[Update: Check out the Legendary Pictures live blog recap here.]
We are less than two weeks away from that big event in San Diego, the one with the superhero costumes, endless lines of people and yes, major film and television news to go with all of the comic book goodness that is Comic-Con International.
While there was some back and forth about Marvel Studios’ presence at the convention, recent insider info confirms The Avengers showing up in some capacity. We can now also add Legendary Pictures to the guest list who are bring their first ever full film panel to the annual event. On tap for their presentation are four films: Pacific Rim, The Seventh Son, Paradise Lost and the big budget video game adaptation, Mass Effect.
Pacific Rim is Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming sci-fi film about humans using robots to fight off an alien attack and stars Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam and Charlie Day. The Seventh Son stars Comic-Con familiar Jeff Bridges alongside Ben Barnes and Julianne More, and tells a tale of exorcisms and other supernatural trickery in the 1700s. Paradise Lost stars Bradley Cooper in the Alex Proyas directed fantasy film about the heavenly war between archangels Michael and Lucifer. All three films will be distributed by Warner Bros. (Sorry, no Man of Steel or The Dark Knight Rises).
The fourth film Legendary is bringing to their panel, and arguably the most intriguing is that of Mass Effect, the video game adaptation was first brought to light back in 2008 when producer Avi Arad picked up the Mass Effect rights a year after the first game hit store shelves. In the video game industry, Mass Effect 3 is one of the hottest and most anticipated titles, and it made waves at last month’s E3 event (think of it as the Comic-Con of video games).
Legendary optioned the rights to Mass Effect last May and we’ve heard nothing about it since, although we know there’s rising interest since the franchise’s popular is steadily growing as we await to end of the main trilogy of games. On the panel, the game’s creator and producer, Casey Hudson, will be joined by screenwriter Mark Protosevich whose penning the screenplay. Outside of that, we have no idea what to expect.
Hopefully, there will be some major announcements, perhaps something along the lines of the choice of director and/or lead star and we won’t be surprised if they show a trailer for Mass Effect 3 while they’re at it.
Groan all you want about video game movies, but sooner or later, that genre will be done some justice. Hopefully with game companies like Ubisoft launching their own film studio, and with Casey Hudson involved with the Mass Effect feature – and the series focus being on story and character – that this property is done justice. It’s already a cinematic masterpiece in its own right, so they best not mess this one up.
I’ll be in attendance for this panel, so follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes and be sure to check our Screen Rant’s live coverage and previews at our Official Comic-Con Page.
