Comic-Con Report: Focus / Rogue Pictures

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 28, 2007

Comic-Con 2007 marches on. We have seen all kinds of stuff. Iron Man flew threw the air on Thursday, the cast from Get Smart left the crowd in stitches on Friday and Saturday was sure to make for some surprises. First on the schedule for me was the presentation from Focus Features and Rogue Studios, presenting Balls of Fury, The Strangers and Neil Marshall’s Doomsday. Let’s take a look at what happened.

Balls of Fury

Ben Garant, Dan Fogler and Thomas Lennon we on hand to talk about Balls of Fury, a movie destined to become the greatest Kung-Fu ping pong movie of all time. In his opening statement, Ben Garant proclaimed, “If you see any ping pong, wire-fu movie this year, see Balls of Fury.” They brought a clip as well that included Dan Fogler and Terry Crews (8 Ball from Malibu’s Most Wanted) break dancing to the table and battling it out in a CG enhanced match. The clip, if not for Christopher Walken alone, was absolutely hilarious. Also hilarious was the panel of talent. From Dan Fogler’s Christopher Walken to talking about recreation marijuana use (and a surprise visit form Reno 911’s Cedric Yarbrough as someone in the Q&A line), this was surely a crowd pleaser. The movie itself should be much of the same.

Of course, this panel didn’t just end with the three of them. The legendary James Hong also came out at one point to get the crowd all riled up. The antics, the jokes and the randomness of this particular panel made it truly one of the most memorable moments of the entire Con thus far.

The Strangers

Writer/Director Brian Bertino, Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler marched out to talk about their upcoming flick, The Strangers. Much was made about Liv Tyler’s first trip to Comic-Con; and the reception was certainly warm. The first clip shows off a film that is supposed to be an intense thriller about a couple who is attacked inside of their home. “We’ve all had moments when you wake up in the middle of the night and we hear something,” Bertino described. And that moment is what the movie is all about. Liv Tyler described the impact of the film saying, “it’s something that you can relate to in that these people are real humans and not monsters.” Then she was asked to speak in Elvish, from LOTR. Just another reminder that we are at Comic-Con.

In taking Q&A, Liv Tyler revealed a little bit of self deprecation saying, “I always think that I suck in movies.” But back to the film, with Brian Bertino speaking to how amazing his two leads were in the film, describing their performances as “organic.” They then finished up with a very cool teaser trailer that moved almost like a photo slideshow. After seeing that, I’m interesting.

Doomsday

Neil Marshall brought along a teaser for his “dark and brutal action thriller” Doomsday. It is going to be his homage to post-Apocalyptic movies like Escape from New York, Mad Max 2 and The Warriors. From the teaser it looks like 28 Weeks Later meets Mad Max. Never short on intensity in his films, Marshall promised the crowd an R rating and showed footage that is an explosion of intense violence and style. Though I am not a fan of this genre (something that is well documented), the movie looks quite interesting. Fans of Neil Marshall should be setting their calendars for sometime in 2008 when Doomsday blazes its way into theaters.

For more coverage from the halls of the San Diego Convention Center, be sure to visit our Comic-Con Homepage.

Read more articles by Neil Miller