It’s been a busy first day at Comic-Con 2012, with such cinematic legends as Tim Burton, Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger all gracing the Hall H stage.
First up was Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great And Powerful , a prequel of sorts that follows James Franco’s wizard as he goes from wily trickster to noble protector of Emerald City.
The trailer starts out in black-and-white 4:3, but transitions into glorious, technicolour widescreen as Franco’s con artist is sucked into a tornado and winds up in the wonderful world of Oz.
From there, we get a first look at the film’s three witches – as played by Michelle Williams, Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz – as well as a menagerie of creatures: from razor-toothed pixies and moving china dolls to snappy mutant plants and, of course, flying monkeys.
“It’s different than anything I’ve ever done,” Raimi told us. “I’ve never done a family picture, but I loved the screenplay.” And while the trailer – which you can see below – doesn’t show any hint of a Bruce Campbell cameo, Raimi confirmed that his one-time Ash will indeed play a small part…
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There was also a surprise preview of Gore Verbinski’s Lone Ranger , featuring Armie Hammer as the titular hero and Johnny Depp (here reteaming with the Pirates Of The Caribbean director) as his Native American sidekick, Tonto.
Despite a lack of plot detail and only brief glimpses of stars Hammer, Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, the trailer featured plenty of slow motion, gunslinging action and showed off a spectacular, train-chase set-piece that hinted Verbinski may well have got the budget he wanted after all.
In short? A typical Jerry Bruckheimer production that looks like it could be a lot of fun. Here’s hoping Verbinski and Depp can pull off another surprise summer charmer.
