The Saturday slew of Hall H panels starts off with a bang thanks to Warner Bros, who featured cast and crew from Green Lantern, Sucker Punch, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, along with new footage (which we, like everyone else, aren’t allowed to show). I’ll talk about what we saw and heard after the break.
Green Lantern
Moderated by L.A. Times writer Geoff Boucher, the panel featured director Martin Campbell, DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, screenwriter Greg Berlanti, producer Donald De Line, and cast members Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard. Reynolds was wearing the famous ring, which comes into play later. Ryan Reynolds talked about how he didn’t know much about Green Lantern beforehand, but found him to be a classic hero like Han Solo and others, and that drew him in.
We got to see a quick teaser for the film, but unfortunately we never see Reynolds in the suit. We did however see him do that super punch where the rings makes a big green fist. It looked good, though overall revealed little, other than it goes off-planet.
This is Campbell’s first superhero film (doesn’t consider James Bond a superhero), so he felt it was really important to ground the action and characters in reality. The costume is still a work in progress, and they are treating it more like a second skin instead of a suit, so the lines you see are lines of musculature. They lost the white gloves because it didn’t mesh well with the design.
Some other tidbits about the film: It’s set in New Orleans, and De Line calls the film a “space opera”. At one point in the early stages, an executive asked if they could make the film without the ring, and at another point, they were considering making it a comedy. There will be several characters from the Green Lantern universe in the film, including Parallax and possibly Mogo. Lively’s character Carol Ferris is interesting because she’s a love interest, professional rival, and future nemesis.
In the Q&A section, Geoff Johns was coy when asked if this was the start of a DC movie universe (similar to Marvel’s). You could tell he was biting his tongue, eventually saying “maybe”. Someone else asked if there would be a Justice League movie, and Johns said it depended on the success of Green Lantern. The cast talked about how impressive the new tech used for flying was, and that most of the flying in the film is really them.
Ryan Reynolds said the Green Lantern oath live, which was awesome. Then he gave away his ring to one lucky audience member based on a raffle. I was kind of upset they didn’t replay the teaser.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
This part of the panel was rather brief, as only Tom Felton came out to talk for a few minutes, then showed a few clips from the film, which looked really good as usual.
Sucker Punch
The panel for Warner Bros’ Sucker Punch included director Zack Snyder, and all the girls from the cast. They showed a clip, and while it looked really cool, I had no f*cking clue what the movie was about. It had that style Snyder has trademarked with Sin City and 300, and the fantasy sequences are way over the top. Tons of expensive-looking action, yet no story.
This is actually Snyder’s first original project, and he’s been working on it off and on for over eight years. There is apparently a twist ending. You could tell that the audience liked the clip, but weren’t that interested in the panel. While Vanessa Hudgens looked gorgeous on the panel, Carla Gugino stole the show with her major cougar cleavage.
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