Coppola kicked things off making his Comic-Con debut to promote his new movie Twixt. Not much had been divulged about the movie until today. Before he presented the trailer, Edgar Allen Poe masks were handed out which doubled as 3D glasses. Coppola talked about 3D movies and how he wasn't fond of the glasses and that he envisioned a film where, "only the good parts are shown in 3D." He demonstrated this with an extended clip in which midway thru, 3D glasses floated over the footage, signaling the audience to don their Poe masks. When the lights came back up, the director quipped, "Yikes! Six thousand Edgar Allen Poes!"

 

He then announced that the movie would not be a regular studio release. Instead, the director will tour to various cities and "perform" the movie live via his giant iPad and technical and musical assistance from legendary musician Dan Deacon.

 

The movie is a mix of murder mystery, vampire horror and gothic fantasy and stars Val Kilmer, who entertained the audience in the clip with some impressive voice acting. (His Marlon Brando and gay '60s basketball player impersonations brought the audience to a rolling laughter.) Despite some technical errors, Coppola received a standing ovation as he exited Hall H.

 

Next up was the much-anticipated mythological action piece from the producers of 300, directed by Tarsem Singh, Immortals. Henry Cavill, Luke Evans, Kellan Lutz, Freida Pinto and Stephen Dorff joined in on the panel discussion. Singh said the movie was actually a lot darker and hardcore than the trailers have led the general public to believe. One look at the super-violent fight sequence clip (which screened twice) validated his statement. The clip featured five Gods battling a group of creatures whose heads rolled and blood splashed with each kill shot. That been said, the audience popped at perhaps one of the best looking uses of 3D in some time. The movie is loud and there's still no telling how good the actual story is, but it looks visually amazing. Singh even went on to say during Q&A that while most directors start with the plot and characters, he starts with an image in his mind and builds his movie from there.

 

Next up was a little indie movie that packed Hall H to capacity. The live action role playing (LARP) themed comedy Knights of Badassdom received a strong positive reaction from the Hall H crowd who laughed throughout each clip and applauded loudly when the lights were turned back on. The panel featured director Joe Lynch, Ryan Kwanten, Danny Pudi, Summer Glau and Peter Dinklage, who all received loud applause upon introduction. Margarita Levieva and Jimmi Simpson joined the panel.

 

Lynch described the movie as "Braveheart with foam swords," and said it was inspired by the LARP Alliance. The cast was then asked what they would dress up as. Kwanten responded with Han Solo while Glau, to Hall H's approval, went with She-Ra.

 

Time ran out and it was time to switch to the Snow White and the Huntsman panel. While no footage has been shot yet, director Rupert Sanders revealed a three-minute concept trailer, which producer Joe Roth set up by saying that the movie was like The Lord of the Rings in terms of size, scope and story. He also took a shot at the other Snow White movies being developed by Relativity Media starring Lily Collins, calling it, "softer" in comparison.

 

But before we got any concept art or trailer footage, the audience was presented with a Rupert Sanders sizzle reel of three commercials he has made in the past for Call of Duty, Monster and Halo 3. The director said that he desired to make a war movie on a massive scale but ended up with the Snow White story. He decided this was his chance to blend the two and the concept trailer looks impressive to say the least. Granted it was filmed with stand-in actors, the filming style is somewhat reminiscent of LOTR. "We want to give people an emotional ride," Roth said. "It's not a little girl sitting by a wall talking to tweety birds."

 

Sam Claflin, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart joined the panel but didn't really have much to say other than joke around with one another since they hadn't filmed anything together. Theron and Stewart seemed to have a friendly rapport with one another while Hemsworth lobbed a few one-liners at Claflin. And then Hall H was turned into a tizzy as we finally got a look at the Snow White concept art.

 

Huntsmen certainly seemed to regain momentum in the on-going rivalry between the two Snow White movies. (The other premiered a first look of Lily Collins as Snow White a day earlier.)

 

As the cast cleared out, it was time for our first look at Dorothy of Oz starring Lea Michele (who wasn't in attendance), Megan Hilty and Patrick Stewart, who made his Comic-Con debut to a rousing ovation. Stewart said that he became involved with the movie because he felt, "the greatest advances are being made in animation as far as look and boldness." We then got a few clips of the animated musical which Hall H seemed indifferent to, although those with children walked away with a favorable impression of the movie, so mission accomplished.

 

The day was capped by a 90-minute discussion featuring Comic-Con favorite Kevin Smith, who spent the morning interviewing people in line for Hall H, who were dressed up in cosplay. The director started off talking about his upcoming hockey movie Hit Somebody calling it his "thesis film," using "everything I've learned over the past two decades." He then addressed his impending retirement saying he isn't a born filmmaker like Spielberg or Nolan and then switched gears with a rhetorical question that drew a loud applause from Hall H when he asked, "Why aren't The Avengers here this year?!"

 

Smith then moved on to Quentin Tarantino, saying that Reservoir Dogs blew his mind. "Talking about movies in movies counts?!" He described his much publicized horror film Red State as a "Tarantino movie crossed with a Coen Bros.' flick." He then screened five minutes of the movie which was surprisingly gritty and visceral, with a strong turn from John Goodman.

 

Smith then returned to Hit Somebody, saying that he wrote the movie for Alan Rickman to narrate, calling the film the "Forrest Gump of Canada," because the story spans 30 years. He said the script is half-written and he will publish it in autumn for fan feedback before filming. "It's the one to go out on," Smith said. "It's a real dairy pic, a big Muppet movie version of my life." Smith received a long applause from the crowd as the third day of Hall H activity came to a close.

 

On Sunday, the hall features various family-oriented TV shows and screenings, so if you're still in town or looking for something to take the kids to (and you have an SDCC pass), the massive room may be worth checking out.