So, who's going to San Diego Comic Con this year? Are you excited? Pumped up? Mildly interested? Pretending you don't care in order to impress someone of the opposite sex, but deep inside really do care and, as such, are counting down the seconds? It's okay, we're friends -- we can talk. This year, myself, Scott Weinberg and Elisabeth Rappe will be on the ground at Con representing Cinematical, and I think I speak for all of us when I say we're ready to get our geek on.

Aside from the very cool Masters of the Web Panel on Thursday morning (7/24) at 10am (which yours truly will take part in), we've been anxiously waiting to see which studios show up and with what product. Looks like Fox was first out of the gate, as I've been told they'll be there with bells on ... along with panels for Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg, John Moore and Mila Kunis expected to attend so far) and The Day The Earth Stood Still (Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Scott Derickson and Erwin Stoff expected to attend so far). There will also be an advanced screening of The Rocker, with Rainn Wilson in attendance for a Q&A. Of course, this is all tentative until everything is finalized next month.

On the other hand, Anne Thompson brings us the unfortunate news that Paramount will not be hosting a panel or bringing any stars to this year's Con. Apparently, a Paramount spokesman told Thompson that "the timing was off this year." Thus, fans will miss out on potential presentations of G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Transformers 2 and The Last Airbender. Sucks. Though you never know ... plans may change and there could still be a surprise or two. Here's hoping we get something, anything, from one of these highly-anticipated films.

UPDATE: Paramount's fishin' around today, so I don't think they're out just yet. More when we know ...

While we're still over a month away from what is perhaps the Super Bowl of geekdom, early info on what to expect from this year's San Diego Comic Con has started to leak out. First off, I've been receiving tons of emails over the past couple days as other websites begin to mention this Masters of the Web panel, which, in case you haven't seen, includes Cinematical. Yes, I'm very happy to announce that yours truly will join the dudes from IESB, JoBlo, Dark Horizons, Ain't It Cool News, CHUD, Latino Review, Movie Web, The Movie Blog and Bloody-Disgusting for an in-depth discussion on how to make your own pizza at home! Not quite, but when you get all these folks in the same room, you'll definitely want to watch what happens next.

Wait, there's more! The panel itself will be moderated by directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Pathology), and those in attendance will get to see the first footage from Crank 2 and that Gerard Butler flick, Game. There's also a ridiculous invite-only party being thrown featuring all kinds of celebs, "dancers" and hot internet movie writers, and if you show up to the panel, you'll have a chance to win a ticket to said party as well. Long story short: If you're going to Comic Con, you'll most definitely want to clear your schedule on Thursday, July 24th at 10am for the Masters of the Web panel. Yeah, it's early -- but we're not going to Comic Con to sleep in, we're going to get our geek on. Start early, party late -- that's always our motto.

In addition to the panel, IESB has listed an early and somewhat tentative rundown of what each studio has planned for The Con. I'm seeing names like Watchmen, Terminator: Salvation, The Spirit, Twilight, Underworld 3, Kevin Smith ... and much, much more. God, I feel like I'm seven and going to Disney World. So excited. Stay tuned ...

Universal was out in full force over the weekend, hosting panels for The Incredible Hulk (see our report here), Wanted and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Though less attention has been given to Wanted and Hellboy II so far, both films will provide, perhaps, some of this summer's most spectacular visuals.

Wanted

We mentioned it the other day, but prior to the Wanted panel at NY Comic Con, Cinematical was invited to Universal's suite high on the 52nd floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to hang with director Timur Bekmambetov and watch the Wanted Comic Con footage a drop early. Following the brief screening (on a monstrous flat screen TV), I caught up with Timur and spoke to him about the film. One thing, in particular, was whether he planned on a Wanted franchise, or if this would be a one-off film. Timur laughed when I asked, and said we'd have to wait to see if people go to see this one first. Also of note, when I asked if he planned to continue his very successful Night Watch/Day Watch series of films, Timur shot back: This [meaning Wanted] is it! This is the third film. Even though it has different story, the tone is the same from the other films."

Oh, and then came the footage ...

Star Wars

After waiting on a very long line for about an hour, I finally made my way into the IGN Theater for the Star Wars and Indiana Jones panel. The festivities had already gotten underway, and so the theater was packed, dark and hard to navigate. Additionally, I had walked in while they were screening footage for the upcoming video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which hits shelves in September. The footage looked great (from what I could tell), and I'm looking forward to a game that's set in between Episodes III and Episodes IV as there's so much room to play with there. For more on the game, check out StarWars.com.

From there, Steve Sansweet introduced two guys who had just graduated with a doctorate in Star Wars from New York University. It's funny, too, because right before their names were announced the guy next to me leaned over to his girlfriend and said, "Holy crap, I didn't know you could get a doctorate in Star Wars! Why didn't I do that!? Then Sansweet played their senior thesis: a documentary that, in reality, turned out to be the trailer for Robot Chicken's Star Wars episode. Of course, the two guys were Seth Green and Matt Senreich. They, in turn, talked about how that episode is arriving on DVD in July. This will include all sorts of stuff, like the deleted scene they screened featuring George Lucas on a therapist's couch complaining about how other people messed up Star Wars when Lucas let them play in that world (ie: Robot Chicken). Funny stuff.

