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The Amazing Spider-Man 2
With Spider-Man sporting an upgraded suit, and facing a barrage of new enemies, expect the webslinger to be a central talking point at this year's Con. Andrew Garfield stole hearts when he appeared at the 2011 Con, promoting The Amazing Spider-Man by posing as a geeking-out fanboy.
Director Marc Webb will have a busy time of it, as he'll also be appearing in EW 's The Visionaries panel alongside Edgar Wright and Alfonso Cuarón: expect him to face questions about the fates of Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, as well as his roster of new baddies.
In the Spidey sequel, Peter Parker has to deal with the triple threat of Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Norman Osborn (Chris Cooper), so they'll likely take a starring role at SDCC 2013.
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes was one of the most unexpected blockbuster surprises of recent years, totally reinvigorating a franchise that had been dormant for years and blighted by Tim Burton's 'reimagining'. Which means that Dawn comes heaped with expectation.
We're in for a very different story this time out though, as the action takes place some years after the events of Rise .
It might be a little early for anything but the roughest cuts of footage, but the panel - expected to include new director Matt Reeves and cast members Jason Clarke, Keri Russell and Andy Serkis - should reveal some juicy info on what we can expect from this next evolutionary step.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
This time a year and a half ago, The Hunger Games was something of an unknown quantity in the movie-world, but much has changed in the last 18 months: the success of the film adaptation matched that of the book to become a global phenomenon, and Jennifer Lawrence has become an Oscar-winner and one of the industry's hottest properties.
The Catching Fire trailer 's already been released, and if you've read the book you'll have some idea of what to expect. At Comic-Con 2013, we're hoping to see some new footage, ideally involving some of the former winners introduced in this installment, and maybe even a first look at the Quarter Quell action.
Oh, and some cute-funny-smart-adorable quips from girl-on-fire Lawrence, naturally.
The LEGO Movie
It’s possible you rolled your eyes when you first heard there was a going to be a movie based on the every popular mini-brick plaything, LEGO. Although, your interest might have been piqued when Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller came on board. And it became all but impossible to resist, once the cast added the likes of Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson to its ranks.
The trailer showed off visual invention in its stop-motion stylings, and there was a great deal of fun to be had with Arnett’s stuffy Batman. Could this be one of the best superhero movies of 2014?
Expect it to be a dark horse of the Con…
Enders Game and Divergent
Summit Entertainment’s panel shows off two of their upcoming young-adult adaptations: Ender’s Game and Divergent .
Ender’s Game is the sci-fi adaptation of the Orson Scott Card novel, starring Hugo ’s Asa Butterfield as the titular alien-busting hero. The most exciting thing about this one is the presence of sci-fi legend Harrison Ford, who’ll no doubt be bombarded with questions about Star Wars: Episode VII …
And all eyes will be on Divergent for Shailene Woodley: now that she’ll no longer be appearing as Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , this will be her big blockbuster hope for 2014. With whispers of ‘the new Hunger Games ’, this dystopian adventure will definitely be one to watch out for.
TV: Sherlock, Breaking Bad, Game Of Thrones, Doctor Who, Community
It’s not *all* about movies for us at the Con, with plenty of TV shows in the line-up catching our interest.
Like… Sherlock . The BBC’s Holmes -update is one of the most-anticipated, with the team on-hand to talk up the next series. Will we find out how Sherlock survived the fall at the end of series 2? Unlikely. But we should get an idea of what to expect from the new episodes, as well as possibly finding out which stories are being used as inspiration.
And that’s not all. There will also be panels for some of our favourite shows right now, including Game Of Thrones , Breaking Bad , Community and Doctor Who (there’s a 50th anniversary coming up, in case you hadn’t heard). With so much good TV happening right now, it’s a wonder we find any time to go to the cinema…
And there’s one new TV show making its debut at Comic-Con that’s sure to be of interest to film fans…
Marvels Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The most exciting new TV event of the long weekend is quite possibly this Marvel spin-off.
The comics giant has been dominating the movie industry in recent years, and it looks like they could do the same on the small screen.
Creator Joss Whedon (who directed the pilot) is on hand to take us through the show, which will see Agent Coulson's (Clark Gregg) Avengers death explained away so that he can lead a team of rookies in the titular acronymified organisation.
Whedon has warned against expecting superstar cameos and movie-scale set-pieces in the show, which will instead focus on building the universe from the ground up.
Veronica Mars
And some of the most exciting movie prospects at Comic-Con started out on the small screen, like Veronica Mars .
The result of a super-successful Kickstarter campaign, Veronica Mars obviously has an army of dedicated fans who’ll no doubt be out in force in San Diego.
It might be a little early for footage (the movie’s not long started shooting), but it’ll at least be a chance for the team behind it to give something back to those who have supported the film.
