San Diego Comic Con: Nerd alert no more

Quint:     Actually, we were sitting in this room talking about WATCHMEN last year at COMIC-CON. Now you have a cast.
Zack Snyder:     Now I have a cast. I’ve got some sets built. I keep trying to make them spend money, because I figure the deeper in they are they can’t go back. (laughs)

With 20th Century Fox's Aliens vs Predator: No Peace on Earth coming to theaters this Christmas, plans are underway for toys already starting with amazing PROPS from Sideshow Collectibles. In this follow-up to the worldwide hit ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, the iconic monsters from two of the scariest film franchises ever, wage war in an American Midwestern town - with the residents caught in the middle.

The normally low key, laid back affair that was preview night seems to have morphed into an early version of whatever Saturday is destined to become. You see, the convention officially goes from Thursday to Sunday, but a few years back, they started Preview Night, when pre-registered attendees, the press, and the pros could quietly amble the wide aisles free of the congestion which normally occurs on the weekend. And for many years it was good. But this year, everyone and their mother, and their kids, and their friends and a couple of cousins descended on the San Diego Convention Center to get a early glimpse at the convention floor.

Of course, much of the fun of attending the Con is going to one or more of the panels happening during the four days of the show. This year, there's quite a few coming up that look interesting and will probably even provide a surprise revelation or two. For me, I always like to check in with the Mondo Marvel panel or anything X-Men related as well as any programming featuring upcoming movies like Iron Man, Star Trek or Indiana Jones. Plus, there's always something interesting happening during the Kevin Smith panel on Friday and I will be sure to see the Joss Whedon / Dark Horse panel on Saturday. That should be really cool.

Last night, my friend Xavie (he works at Petco Park) was telling me about a huge event for the movie 300 and its worldwide DVD release coinciding with Comic-Con this weekend. Street posted it this morning but didn't really go in to detail and since the "contest" to win ComicCon passes, airfare, and a chance to be in the final challenge is over, I thought I'd pass along what Xavie told me.

Comic-Con 2007 officially began with Wednesday's "Preview Night" or, as I like to call it, "Get the Lay of the Land So You Don't Get Trampled to Death by a Grown Man in a Pikachu Costume Night."

 
Over the next couple of days, I'll be covering panels featuring the casts of Lost, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and a few of this coming season's most anticipated new shows - Pushing Daisies, Reaper and Chuck among others.