SDCC 2014: Warner Bros. casts its spell with The Hobbit, Mad Max: Fury Road & Jupiter Ascending – Hall H (Sat 26th, 10am)
Hall H, 10am on Saturday 26th July – that’s where you want to be if you’re a Tolkeinite, as it has been confirmed that Warner Bros. Pictures will be bringing one hell of a show – and Peter Jackson will be along, too, to bid his final farewell to the SDCC multitude with something for the last chapter of his Hobbit Trilogy: The Battle Of The Five Armies.
And fans will be thrilled to see the Antipodean return to the hallowed Hall after the second film, The Desolation Of Smaug, skipped San Diego Comic-Con in 2013 to concentrate on its production in time for release that December. And yet even Jackson will also have a lot to live up to, considering it was the first Hobbit panel in 2012 that first introduced the ‘panoramic presentation’ format to the legendary Hall H.
The Hobbit panel, Hall H 2012
No word yet on whether any of the cast is due to appear but, as this is the final film, one can only hope for a large chunk of the roster – maybe this will be the year we finally see Benedict Cumberbatch in San Diego.
Tom Hardy, in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (image: ScreenRant
George Miller is also announced as being present on the panel to showcase first-look footage of Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. After years of delays and setbacks in the outback, the troubled production now seems to have put his difficulties behind it and is full steam ahead for a May 2015 release – rumours about for a full trailer debut during this panel.
And finally, speaking of troubled productions, the studio will be bringing a peek of Jupiter Ascending, a film that, by this year’s Comic-Con, should have been in cinemas by a week already, instead of the February 2015 release date which it now currently occupies, due to work still needed to be done on the VFX. It’s very unlikely that the Wachowskis’ will be showing up in person – they popped their heads out of their turret for personal project Cloud Atlas, back in 2013, and have not been seen again in public since – so hopefully the footage alone will be enough to whet peoples appetite with the possibility of stars Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis and – hey! – Sean Bean coming out to play. (Wouldn’t it be nice to have Beany plant a chair at the end of the Hobbit panel? One big family reunion!)
The Warner Bros. Pictures Hall H panel is merely a drop in the ocean of riches that WB intend to bring to SDCC this year, including a massive 3hr Special Event which will take place that Saturday evening… In Hall H, perhaps? Only time will tell when the competed Comic-Con schedules finally are unveiled. Not long to go now, everybody.
The excerpt from the Warner Bros. press release, published by Business Wire:
On Saturday, July 26th, beginning at 10 a.m., Warner Bros. Pictures brings three of its most hotly anticipated films to this year’s Con: Peter Jackson will be on the main stage with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” from New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and George Miller will be on hand to present a first look at “Mad Max: Fury Road,” from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. The Hall H audience will also get a peek at the Wachowskis’ original sci-fi actioner “Jupiter Ascending,” also from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures. Attending stars will be revealed at a later date.