I, Frankenstein
After fighting baddies in the White House in Olympus Has Fallen , Aaron Eckhart returns to comic-book territory (to play another heavily scarred character, no less) for I, Frankenstein .
A strictly non-traditional take on Mary Shelley’s tortured creation, the film will see Eckhart’s Frankenstein caught in the crossfire between two rival mythical factions.
Eckhart told us a little about the film when he visited our office, but this’ll be our first chance to actually see some footage and get a taste of what to expect.
RoboCop
Another of the Con's most anticipated, largely because it's been kept so tightly under wraps that this'll be our first chance to see some genuine footage from the reboot. Thus far there have been a slew of pap shots of RC in action, a couple of viral videos and precious little else. Adding to the intrigue is the controversy that comes with staging a remake of a beloved classic that's very much of its era.
Joel Kinnaman ( The Killing ) is the half-man, half-machine, all-cop law enforcer, and he's flanked by a top-notch cast that includes Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson and Abbie Cornish. With the cast joining director José Padilha, expect a much better idea of what the film will offer by the time the panel is done.
And let's hope we get a glimpse of RoboCop 2.0 in action...
*Insert obligatory 'I'd buy that for a dollar' gag*
Comics Exclusives
While we’ll naturally be hitting the fest with movies in mind, let’s not forget that, for all the massive film properties hawking their wares, it is, at heart a comics convention.
And given its standing in the industry, Comic-Con scores some pretty hot exclusives when it comes to comics, collectibles and games.
The TF team have already put in their shopping-list requests for goodies. Top of the list? This awesome exclusive videogame edition action figure of Friday The 13th’s Jason
Time to raid the piggy-bank…
300: Rise Of An Empire
The long-awaited sequel to Zack Snyder’s uber-stylised ultraviolent adaptation of the Frank Miller/Lynn Varley comic book series, 300: Rise Of An Empire takes another look at Persian ‘god-king’ Xerxes’ (Rodrigo Santoro) rise to power.
This installment follows zooms in on the Battle Of Artemisium, in which the aforementioned Persian and his army clashes with Greek forces led by Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) and Artemisia (Eva Green). It’s a naval scrap, with should provide plenty of scope for innovative action scenes.
Whether audiences will still flock to the 300 brand without Snyder and star Gerard Butler remains to be seen, but we’ll have a better idea of excitement levels after this panel.
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
It hasn't been officially announced, but we're still holding out hope that the time-travelling X-Men prequel-sequel will have presence on the 20th Century Fox panel. Hugh Jackman'll be in attendance with The Wolverine , so it's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that Charles' mutants might make an appearance... is it?
Bryan Singer, one of the biggest teases on Twitter, hinted at a Comic-Con appearance way back in February 2013; and the timing would be ideal for its summer 2014 release.
Singer's bombarded his Twitter following with cheeky behind-the-scenes snaps, but we've yet to have an official poster, still or trailer. Could Comic-Con be the ideal time to rectify that?
How many days until @Comic_Con ? #XMen #DaysofFuturePast #SDCC pic.twitter.com/FMPSj17p February 20, 2013
Godzilla
After making an impact at Comic-Con 2012, Godzilla is back in a big way. Save for an early teaser poster, and a few on-set snaps, next to nothing has been revealed from Warner Bros and Legendary’s monster creature-feature outside of Hall H.
With the viral site cranking up, and signs pointing to something epic going down in San Diego, Godzilla will be one of the most dominant presences of the extended weekend, as it's expected to pull out a big stunt on the Wednesday night, before appearing at Warner Bros and Legendary's Saturday panel.
Here’s hoping we’ll see some footage of the terrible lizard in action. Comic-Con would be an ideal time to launch the first teaser trailer: fingers/claws crossed for this one!
Marvel Panel - Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World
Sure to be one of the must-visit events of Comic-Con 2013, the Marvel panel will be worth getting out of bed at a ridiculous hour for, and queuing to stake a claim in the hallowed Hall H. Showing on the evening of Saturday 20 July 2013, the panel will be officially showing off sequels Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: The Dark World , but we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that they might reveal a little more about their future plans.
Will we get a sneak peek at Guardians Of The Galaxy ? Can we expected to get a bit more info on Avengers 2 ? We can but hope…
With Joss Whedon set to be in attendance, and key cast members expected to rock up, this should blow the roof of Hall H.
Cosplay
If there’s one thing you’re guaranteed to find at Comic-Con, it’s some world-class cosplay. We can’t wait to see what costumes are going to be unleashed on the San Diego Convention Center.
This year, we’re predicting a strong showing for Game Of Throne s, plenty of love for Iron Man , and perhaps even some Kryptonian armour from the most dedicated cosplayers.
If you can’t wait until the Con to see some spectular dress-up though, check out our Iron Man Cosplay Gallery and our Star Trek Cosplay Gallery .
