No surprise to those in the know, but Comic-Con will once again host the celebrity trio of Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. The stars of “The Twilight Saga” will once again host a panel at this year’s 2011 Comic-Con in San Diego next month. Summit Entertainment has not released full details of their plans, but the appearance tied to the upcoming release of Bill Condon’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1” will no doubt find thousands of fans lining up the night before for a chance to see Edward, Bella and Jacob in person.
The first “Twilight” panel in July of 2008 was the first sign of the power the franchise would weld at the box office. Surprising much of the media, fans of Stephenie Meyer’s book camped out beginning at 11 PM the night before in order to ensure their chance at making it in. The reaction to the first appearance of Pattinson, Stewart and Lautner caused a “Beatles”-esque frenzy in the 6,000 seat Hall H, a reaction that has not been duplicated since. The cast returned for another raucous panel to support “New Moon” in 2009, but skipped last year’s event. It’s unclear whether the cast will return to push “Breaking Dawn, Pt. 2” next year so this, in theory, could be the last massive “Twilight” event at the con.
Also, confirmed over the weekend was the expected “Cowboys & Aliens” presence at the convention. Director Jon Favreau appeared at the Hero Complex Film Festival on Sunday evening and announced that “Cowboys” would have its world premiere during the convention. Favreau said, “And not only are we going to premiere it there, we”re going to find a way to include as many of the fans as possible. I feel like they”ve come out for me, they”ve supported me.”
Last year, Favreau introduced Harrison Ford to Hall H and the legendary actor received a moving standing ovation. Ford had never appeared at Comic-Con before.
Additionally, the New York Times is reporting the cast of “The Expendables” will appear, no doubt announcing or promoting the expected sequel to last summer’s action hit.
Look for more news on what big movies and TV shows will be at the Con this year as it breaks on HitFix.