who plays Steve Trevor, and Wonder Woman herself Gal Gadot.
Jenkins introduces the trailer.
“It was important to portray this character in a way that everyone can relate to,” Gadot says about playing the part. “The world needs love and forgiveness in such a huge way,” says Jenkins of directing Wonder Woman today.
“Steve Trevor lives right in the heart of darkness of men,” says Pine. “From that kind of hopeless state and that hopeful state they meet and learn a lot about the world.”
Connie Nelson describes the huge amount of training which included sword training. Her neighbors caught on to her training and watched her, even almost causing a construction worked to fall off of a ladder when he noticed.
A fan asks if the Invisible Jet will be in the movie or if Wonder Woman will fly but Jenkins will only say that the Invisible Jet is not in the movie. Another fan asks Gadot to show her her best Wonder Woman pose. “I did a lot of physical work and I did a lot of research on the character,” Gadot says. She wants both men and women to relate to the character. She crosses her arms a strikes the best Wonder Woman pose she can think of.
Costumes take the screens. It’s Justice League time.
O’Brien introduces Zack Snyder to the stage first. From there, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, and Jason Momoa take the stage. Miller is rocking a Gandolf costume. Henry Cavill is introduced late.
The first Justice League trailer is unveiled.
It’s Suicide Squad time. Fun music introduces pictures of the cast and their character names. O’Brien brings David Ayer back to the stage. He says, “DC runs Hall H!” while walking out. He brings the cast of Suicide Squad to the stage.
“I would say David’s super power is helping actors fall into their characters and their relationships,” says Will Smith. “We’ve all shared really deep stories about ourselves and our pains and our triumphs in this process and what David does on set, when you though he was being a good guy, is he throws your childhood trauma at you and says ‘Dude, the Joker did it.’”
Robbie describes how she learned so much from Ayer, including stunts, before O’Brien turns the attention to Viola Davis’ masterful performance as Amanda Waller.
Suicide Squad takes place after Batman v. Superman, Ayer confirms with “Post-BvS.”
LEGO Batman comes to the screen with characters taking the screens on the walls. He fights off several villains and the Joker escapes. LEGO Conan takes the screen and introduces a message from Batman from Gotham. He takes the Hall H stage and takes to Conan. He brings the LEGO Joker, LEGO Barbara Gordon, and LEGO Robin before handing it back over to real Conan who brings out director Chris McKay and Will Arnett, Before talking, they introduce the new trailer.
King Kong footage takes over. Discover how Kong became King, the screens say. Jackson, Hiddleston, Goodman, Larson, Jing and Reilly’s names are revealed before the Kong: Skull Island logo. Jordan Vogt-Roberts takes the stage. John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Brie Larson, and Tom Hiddleston take the stage.
Vogt-Roberts says he is trying to tell a new story within the King Kong mythology. “The seventies is such an interesting time and it’s the last time in the world where myth could exist in the world and you could have these unknown things,” he says.
“I play a character called Captain James Conrad and he is a formerly British SAS soldier with a set of skills in survival,” Hiddleston says. “We’re all given a pitch. The technology that we now use in apps like Google Earth was in its infancy in the early 70’s,” he explains, adding, “They can see an island in the south pacific and it’s protected by a storm system and they can’t get into that storm system so they send a group of soldiers.”
“This is a lot about humans battling natural elements,” says Larson.
“The majority of what you’re looking at is real,” says Vogt-Roberts. “The main buy is Kong.”
King Arthur claims the screens as the Skull Island cast exits. The lights come back and Conan introduces Charlie Hunnam to the stage. He debuts the film’s trailer.
“If you’re going to retell a story, you need to make it fresh and original and unique,” Hunnam says. “We’ve seen the version of King Arthur before where he’s the noble man who goes on the noble quest to become the noble King.” The genesis of this character in this incarnation, he’s a survivor.”
“To put that into modern context, we decided to make him like a street kid,” Hunnam reveals. “We meet him and he’s this sort of street guy who is actually doing pretty well for himself.”
Hunnam exits and Fantastic Beasts enter. After a brief sizzle reel, Conan introduces David Yates to his his first time in Hall H. Yates introduces Eddie Redmayne to the stage. Redmayne uses a wand to light up the room. He walks all the way to the back of Hall H, handing out wands to the crowd. Every person in the crowd gets a wand and Redmayne asks everyone to hold theirs up. When they do, a visual effect takes the screen and lights up the room. Afterwards, the lights go down and the rest of the cast is introduced.
“This is an extension of Joe’s universe in a very exciting way,” says Yates. “We’ve got a whole new set of characters, a whole new set of rules,” in a addition to a new setting. “We’ve got a whole array of Beasts that Eddie looks after in his magical case,” he says.
Reluctant to comment on the subject, Redmayne opens up about Easter Eggs in Fantastic Beasts. “I’m hoping there are Easter Eggs,” he says. “I’ve had the excitement of seeing there is a Newt LEGO figure. I’m sure there will be Easter Eggs.
Alison Sudol is most excited about the film simply because she was excited to have more Harry Potter in the first place. Joining it was a huge bonus. Fogler compares his muggle character to Han Solo, reminding us that Han wasn’t a Jedi.
“There was moments where you look around and all the extras are around and each one of them is so specific and so beautiful and from where I was standing each one of them looked like an action figureI just wanted to take home,” Dan Fogler says about the costumes in the films.
“I had this really useful long black cloak and [Atwood] had two version of it,” Colin Farrell explains, going on to say that they were made for different camera angles.
Conan introduces the Fantastic Beasts trailer.
“It was like a ghost,” a man says. Farrell is hearing about it, investigating. A biulding starts to crack and a massive ripple runs through the street. Strange things are going on all over the city. “There’s a hidden society that goes back centuries,” a narrator says. Fogle find the briefcase and finds a creature inside. Scamander has lost a creature and he’s trying to find it. Humans are worried about the beastsand trying to contain them but the humans are the real threat. Action ensues with magic and creatures and wizards. Guns are pointed at Mewt but he runs away just asa large beast starts to approach and tear up the street.
We know that we’re following a legacy that means so much to so many people,” Yates says to close out the panel.
