Comic-Con: 20 Hot Movies

In the upcoming alt-history thriller, in which Edgar Allen Poe is menaced by a serial killer imitating his works, we finally get to see a bit of Poe's charismatic side, says star John Cusack (pictured, with Luke Evans). While Poe's existence was grim, marred by alcoholism and the early deaths of his wife, mother, and aunt, ''he had a wicked sense of humor,'' the actor says. ''Even dealing with vengeance and the wrath of God in his writing, there's a raw, raw honesty to him. You can almost hear Hunter S. Thompson in him sometimes.'' Though The Raven is? fantasy, turning the inventor of the detective story into an actual detective, Cusack aims to show some truth about the man. ''He was a mess, a wreck,'' he says. ''But, you know, he was a genius.'' (March 9, 2012)

''It's a movie for everyone,'' promises Taylor Lautner (pictured, with Lily Collins) of this thriller, in which he plays a high school senior who finds a picture of himself on a missing-persons website and sets out to learn his true identity. ''It's not only got action, but it's also a mystery with a lot of cool twists and turns, and romance, too.'' This will be the 19-year-old's third trip to Comic-Con, and the self-proclaimed superhero fan (''Iron Man is one of my favorite movies'') says he'd enjoy walking ? around the convention and checking out the other attractions — if he could. ''We've definitely talked and laughed about it: What if we put on a wig and prosthetics and went for it?'' he laughs. ''But in the end, we're too chicken.'' (Sept. 23, 2011)

''It's almost like a Rocky for 2011,'' Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom) says of this movie about two estranged ?brothers — played by Edgerton and Tom Hardy (Inception) — who end up competing against each other in a mixed-martial-arts championship. ''Essentially there are two heroes about to collide in the same cage. And the beautiful thing is that you get to the point where you're like, 'I don't know who will win this fight, and beyond that, on an emotional level, I don't know who I want to win this fight.''' (Sept. 9, 2011)

Bill Condon has never been to Comic-Con, nor has he ever seen for himself what can happen when Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner get in a room with thousands of screaming fans. ''It sounds insane! It sounds exciting,'' he laughs. Comic-Con-bound Twihards can expect some never-before-seen clips from the highly anticipated penultimate chapter of The Twilight Saga — ''I'm trying to figure that out now,'' says Condon. 'It's a bit of a challenge 'cause we don't want to give away the ?wedding dress, and some of the other big action scenes have wolves that won't be ready in time'' — in ?addition to a Q&A with the stars and the director. ?(Nov. 18, 2011)

Although the sword-and-sandal epic is being billed as ''from the producers of 300,'' don't expect a replica of the 2007 blockbuster. ''If you liked 300, you'll enjoy this,'' says surrealist director Tarsem Singh (The Cell), ''but 300 is more of a comic-strip film, while this is a painting.'' The big-budget action movie is loosely based on Greek mythology and the tale of Theseus. ''We just took the myth to tell the story we wanted to tell,'' Singh explains. That story features Theseus (Henry Cavill, here with Joseph Morgan) as a Men?s Health-worthy stonemason who, with a little help from Mount Olympus, recruits an army to battle the homicidal king Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). There will be blood — lots of 3-D blood. Or as Singh puts it: ''You'll feel the violence.'' (Nov. 11, 2011)

In the latest installment of the Underworld series, the deadly, latex-suited vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) wakes up from a long hibernation to? discover that vampires and their werewolf enemies, the Lycans, have been largely killed off by humans. ''They've been busted, basically,'' Beckinsale says. ''The government has been wiping them out.'' Emerging from her undead slumber, Selene also finds out that she has a long-lost teenage daughter (India Eisley). Having sat out the last Underworld film (2009's prequel Rise of the Lycans), Beckinsale says it took a little adjustment to get back in the swing of things. ''It was weird putting on the costume again and remembering, 'Oh, yes, this is how it feels to have a corset on for four months,''' she says. ''I didn't have quite so much ice cream as I normally would. But it does come back. You find yourself 20 feet up on a wire, going, 'Yeah, I remember this.' It's like riding a bike.'' Only with fangs, guns, and tons of blood. (Jan. 20, 2012)

After Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi bowed out of the Spider-Man franchise, Sony Pictures made the decision to go back to the comic books and spin a new story with a new director (Marc Webb of (500) Days of Summer), a new Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield), and a new direction described as ''more contemporary,'' ''more gritty,'' and ''more character-driven.'' The implication being ''less like Spider-Man 3.'' While all of this reboot talk may sound like inevitable marketing hype — an attempt to keep yawning fanboys interested — one thing that's obvious visiting the set of the optimistically titled The Amazing Spider-Man is that things are definitely different. For the superhero's latest incarnation, Peter Parker isn't just a do-gooder, he's an existential outsider. Mary Jane Watson is out. Peter's first love, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), is in. And Raimi's sugar-shock, eye-candy computer F/X are being scaled back a bit in favor of more practical stunts, which are being filmed in 3-D. (July 3, 2012)

