Disney’s much-anticipated “Tron: Legacy” and Summit Entertainment‘s “Drive Angry 3D” are two of the biggest 3D movies already locked in for high-profile promotion at Comic-Con July 22-25.
Warner is also expected to showcase the November theatrical release of part one of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in 3D, but no details have been revealed as yet.
On the Blu-ray front, Sony has a title tailor-made for Comic-Con with its Oct. 5th release of “30 Days of Night: Dark Days,” based on the second book of the vampire graphic novel series by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. The studio plans a sneak peek, a one-hour panel (7:30 p.m. Friday night, July 23) and press interviews with Niles, co-writer of the film; director and co-screenwriter Ben Ketai (“Dusk to Dusk”); and stars Keile Sanchez (“Lost”), Diora Baird (“TCM: The Beginning”), Rhys Coiro (“Entourage,” upcoming “Straw Dogs”), and J.R. Young, producer at Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures,k which produced “Dark Days” along with Stage 6 Films.
Disney has booked multiple Tron media and/or attendee events each day of the first two days of the show — they are dubbing it “ComiTron” — with a 90-minute cast and crew panel in the famed Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center at 11:15 a.m. Thursday, July 22, as the main event. Director Joe Kosinski and producers Sean Bailey and Steven Lisberger (of the original 1980 “Tron”) as well as cast members Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen and Bruce Boxleitner, and other “surprise guests” are all scheduled to sit in on the discussion moderated by Patton Oswalt and featuring film clips from the December 17 Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3Drelease.
The studio also plans an interactive Tron booth on the convention floor (aisle #3712) providing a preview of movie-related merchandise launching this fall, including content for mobile electronic devices, as well as the “TRON: Evolution” video game from Disney Interactive Studios.
Nicolas Cage will appear on a Hall H half-hour panel at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 23, to promote Summit’s February 2011 release of “Drive Angry 3D.” Joining Cage and in addition to the debut of film clips from the film depicting a gory road trip of a vengeful father who has escaped from hell to hunt down the people who brutally killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby, will be director Patrick Lussier (“My Bloody Valentine 3D”) and co-stars Amber Heard and William Fichtner. Summit is also setting up multiple media opportunities with them.
— By Scott Hettrick