Of Alice and other comic adventures

Last week's 40th Comic-Con International saw a star-studded line-up of Hollywood celebrities and comic book fans descend upon San Diego where new comic books, graphic novels, science-fiction and action movies, television shows and video-games generated all the buzz.

Yet, while starry names such as Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Cameron Diaz hogged the cameras, it was the 15-minute preview of James Cameron's Avatar that had fans salivating for more.

For those not in the know, the Titanic director hasn't captained another film since the 1997 epic romance that became the most successful film in history.

Of late, purists have complained the pop-culture convention has morphed into a movie bazaar from a comic book lovers meet. This year was no different.


FILM FUTURES

Several Hollywood movie studios screened footage from new films and hosted elaborate question-and-answer panels with actors and directors of major upcoming releases including Paramount Pictures' Iron Man 2.

In the film's first look, Mickey Rourke (villain Ivan Vanko/Whiplash) showed off his electrical suit with dual whiplash action, Don Cheadle employed a quick quip to address the change of actors for Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, and a red-haired Scarlett Johansson brought Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) to life.

Iron Man is one of the most successful Marvel comics film franchises with the first film making $585 million (Dh2.1bn).?Lead actor Robert Downey Jr said his character's journey would be scarier this time. "Tony (Stark) goes on a much more perilous journey this time. You can't tell a story better than the way it really happened, so we started to look back at the comics. We didn't take ourselves seriously, but we took the story very seriously," he said.

Director Jon Favreau added that one of the goals of Iron Man 2 is to move the story forward toward the movie The Avengers, planned for 2012. He said he hoped Marvel Studios movies would continue to cross-pollinate superhero characters.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney Pictures' Alice in Wonderland press event had director Tim Burton and a surprise visit by actor Johnny Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter in the movie. Talking about the film, Burton said: "It's based on all of Lewis Carroll's material, including the Jabberwocky Poem. Past Alice films were always just a girl wandering around passively with a lot of weird characters. We tried to weave it into a story that has emotion to it and makes sense."

However, stealing their thunder were 20th Century Fox's 3D Sci-Fi film, Avatar and Summit Entertainment's debuted footage of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, with stars Robert Pattinson and a goth looking Kristen Stewart popping in to lend support.


ALL IN THE GAME

Video games took centre stage alongside Hollywood as marketers took advantage of the 126,000 attendees at Comic-Con this year.

"Video games are getting bigger and more important every day," said Iron Man's creator Stan Lee, publisher emeritus of Marvel Comics.

"Many are based on movies and/or comic books. In fact, the line of demarcation between movies and comic books is getting slimmer and slimmer. Today, when a comic book – or a movie – is being planned, one of the first questions asked is would it make a good video game?"

Lee has teamed up with Activision Blizzard for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, a game that lets players choose from 24 superheroes and take part in a civil war between Captain America and Iron Man.

Iron Man also features with Japanese video game maker Capcom, where he's a featured fighter in the new Xbox Live Arcade game, Marvel vs Capcom 2.

Lionsgate tapped into the market this year to create buzz for the September release of Gamer, which stars Gerard Butler as a death-row prisoner controlled by a young gamer in a real-life.

Yet taking credit for this convergence across the film and game mediums is Disney, which first merged the two worlds with 1982's Tron. The new 3D sequel, Tron Legacy, was unveiled at Comic-Com to a world where video games have become mainstream entertainment.


3D SPRINGS INTO ACTION

3D was the indeed the buzz word at this year's Comic-Con with Avatar, Tron Legacy, Toy Story, A Christmas Carol, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Alice in Wonderland boasting this cutting-edge technology.

Oscar-winning writer/director Cameron said: "3D is going to be a lot like colour was in films. It was initially introduced on the biggest movies, and gradually spread ultimately over a 25- to 30-year period to the point where you couldn't make a black-and-white movie without studio permission.

"I think the acceptance is really accelerating now that it's market-driven. Audiences love it and the quality of the 3D is so much higher than it's ever been in the past."

Talking about his highly anticipated, Avatar, he added: "When I was looking at Avatar, for me, 3D was not a question. I thought it was superior. There was a question of how fertile a ground it would fall on in terms of available theatres, but it looks like we're there. It looks like we're going to have more than enough to make back the additional costs of 3D, assuming the film's successful." (With inputs by Bindu Rai)

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.