The boyish reporter Tintin loves a good mystery, ?and Steven Spielberg's 3-D performance-capture? take on this classic comics character (who enjoys a worldwide following, but less so in the U.S.) has been building one itself. Comic-Con will reveal how faithful Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson have been to the original Hergé comics and how much of the tale is new, while Jamie Bell, who stars as the intrepid title character, says those unfamiliar with Tintin need only know he's a trouble seeker, not a troublemaker. ?''His impetus is to solve problems and solve injustice,'' Bell says. ''In a Sherlock Holmes way, he is obsessed by the story. That youthful, buoyant, jubilant energy comes from having something to chase.'' (Dec. 23, 2011)

It's been nearly three decades since the? last Conan film, and ?producers are hoping star Jason Momoa's redefined barbarian in this 3-D update directed by Marcus Nispel will? reignite the franchise. ?''I studied animals and a lot of samurai films,'' says Momoa (Game of Thrones) about his preparation, which didn't include watching Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan films. (Aug. 19, 2011)

Having vampire Colin Farrell as a neighbor really...well, sucks. In a ?remake of the '80s cult classic, Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) plays the kid who discovers the guy next door is a hellspawn who is literally sucking the life out of his friends. ''For a movie that's pretty serious and gory, there's a lot of camp to it, too,'' Yelchin says. Aug. 19, 2011

The latest Apes incarnation is an origin story,? set in the present, with James Franco as a scientist searching for an Alzheimer's cure who stumbles onto a formula that boosts ape IQ. ''We didn't go anywhere near the other sequels,'' insists director Rupert Wyatt. ''It's very much its own thing.'' And don't expect any rubber masks. All of the apes, including Caesar, leader of the revolt, were computer-generated. (Aug. 5, 2011)

For the first time in Comic-Con history, a summer tentpole will premiere right smack in the middle of the convention. ''I owed it to the fans,'' says Cowboys & Aliens director Jon Favreau, who picked San Diego for the debut of his genre-mashing action movie, starring Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, as a thank-you for all the love conventioneers have given him in the past. (July 29, 2011)

A gang of teenagers and their mugging victim join forces to fight aliens in this British comedy-?horror movie. And the vibe may feel familiar to genre fans. ''We were careful not to be directly influenced, but it's basically John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, and Joe Dante, with a bit ?of Walter Hill,'' says? writer-director Joe Cornish. (Pictured: Franz Drameh, Alex Esmail, John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, and Leeon Jones) (July 29, 2011)

In this heist movie with a twist, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), an unsuspecting pizza-delivery guy, gets a bomb strapped to him and is forced to rob a bank. Meanwhile, he has to deal with his ?romance with the sister (Dilshad Vadsaria) of his best friend (Aziz Ansari). (August 12, 2011)

This gothic indie (which doesn't yet have a distributor or a release date) follows a hack horror novelist (Val Kilmer) as ghostly visions in a bizarre small town lead him to explore the murder of a young girl (Super 8's Elle Fanning, pictured with the filmmaker on the set). Director Francis Ford Coppola describes the story as inspired by the eerie writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. It's also a throwback to the Oscar-winner's early years as a writer-director on schlocky-but-fun genre pictures by B-movie mogul Roger Corman. (2011)

Director Steven Quale insists this installment of the franchise ''doesn't have to be repulsive to have impact.'' But just take a look at Jacqueline MacInnes-Wood in this shot. (August 12, 2011)

In this PG-13 movie, Sara Paxton leads a group of college kids who go ''to her lake house to have fun and party and, uh, die, I guess.'' (Sept. 2, 2011)

In this movie, which Steven Soderbergh developed with her in mind, mixed martial artist Gina Carano plays a trained operative for a security firm who discovers she's been betrayed by colleagues played by Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, and Michael Fassbender. ''The key is that this is not all fantasy and editing,'' says Soderbergh. ''She can really kick ass.'' (January 20, 2012)

Watch this executive headhunter (Mila Kunis) try for a sex-only relationship with a hunky new hire (Justin Timberlake). ''The only way we all agreed to do the movie, and what interested us all, was that it had to be real. And real means [rated] R,'' says writer-director Will Gluck (Easy A). (July 22, 2011)

Nick Swarsdon (here with Don Johnson) sets out from the midwest to become a porn star, just like mom and pop. Did we mention that Adam Sandler co-wrote it? (Sept. 9, 2011)