I'm not sure how long this will remain up, so I'd clear out the room, grab some popcorn, poor a glass of blood -- or whatever the hell is it that you do to prepare for awesomeness -- and check out the video above right away. What you'll see is the much buzzed-about footage from The Wolfman that screened at Comic Con last week (read our panel coverage here). I was at this panel and absolutely loved what I saw of this flick; it looks creepy, chilly and Gothic. And when your cast spits out names like Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving (not to mention special makeup effects from a dude by the name of Rick Baker), then you know something special is in the works. Check out the gallery below for more kickass Wolfness.

The Wolfman is currently set to attack theaters on April 3, 2009.

Back during Comic Con, this poster (click to enlarge) was hanging up at the press conference and we snapped some iffy images of it. Now, however, the good folks over at Warner Bros. have sent us a shiny new version which looks a whole heckuva lot better. In case you didn't read it yet (slacker!), Terminator: Salvation won our Comic Con award for best all-around presentation at the convention. Not only did McG "bring it," but his cast was just as excited. Granted, they're still in the middle of filming -- which means they're currently eating, sleeping and sh*tting Terminator -- but it was nice to see some great footage and a jazzed-up crew. Trust me when I say the two-or-so-minutes of footage was pretty dynamite and I'm now convinced McG will deliver a highly-entertaining flick at the very least.

Terminator: Salvation will arrive in theaters on May 22, 2009.

Above: Cinematical's Erik Davis poses with the three female stars of Bitch Slap. (And yes, that is a Flux Capacitor on my t-shirt ...)

They didn't have a panel or a party, but the folks behind the upcoming Bitch Slap were everywhere, literally. I, personally, ran into these girls on several different occasions, and in a building packed with thousands of people, it's pretty damn rare to stumble across the same person twice. Heck, because of their sly guerilla-marketing techniques, we'll also be giving them a special Comic Con award later on, but in the meantime make sure you check out the hi-res versions of the Bitch Slap Comic Con character posters in the gallery below.

You've probably seen these bad boys hanging around on other sites, but Cinematical is the first to have them in sparkling hi-res. In case you forgot about our previous post on the film (where we debuted the poster and several images), Bitch Slap is described as a "post-modern, thinking man's throwback to the "B" Movie/Exploitation films of the 1950's - 70's as well as a loving, sly parody of the same," and it stars Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, as well as Julia Voth, America Olivo and Erin Cummings.

Check out the gallery below, and for more on Bitch Slap feel free to head to the film's official website.

I won't get into the precise reasons, but my friends always seem to think I'm going to LOVE the next big "pot comedy." They chuckle and assume such silly things despite the fact that the only real pothead comedies that I truly enjoy are Up in Smoke, Next Movie, and a large portion of the Harold & Kumar misadventures. Frankly I'm of the opinion that most pot comedies feel like they were written by someone very stoned, and let's just say that writers don't always do their best work when they're extra-baked. (They might THINK their stuff is hilarious, but usually it's not. That's just the weed talking.) Oh, you'll definitely find a few cannabis-caked giggles in Half-Baked, Grandma's Boy, and Smiley Face -- just not enough to sustain a whole movie, if it's me you're asking.

So it is with much pleasure, enthusiasm, and recently-applied Visine that I offer you Pineapple Express, which just may be the Casablanca of Pot Comedies. Or perhaps it's more like When Ultra-High Harry Met Super-Stoned Sally, but either way Pineapple Express showcases some of the funniest "weed culture" insights since the arrival of Richard Linklater's fantastic Dazed & Confused -- which I wouldn't call a full-bore "pot comedy," but it sure isn't shy about passing those joints around. Best of all, while Pineapple Express will absolutely appeal to both the casual and committed pot-smokers, it's also just a very funny buddy comedy / action flick parody that comes bearing the very unique stamp of director David Gordon Green.

My biggest disappointment of the Comic-Con weekend was not being able to stick around for the Friday the 13th panel. (Turns out Davis could have stayed for it, seeing as his flight back to NYC was delayed by about six hours, but that's a different type of horror story.) Since we know it's one of the hotter flicks being buzzed about at the convention's final day -- and, um, it's a movie I just like writing about -- we turn to ShockTillYouDrop for their blow-by-blow breakdown of the event.

