Comic-Con 2010 Preview: 23 Sneak Peeks

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively
Directed by Martin Campbell

The first installment in a planned Green Lantern trilogy, this big-budget origin story aims to make the beloved hero known to more than just the fanboys. With the film — which chronicles cocky test pilot Jordan’s recruitment into the Green Lantern Corps, an elite group of ring-wearing space cops — director Campbell (Casino Royale) and his team are attempting to pull off an Iron Man and vault a second-tier superhero to blockbuster glory. (Warner Bros.; June 17, 2011)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Directed by David Yates

The last book has been split into two films, the first of which will hit theaters this fall, followed by the finale in July 2011, which Radcliffe promises will be ”a relentless action picture.” (Warner Bros.; Nov. 19, 2010)

Starring David Lyons, James Frain, Jennifer Ferrin

A cop (ER‘s Lyons) goes into hiding after being framed for murder, and battles evil with a mysterious, prehensile cloak. (NBC; Fall 2010)

Starring Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz
Directed by Michel Gondry

This adaptation of the classic radio and TV series about a masked crime fighter (Rogen) hit a few early bumps: Steven Chow dropped out as director, Nicolas Cage bowed out as the villain. But with director Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) at the helm and Oscar winner Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) filling Cage’s shoes, the filmmakers now have an opportunity to generate some positive buzz. (Sony; Jan. 14, 2011)

Starring Vanessa Hudgens, Emily Browning, Jena Malone
Directed by Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder returns to Comic-Con with a film that blends action, rich visuals, and (yes!) scantily clad babes. The film follows Babydoll (Emily Browning), whose abusive stepfather sends her to an insane asylum where she imagines an alternative reality that comes to life, complete with dragons, zombie soldiers, steampunk sci-fi, and monolithic mecha. (Warner Bros.; March 25, 2011)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman
Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) plays the Marvel hero from Asgard, a brash Viking-like prince who starts a war and gets punished by his father (Anthony Hopkins) with banishment to Earth, where he’s befriended by a kindly nurse (Natalie Portman). (Paramount; May 6, 2011)

Starring Blair Underwood, Jason Ritter, Laura Innes

Underwood is the president. Ritter is a young Everyman. Innes (ER) is…well, to describe her risks spoiling the pilot of this crypto-thriller that exec producer Evan Katz (24) confirms is building to something. (NBC; Fall 2010)

Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Directed by Matt Reeves

An English-language remake of the Swedish Let the Right One In, this film tells the tale of a bullied boy (Smit-McPhee) who befriends the vampire girl next door (Moretz). (Overture; Oct. 1, 2010)

Voices of? Kelly Albanese, Natalie Lander, Daniel Taylor

While Joss Whedon’s Dark Horse comic-book series Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight is about to end — the five-issue finale begins in September — a special animated series (i.e., motion comic) kicks off this week, giving life to the first 19 issues. The first episode debuts on iTunes July 19, 2010. (Fox Home Entertainment; DVD out this fall)

Starring Maggie Q, Shane West, Lyndsy Fonseca

Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) stars in the 21st-century take on that lethal operative named Nikita, who wants to take down the government agency that forced her to become an assassin. (The CW; Sept. 9, 2010)

Starring Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde
Directed by Joseph Kosinski

This sequel to the 1982 cult film follows software programmer Kevin Flynn’s grown son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), who enters the mainframe 21 years after his father disappeared inside it, and is aided in his quest by a warrior, Quorra (Olivia Wilde). (Disney; Dec. 17, 2010)

Voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey
Directed by Tom McGrath

”What if Lex Luthor defeated Superman?” asks director Tom McGrath (Madagascar). That question inspired this animated tale of a ?supervillain (Ferrell) who vanquishes his do-gooder nemesis, Metro Man (Pitt), while they compete for the attention of a woman (Fey). (DreamWorks Animation; Nov. 5, 2010)

Starring Tobin Bell, Cary Elwes
Directed by Kevin Greutert

Elwes returns to the franchise for the first time since the 2004 original in this, the seventh Saw. (Lionsgate; Oct. 22, 2010)

Starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell
Directed by Daniel Stamm

Like Paranormal Activity, this horror flick revolves around ”found footage” of an attempt by a fraudulent minister (Fabian) to perform an exorcism on a farm girl (Bell). (Lionsgate; Aug. 27, 2010)

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman

As if all that freeway traffic weren’t bad enough, Los Angelenos now have to deal with a massive alien incursion, too. Don’t these things normally only happen to New York? (Sony; March 11, 2011)

Starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison
Directed by Troy Nixey

In this loose remake of a 1973 TV movie, Sally (Madison) comes to live with her father (Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Holmes) in their rickety old house and accidentally unleashes a slew of pint-size predators (Miramax; Jan. 21, 2011)

Starring Emma Bell, Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies

Enough with vampires — what we really want are zombies, and series creator Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) has plenty in store with his adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book about a group of people banding together after an undead apocalypse. (AMC; October 2010)

Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost
Directed by Greg Mottola

When two British sci-fi geeks — played by Shaun of the Dead‘s Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who wrote the script together — embark on a tour of UFO hot spots in the U.S., they quite naturally come upon an escaped alien outside of Area 51. The alien, Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), takes them under his wing. As it happens, Pegg’s and Frost’s characters start their journey at Comic-Con in San Diego — although the production actually shot the opening at a convention center in Albuquerque, N.M. (Universal; March 18, 2011)

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Directed by Sylvester Stallone

A team of hired guns (Stallone et al.) is sent to South America to take down a despot, only to find Eric Roberts running the country. Although some of these ’80s action stars are now in their sixties, it’ll still be a thrill seeing Stallone rub elbows with Willis and Schwarzenegger in their first ever scene together. (Even if The Governator only has a cameo.) (Lionsgate; August 13, 2010)

Starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh
Directed by Edgar Wright

Michael Cera stars as a Toronto-based bass player who must battle the seven superpowered exes (e.g., Chris Evans, Brandon Routh) of his new squeeze (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), an Amazon.com deliverywoman, but first he has to break up with his high-schooler girlfriend, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), who’s got mad martial-arts skills. (Universal; Aug. 13, 2010)

Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter
directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

The first three Resident Evil movies — about an amnesiac heroine named Alice (Jovovich) who tries to thwart a legion of undead — have grossed about $400 million worldwide. This time Jovovich will battle those zombies in Japan, Alaska, and Los Angeles, in 3-D. (Screen Gems; Sept. 10, 2010)

Starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker
Directed by Robert Schwentke

A team of former black-ops agents reassembles when Frank (Willis) is hunted by the CIA. (Summit; Oct. 15, 2010)

Starring Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, Romany Malco

A busy family acquires extraordinary skills after surviving a plane crash. Grappling with their newfound superpowers, though, can prove more awkward than awesome. (ABC; Sept. 28, 2010)