The picture above takes place toward the very end of the scene they showed us yesterday at New York Comic Con, and it comes toward the end of a battle between armed forces and the Hulk. This scene is also predominantly featured in the new trailer which will play before Iron Man in about two weeks. Essentially, the military have Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) on the run. They chase him into this glass tunnel, lock both entrances on either side and launch two smoke-type bombs into the area. Outside, jeeps and a slew of troops gather awaiting Banner's transformation. They want this monster and they want him bad.

Suddenly, as the smoke builds up, we see Banner press his hands against the glass -- his eyes go green, his face fighting the beast within. Smoke fills the screen; it's quiet. Everyone waits. Then ... BOOM! -- the Hulk crashes out of the glass onto this huge field, running for his life. Several jeeps give chase, guns firing from every corner of the screen -- bullets ripping into Hulk's skin; he bumps one jeep and the vehicle rolls over. He gets to another one, picks it up and proceeds to smash it until the thing is in a million pieces. Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), who at this point has been given a few injections of that super serum, heads out to where Hulk is. Hulk tries to beat down Blonsky, but the latter has an extra bounce in his step. For some reason, he's not like the others -- he can move pretty fast. After a brief cat and mouse, the two approach each other (seen above). Blonsky says, "Is that all you got?" Hulk looks down, winds his leg back and goes to deliver a giant kick to Blonsky's stomach ... and we ... cut to black.

You know that room Willy Wonka takes everyone in -- the one full of candy, and then the fat kid gets sucked into the chocolate pipe? For a geek, Comic Con is that room. Actually, Comic Con is like visiting 60 or 70 of those rooms for an entire weekend. I'm not even what you'd call a geek, gamer or fanboy, and I get absolutely overwhelmed each and every time I attend one of these conventions. It's seriously like losing yourself in another universe for awhile -- and then you get to watch a really sick trailer ... or three.

NY Comic Con blew the f*ck (pardon my French) up this year. Last year, they hosted Hostel II and The Hills Have Eyes 2. This year, they had Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Wanted, The Incredible Hulk, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Speed Racer, The Dark Knight, The Spirit, Prince Caspian ... and much more. Yup. In one year, NYCC has seriously kicked things up a notch and I was happy to be a part of the fun.

I'll do a whole recap thingy tomorrow (the scene they showed from Hulk brought the house down -- huge highlight for me), but in the meantime check out all these pics I took throughout the day. They're not all perfect, but they give you a pretty good idea of what it was like walking around, oblivious and in desperate need of some lunch. (Photos include: Hellboy panel, Spirit panel, Star Wars, Wanted panel, Iron Man video game, Hulk video game, hottie girls with guns, stormtroopers, and lots and lots of action figures.)

More Coverage:

Tony Stark's Cameo in The Incredible Hulk/Third Dark Knight Trailer Screens
The Spirit Trailer Premieres
Guillermo Del Toro on The Hobbit and Future Projects

Erik Davis just called in from the floor of NYCC, where Guillermo del Toro held a panel on Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. According to Del Toro, he will know in about 4 to 5 days whether or not he's doing The Hobbit. He hopes that he gets to, but every day brings new battles, but he (and the world will) will know within a week whether he's on board. (I'm paraphrasing Del Toro by way of Davis!)

If he doesn't do The Hobbit, he'll be doing another smaller film which he can control completely. It's called Planet Saturn: End of Days, and he just started writing it. It will be a smaller film that follows a boy named Saturn, who goes out to the grocery store and watches the apocalypse happen. Fire raining from the sky, doom and destruction, you name it. Del Toro considers it his third "childhood" film -- sounds as good and dark as his earlier work.

So, more "wait and see" but we have a time frame now. Things are definitely moving forward with The Hobbit!

Additionally, Davis says the stage set up for Hellboy 2 is "really cool" and there are real monsters flanking Del Toro and the stage panel. Too cool! I wish I was there to see it, with all my Cinematical friends.

The first two posters for The Spirit have debuted online shortly before the trailer (which hits today at 4pm). The image above comes to us via AICN and it appears to be the official teaser poster. Included after the jump is the exclusive Comic Con poster for The Spirit (via Yahoo Movies), featuring Eva Mendes as Sand Saref -- bending down, oozing sexy in some tight black outfit. The gal looks pretty damn good, and I love how her character's name is only a few letters off from the name of a font. Fonts are hot! Right off the bat we can see these first two posters have that Sin City vibe Miller and Robert Rodriguez created a few years ago for the live-action version of Miller's other comic. The cold, newspaper-retro style with a splash of bright red.

Personally, I absolutely loved Sin City and so I'm definitely loving what we've seen so far from The Spirit. I do wonder how much Miller (who's directing The Spirit himself) borrowed from his experience with Rodriguez. Will we see an identical vision, or will Miller emerge with his own style, look and feel? What do you think?

Comic Con poster after the jump, or in the gallery below.