Films wow fans
‘Wonder Woman,’ ‘Aquaman’ and ‘Shazam!” thrill Comic-Con
Warner Bros. brought out all the stops Saturday at ComicCon with an army of stars, surprises and new footage from films like “Aquaman ,” ”Shazam! “and even ”Wonder Woman 1984,“which is only three and a half weeks into production. Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Chris Pratt, Johnny Depp and Nicole Kidman were just a few of the starry names to grace the stage of the comic book convention’s Hall H.
Momoa, who stars as Aquaman, seemed to be as excited as those in the 6,500-seat audience, if not more so. The actor was downright giddy speaking about the film, which is over five years in the making.
“My heart is big and open,” he said. “I’m really, really happy.”
Director James Wan, best known for his “Conjuring” films, introduced some new footage in two trailers from the origin story, which hits theatres in December.
“I wanted to create a superhero film that we’ve never quite seen before. I wanted our film to be more unique,” Wan said. “My movie plays more like a science fiction fantasy film than a traditional superhero movie.”
Warner Bros.’ was the mostanticipated Hall H presentation of the convention, which this year was absent of many of the big names that attendees have come to expect, like Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm (“Star Wars”) and HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
The studio also has continued to have to prove its mettle with its DC Comics universe, which has had its share of widely panned movies, like “Justice League.” The focus Saturday thus was not on Batman or Superman, but the new, the fresh and the proven-quantities, like “Wonder Woman,” which has been best-reviewed and most beloved of the new DC universe.
It’s why, with 20 weeks of filming left to go, “Wonder Woman 1984” star Gadot and director Patty Jenkins took a break from their Washington D.C. shoot to tease brief footage from the highly anticipated follow-up to the groundbreaking superhero film.
The clip showed Diana Prince saving a young girl from some bad guys in their Miami Vicefinest in a very ‘80s-looking mall.
Chris Pine also joined Gadot and Jenkins on stage, but all stayed mum about how and why his character Steve Trevor is back considering his fate in the first movie (and that he looks to be the same age as he was in 1917).
Jenkins said his presence is a “very important part” of the movie and that audiences will have to see it in November 2019 to find out.
She did explain why she set the movie in the 1980s.
“It was mankind at its best and worst,” Jenkins said. “We see Wonder Woman in a period of time that is us at our most extreme...We thought it could go on forever, everything we were doing right then.”
Another audience-pleaser was “Shazam! ” and Zachary Levi was on hand to introduce the first trailer for the DC superhero film, or “Big” with superpowers. The origin story shows how a bullied 14-year-old kid becomes the superhero (and a fully-grown man) after a fateful ride on the subway. It comes out in April.
“There are very few characters who are just stoked to have their powers,” Levi said. “Since I still am waiting to wake up one morning and fly, to do that, I just got to be me. I got to be a genuine part of myself ... I love that there’s still an optimism in him.”
“Maybe now more than ever we need heroes like that, who care about people,” Levi added.
Chris Pratt also took the stage with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to tease “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part ,” out in February. Pratt says his own trajectory mimicked his character Emmett’s journey in “The Lego Movie.”