My favorite nuggets include:

• The idea that, while the actors and producers are obviously up for a sequel if the fans agree, they intend to make their Friday remake a "stand-alone" entry. Which is always cool when you're doing a Part 1, if you ask me.
• No goofy cameos from previous cast members.
• Jason will be a bit cleverer this time around, perhaps setting a few traps instead of just lumbering around and practically teleporting from cabin to cabin.
• It will be PG-13 in theaters and then Unrated on DVD. (Dude, I'm kidding.)

For the full run-down (and a peek at the first poster), check out Shock's coverage right here.

This was one of the panels I was most looking forward to because I desperately wanted to walk away from it with even more good vibes than I already had. Though I still chuckled every time someone prefaced a question with "This is for McG ...," the guy definitely "brought it" to Comic Con. You could tell this dude really wanted to sell the audience; he wanted to sell them on another Terminator flick, he wanted to sell them on it being directed by a dude named McG and he wanted to bottle up his enormous energy and sell that too. The guy was amped up to a level just beneath "Okay this is uncomfortable," and the panel audience was virtually high-fiving him the entire time.

The Footage

I wasn't sure what we'd be seeing as far as footage from the film went, since they were still right in the middle of shooting and, well, you wouldn't expect anything too polished. But to my surprise they managed to throw together an enticing little two-or-so-minute teaser that was gritty, grimy, familiar and --pardon the language -- pretty f**king rad. I was too engulfed to write down every second of the thing, but it basically consisted of a number of quick snippets of gunfire, Anton Yelchin (as a young Kyle Reese) saying stuff like, "Come with me if you want to live," a little of Sam Worthington (who seems like the kind of guy that'd clock you for staring at him for more than three seconds), Moon Bloodgood (hot name for a hottie actress), Common (who I assume plays the obligatory post-apocalyptic black dude) and, of course, those T-600 robots (the film takes place in 2018, 11 years before Arnold's T-800 existed).

Gallery of panel below; more after the jump ...

Our Comic Con came to a sweet finish last night at the Wrath of Con mega party hosted by folks like IESB, Bloody-Dee and Lakeshore. The roof at the Hard Rock Hotel here in San Diego was packed with writers, celebrities, dancers, rock stars and girls with tape on their boobs. It was a pretty fun night, and since the Crank 2 trailer screened at one point, the whole thing is a write off! While our tired Cinematical crew travels home today, here's a bunch of stuff to keep you busy till we come back tomorrow with the remainder of our coverage, including a very cool interview with James Gunn and our annual "Celebrities Love Weinberg" gallery.

• Disney debuted a teaser thingy for Pixar's Up, which will hit theaters next summer.
  
• The Terminator: Salvation panel was a blast, McG came out pumped and the extended trailer looked awesome. We'll have more from the panel and our interviews, but a couple things: The next trailer will debut with Quantum of Solace, it's not a definite PG-13 at this time (they have the studio's blessing should it turn into an R-rated affair), the film will end on a cliffhanger, the Con poster is to the right and a model of the T-600 is above, and, finally, watching Yelchin (as a young Kyle Reese) say "Come with me if you want to live" in the trailer gave me goosebumps.
  
• AICN tells us that Punisher: War Zone director Lexi Alexander has been booted from the film. She didn't show here at Con because she was on her "honeymoon," and she's wrapped up in a non-disclosure which means she ain't talking either. Why can't anyone make a Punisher flick without f**king it up? Is it really that hard to get one right?
• John Campea interviewing the girls from Bitch Slap in their hotel room ... in bed with them ... has to go down as THE interview at Con. Special Cinematical props go out to the entire team from Bitch Slap for marketing the hell out of their film at Con, guerilla-style throughout the entire weekend.
• Sam Raimi told the audience during his Drag Me to Hell panel that he's considering an Evil Dead 4.
  
• EW has a whole slew of photos from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.
• Watchmen website now online. I'll be reading this as soon as I get home.
• Moviefone has some great preview and wrap up posts, along with even more galleries.
• Francis Lawrence making prequel to I Am Legend starring Will Smith.
• Who's buying this Heath Ledger as the Joker bobblehead doll?
• Finally, IGN has debuted a red band trailer for Quarantine.

We love you, we miss you and we'll be home soon. Leave the light on ...

