Rankin/Universal Studios; John Schwartzman/Columbia Pictures; Paramount PicturesWe went, we saw, we reported.
After four days of logging as many hours listening, chatting and tweeting at the San Diego Convention Center as it took to be able to bring you up-to-the-minute film-related scoop from the you've-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it whirlwind known as Comic-Con 2011, we emerged into the sunlight pretty darn excited about more than a dozen upcoming movies and the stars who have made them, as in the case of Snow White and the Huntsman, will be making them.
All sorts of neat, hilarious and shocking things happened, so we figured it was only fair to pluck out the meat and serve it to you on a silver platter. Check out the 10 biggest moments that occurred in Hall H and beyond right here:
1. Thundering Typhoons!: Peter Jackson regretfully informed the Hobbit-following faithful that there'd be no Comic-Con for him this year, and yet, like Gandalf, he magically appeared! Joining Steven Spielberg at Paramount's The Adventure of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn panel to discuss their collective vision, Jackson kicked off what would prove to be a very long, action-packed day in 6,500-seat Hall H with a joyous bang (after Spielberg scored his own standing-O for being an icon, no big deal). The peas in a pod (Spielberg said theirs has been his favorite collaboration other than working with bestie George Lucas) screened beautiful 3-D footage of Tintin and just flat-out entertained the adoring crowd by being regular, good-natured Joes who just happen to be masters of the filmmaking universe. Bonus: Spielberg promised more Jurassic Park!
2. Hair, There and Everywhere: A number of Twi-hards started camping out for Thursday morning's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn panel on Monday night, days before the entire convention even opened, much less Hall H, to ensure themselves an in-the-flesh look at Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and director Bill Condon. If they wanted to see Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed and Julia Jones up close, too, then they were really in luck, because those sweethearts (along with Boo Boo Stewart) got up at the crack of dawn Thursday toas pass out breakfast treats to the fans already in line. But how about the panel itself? It rocked, in our opinion. The audience was treated to an exclusive first look at Bella and Edward's honeymoon suite and a sequencein which Jacob agrees to join forces with the Cullen clan and then most explain it to his wolf pack. Plus, Stewart was uncharacteristically—and charmingly—chatty; Pattinson, whose weed-wacker haircut was for Cosmopolis, was super witty; and Lautner...well, he just looked really cool in a Dolce & Gabbana leather jacket. Oh, and it sounds as if Renesmee's arrival is going to be a real blood bath, with Condon saying Breaking Dawn ultimately turns into a horror movie.
3. Swinging Good Time: Considering the sort of characters who pop up to ask questions of the stars in Hall H, you couldn't blame people for being annoyed when a persistent fan dressed in a Spider-Man costume approached the mic before The Amazing Spider-Man presentation began and said he had to ask a question. It's a good thing the dork turned out to be the adorable Andrew Garfield, who read a prepared thank you to the crowd for sharing "the coolest moment of my life...Peter Parker has been the one fictional character I related to most growing up, that and Holden Caulfield. I wore my first Spider-Man suit when I was 2 on Halloween." As every woman, and probably some gents too, fell madly in love with the Brit, he shed the get-up and took his seat onstage, where he was joined by Emma Stone (there's mad onscreen chemistry there!), director Marc Webb, and producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad. The entire panel wore Stand Up to Cancer T-shirts in honor of late Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin.
4. Justin Time: Despite Conan O'Brien's tweet upon arrival that the air was "thick with the smell of Cheetos and celibacy" (BTW, #weloveconan), sexy parades regularly into Hall H. But sexy was back in a big way when Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried showed up during 20th Century Fox's panel to support their sci-fi flick In Time (the one where Olivia Wilde plays his mom). "It's a child of Gattaca," said director Andrew Niccol of his film, which features all cuties and hotties because it's about a world where no one ages past 25, after which they have a year to live unless they can win, earn or barter for more time. Also during Fox's panel, Ridley Scott talked (via message from Iceland) about his mysterious pseudo-Alien-prequel Prometheus. Yes, there are pods, people.
5. Method Acting: Charlize Theron got her Evil Queen on early at the incredibly entertaining Snow White and the Huntsman panel, where the Oscar winner was killing it with one-liners, like, "I'm ready for it, bitch," in reference to Stewart's promising acting skills and, "You basically just said I'm a bitch," when director Rupert Sanders called Theron an "imposing" presence. On equally promising notes, the costumes are kickass and producer Joe Roth is envisioning a Lord of the Rings-class epic. And while Thor's Chris Hemsworth and relative newcomer Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) make for an impressive pair of male leads, we doubt they'll be stealing too many scenes from a lineup of dwarfs that includes Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and Nick Frost.
6. Tangled Web: Not long before Rhys Ifans' Dr. Curt Connors, aka Lizard, was confirmed as Spider-man's main nemesis and brought onstage, the Welsh actor was actually cited for allegedly getting pushy and belligerent with a female security guard. We're just glad he didn't burst into a high school girls' bathroom, peg a teenager against the wall and flick his creepy CGI reptile tongue at her, like his villainous alter-ego did in the exclusive clip we got to watch in Hall H.
7. Wait, Is That...: Hugh Jackman stands out in any crowd and, sure enough, he was hard to miss the exhibition floor at the convention center, where he made a surprise appearance to promote his upcoming boxing drama Real Steel—and ended up revealing all sorts of stuff. He not only divulged that he'll be playing Jean Valjean in a musical adaptation of Les Misérables that will start shooting in February 2012, but also that his nemesis in The Wolverine, which starts shooting in Japan in October, will be the Silver Samurai. Hugh's not just a pretty face, folks, he's also a fount of information!
8. Bombs Away: Guillermo del Toro never met an F-word he didn't like. Between Don't Be Afraid of the Dark star Guy Pearce having to read the reminder off the back of their name cards that some members of the audience might be young and promising "the finest f--king monsters ever committed to film" in Pacific Rim, the Mexican filmmaker was dropping F-bombs like they were going out of style. "And secondly," he added, "I make the pledge to create the greatest f--king robots ever committed to film."
9. Underhanded: Colin Farrell, who plays a vampire in Fright Night 3D, had multiple opportunities to cheekily diss the Cullen clan, especially when asked if he had any reservations about delving into recently well-trod territory. Instead, it was the lovely Kate Beckinsale who cast the first stone during the Underworld: Awakening panel. Well, we know where the respective sagas can go in the future then: Bella vs. Selene: Bloody Beautiful.
10. Cowboy Up: We were all over the Cowboys & Aliens premiere, with Daniel Craig filling us in on what it's like wearing skin-tight chaps, Harrison Ford explaining the issues with making his badass cowpoke standing apart from a certain whip-wielding, fedora-sporting acheologist we all know and love, and Olivia Wilde talking about cheating death to make it to the red carpet. Yee-haw!