Comic-Con: Disney’s 3D Panel Impresses Audience

This morning, Disney debuted at Comic-Con with the first ever 3D presentation of their upcoming releases. Moderated by comedian Patton Oswalt, the 6,500 fans scrunched together got to get their first look at A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, and Tron Legacy. With incredible footage, intriguing commentary, and some big surprises, everyone in attendance had an awesome time.

First up, acclaimed director Robert Zemeckis presented his motion-captured adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel A Christmas Carol. Considering his latest projects have been 3D recreations of Beowulf and The Polar Express, many of the questions asked by the audience and the moderator Patton Oswalt dealt with the increasingly popular technology. Zemeckis called 3D “the future” of film making and that it is a technique of storytelling that can fully immerse the audience. The lights dimmed, and a 6 minute preview showed scenes of Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge being visited by Jacob Marley and the other ghosts followed. The motion-capture graphics are greatly increased ranging from the terrified movements of Scrooge, to small details like his eyes and skin. Look for buzz concerning A Christmas Carol to continue to pick up steam as we get closer to the release date November 6th in conventional theaters and IMAX 3D.

Next up was Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Making his Comic Con debut, Burton brought with him an exclusive 3D trailer as well as some insight into the project. He mentioned that his adaptation would include as much from the source material as they could while keeping his “Burton” style. Although the movie is still not yet finished, the footage was theatrical quality and looked very true to his unique form of film making. Admittedly, I am not a fan of Burton or Depp for that matter, but I am very excited for the project now. The trailer showed scenes of the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat and was cut to a very interesting song called “Time to Pretend” by MGMT. Tim then said he brought a friend but was not sure “where he put him,” and to everyone’s shock, Johnny Depp walked out onto the stage. After the roars and applause of the crowd died down, Johnny thanked the audience and Tim and took a bow, then quickly left the stage. For someone who does not do hardly any press, it came as quite the nice suprise. Alice in Wonderland travels through the looking-glass March 5, 2010 in both regular and 3D.

To end the Disney 3D panel, Tron Legacy was introduced with the panel consisting of some cast and the producer and director. Jeff Bridges, who starred in the first film 27 years ago, made an appearance as well, since he will be returning to the role of Kevin Flynn. First, the director Joseph Kosinski described what was on-screen while a slideshow showed some of the new set pieces and vehicles in the upcoming sequel. Then, a scene showed the sequel’s main character, Sean Flynn, as he entered his father’s abandoned arcade and found an old arcade machine called, “Tron”. They then showed the footage from last year which included a chase on the light cycles, and it was rendered in 3D. Having not seen Tron I felt a bit lost of some of the descriptions with the characters and the loose and vague talk concerning the plot, but from the looks of it, Kevin has been gone for 20 years, in the program presumably, and Sean goes in after him. Very interesting premise, but with a sequel coming 27 years after a franchises first film, will audiences still care? 2011 is the tenitive release date, but considering principle photography wrapped eariler this week, it could come sometime late 2010.

The panels were amazing and the footage was incredible. Between the suprises, the amazing guests, the footage screened, and the audience reaction, Disney hit a home run with their line up at Comic-Con this year. Whether their films will be able to live up to the hype they just generated is up to them, but let us know what you think about these films.