Considering how much trouble Kyle Newman's Fanboys has withstood in its travels to the multiplexes, I pretty much expected the flick to be an amiable mess. It's been widely reported that the comedy was plagued by multiple reshoots, numerous release date changes, and a producer who (at least temporarily) wanted to suck the heart and soul right out of the flick. So as I walked into an early preview of Fanboys at San Diego Comic-Con, I was hopeful -- but frankly I wasn't expecting a big winner. But hey, aside from a few flat stretches here and there, Fanboys actually has a lot to offer: Strong chemistry among four funny young actors, a "road trip" conceit that flows along quite smoothly, and more Star Wars references than you hardcore geeks will know what to do with. So what I expected to be a big fat mess of a movie turned out to be pretty dang fun -- quadruply so if you happen to be a Star Wars fanatic.

The story is as simple as a road movie needs: Inspired by the unfortunate news that one of their pals is dying of cancer, three hardcore Star Wars geeks decide to travel from Ohio to California, break into Skywalker Ranch, and steal an early print of The Phantom Menace, which isn't due to hit theaters for another six months. (Yes, Fanboys is a period piece: It takes place in 1998.) Sure, that's a pretty broad and silly idea on which to hang a whole movie -- but Fanboys isn't really about logical actions and realistic adventures: It's about four Lucas disciples who get into a series of odd misadventures as they trek* across the country to steal themselves some Star Wars.

(* One of the movie's funniest subplots involves an ongoing war between our Star Wars fanboys, and a nasty group of mega-Trekkies -- the most obnoxious one played by a nearly unrecognizable Seth Rogen. As usual, Rogen steals a handful of scenes without breaking a sweat.)

Above: Optimus Prime gives birth to a new, crazy looking baby robot. (Image courtesy of Scott Weinberg)

Day 2. Yes! I'm still f**king breathing, my legs haven't fallen off and no one tried to assassinate me. Today the lines were even longer, but the panels -- especially Kevin Smith's for Zack and Miri Make a Porno -- were well worth the wait. On a personal note, The Wolfman trailer rocked my socks off, The Spirit footage was eh and the Zack and Miri scene -- featuring Justin Long and Brandon Routh as two gay porn lovers -- was just ridiculously funny. Here are an assortment of photos from the day, with two of my personal favs before we hit the must-see gallery.

So much more upcoming, including reports from The Wolfman, The Spirit, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, EW's Visionaries panel ... and the answer to this question: Who is the Miley Cyrus of porn?



Dude really got into this one ...



Cinematical's Erik Davis with the stars of Bitch Slap ... and, um, yeah ...

The highly-anticipated Watchmen panel is just about to get underway. Elisabeth will be back later with a complete, detailed report on the panel, but for now here's the early recap straight from the floor:

• Hall H is absolutely bonkers right now; thousands of people have packed in for this one. Apparently you can win an X-Box 360 by texting the word 'Watchmen' to 58671.
• Zack Snider is present with his entire cast: Malin Akerman, Carla Gugino, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson and Dave Gibbons.
• A brief history on the project, last year's Con and the recently-released trailer. Dave Gibbons talks about what it was like to see their vision come to life. Impressed by the attention to detail throughout.
• Clip showing the non-PG aspect of the film; ridiculous extended trailer -- some of which included Dr. Manhattan kicking lots of ass in Vietnam. Elisabeth texts me to say, "Wow, that was awesome!"
  
• And now the fan questions have begun ...
• Who's your favorite Watchmen character to Snyder (surprise! he likes them all!), what's it like to play so and so, etc ...
• More questions on the mature tone and whether that's what we should expect from the future of comic book movies. Is the movie too dark? That's up to you ...
• Random Unrelated Update: Joss Whedon is in our hotel lobby right now -- Cinematical's Scott Weinberg introduces himself by saying, "Excuse me sir, I don't know if you know this, but you're Joss Whedon." Whedon replies, "That's right, I am!" Love it! Scott then asks for a photo with Joss fast, so Joss turns around and says, "Hey Nate, can you take this for us." Yup, it's Nathan Fillion. Weinberg just had his geek moment of the day.
• More Watchmen in a bit ... folks are still asking questions (what inspired that, how hard was it to do this, etc ...)
• Panel's over -- they showed the footage one more time -- and now Weinberg is heading over to the Watchmen interviews. Elisabeth will be back later with much more ...