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LEGENDARY’s SDCC Panel: GODZILLA’s New Monster Friends, Guillermo del Toro, WARCRAFT, Heaps More

Ho-ly cats, you guys. Saturday’s Legendary panel over in Hall H was a doozy. Between announcing the sequel to Godzilla — including a bevy of new monsters (!!!) — the team gave us sneak peeks and surprise appearances to whet our appetites well into 2016. All your monsters are belong to Legendary.

After chastising Godzilla for his diva was — “Get over yourself you’re not Brian Cranston!” — director Gareth Edwards confirmed the news before head of Legendary CEO Thomas Tull came out to reveal the badassery that is the Toho Studios’ releasing of Rodan, Mothra, and Ghirdorah into the cinematic world of Godzilla. Naturally, the cave chockablock with nerds in Hall H went absolutely apeshit.

All of those bodes for a particularly exciting bit of Legendary business as the last few moments of the panel — moderated by our very own, very talented, very Chobot-y Jessica Chobot — revealed something the folks over there have been “tinkering with”: Skull Island. You know… that place where King Kong hails from? (Oh please let there be an epic Godzilla v. King Kong battle royale in our future. Please, please, please?!)

But that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Fans were also treated to a look at As Above/ So Below, the new terrifying horror business from the Dowdle brothers, John Erick and Drew that takes place within the catacombs of Paris where, according to John, “that one thing you just wouldn’t tell somebody? It’s that” which will find and haunt you underground.

Afterwards Michael Mann made his Comic-Con debut to talk Blackhat, his Chris Hemsworth and Viola Davis-fronted thriller about the “digital underworld.” After a nice extended clip of the film, that dreamy Asgardian also known as Chris Hemsworth came out to discuss the film’s cybernetic horror roots.

According to Mann, the film taps into the realities of our increasingly connected world and the dangers that lie just below the surface. “We live this,” Mann explained. “We live in this world: this exoskeleton of the Internet.”

“You realize how vulnerable we are in this age,” Hemsworth said before recounting a story from his guru on the film, mathematician Chris McKinlay, wherein he explained the ease with which most hackers out there can “switch on the camera on your laptop and your phone.” Some of you out there may remember McKinlay as the guy who hacked OKCupid to become “the ideal man” for the sort of girls he wanted to date. (In the words of Jessica Chobot, “Uh, that is creepy.”)

One of the bigger moments of the panel involved the swear-happy Guillermo del Toro who declared that his forthcoming horror-painting of a film, Crimson Peak, will be at Comic-Con International next year with “Tom fucking Hiddleston,” one of the film’s stars. A return to his horror roots — but with a twist! — del Toro said he wanted to do “a more painterly, beautiful” film that’s R-rated but with “incredible beauty.”

The director/writer was clearly jazzed about the film, so much so that he broke all the rules — particularly with his swear-happy language choices. One thing that was interesting to him in the making of Crimson Peak was the representation of women. “I wanted to make a great story for a strong female lead,” he explained. “Past the romance, past the guy — fuck that shit. Let us see her become her own person!” the director asserted of his leading lady, Mia Wasikowska. “I cannot curse but it’s fucking awesome.” October 2015 cannot come soon enough.

As for that World of Warcraft movie that’s long been in the works (but also just recently wrapped filming)? Fans in Hall H were treated to a sneak peek of the live action/CG/fantasy world epic. Director Duncan Jones really wanted to “show that it’s possible” for a Warcraft movie to bring in an audience that haven’t played the game and love it. Unfortunately we’ll have to wait until March 2016 for the cinematic undertaking that Jones described as Lord of the Rings meets Avatar. No small feat, eh?

What do you think of all this news? Let us know in the comments.

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Comments

  1. I’m Surprised!

  2. Ken says:

    Where is that border image from?  I want to hang it on my wall!