SDCC New Moon Panel

I am one of the few guys out there that will openly admit that I enjoyed the Twilight movie. I must say, I did not like the books. They felt like a teenage version of a Danielle Steel novel, but the movie was pretty darn good. Twilight even made my list of Top 50 Films of 2008, so I definately was going to have to brave 6,000 screaming fans in Hall H if I wanted to see anything from the "Twilight Saga: New Moon". The Summit Panel itself featured three films; Astro Boy, Sorority Row and New Moon. Both Astro Boy and Sorority Row were glazed over very quickly in ensure a majority of the dedicated 1 hour long panel to "New Moon". Checkout what happened during the panel below...

First things first, the footage shown was good. Director Chris Weitz introduced both clips and it was apparent that Summit planned on pleasing all of the young girls in the audience with both clips showing the leading men taking off their shirts. The first clip featured Jacob teaching Bella to ride a dirt bike. During the lesson, Bella is warned by a vision of Edward not to ride the motorcycle. Bella however, takes off on the dirt bike and begins to see flashes of Edward which force her off the motorcycle. Jacob rushes to her side to find her head bleeding. Jacob then removes his shirt (insert 4,000 girls screaming) and comforts Bella. Bella in-turn apologizes for bleeding, which Jacob tells her there is no reason to apologize. The second clip shown, featured Bella and Alice in Italy rushing to save Edward. In the clip, Edward is about to step into direct sunlight shirtless and it fades to black just as Edward's foot hits the light with Bella only seconds away. The crowd went nuts over both clips shown and more importantly the clips prove that "New Moon" should be equally entertaining as the first film.

Director Chris Weitz did refer to his last film, and said that this time fans would definately not get a studio cut to the film like in Golden Compass (nice shot at New Line Weitz). Weitz also explained that they will remain very close to the book here in "New Moon". Chris Weitz said, "Our fidelity to the books is the key to making the movies works." Weitz stated he enjoyed working with the cast, which much of the rest of the panel was focused on.

In the "Twilight Saga: New Moon" Jacob Black takes on a whole transformation and most of the panel was spent talking about Jacob shirtless in the Vancouver Rain. Director Chris Weitz told the crowd that Taylor Lautner wanted to do just about every stunt he could. Launter and Kristen Stewart also joked about Launter's heavy work out routine which he was under for the role of Jacob Black. Launter was asked what he learned about Native Americans by playing a Quileute and he said, "they were just like him," and adding that he does speak in the native language in the film.

The cast was asked if what they were looking forward to about the next films and each gave a some varying responses. Ashley Greene who plays Alice Cullen said is reallying looking forward to working with 30 Days of Night director David Slade, while Taylor Launter said he is looking forward to the height of the love triangle pointing to the "sleeping bag scene." Kristen Stewart seemed a bit more whimsical with a response of “I can’t wait until I get pregnant” leaving Robert Pattinson to joke how excited he was for "being involved in the Caesarian."

Overall I found the cast to be dull. Pattinson mumbled the entire time and spent most of his just time making charming smiles trying to conjure up screaming from all the pubescent girls in the audience. Most of his answers were incoherent and left little reason to even pay attention to his inability to saying anything of relevance. Kristen Stewart gave her best Paula Abdul impression by very much seeming like she was under the influence of something. I will say Stewart looks great with the Joan Jett hairdo (I can't wait to see how The Runaways turns out), but her constant fidgeting and spacey answers just left me wondering what pills she was popping. Taylor Launter was at least able to answer coherently, but he just seemed all to thrilled to boast about him filming with his shirt off and how hard he trained. I can't blame the guy, he is afterall only 17. If I was 17 and had that many girls throwing themseleves at me, I'd most likely be a royal douche too.

After the Summit Panel finished, I had been in Hall H for nearly 5 hours. My ass was drained of any feeling whatsoever, my stomach was twisting and gurgling in hunger, my ears were ringing from all of the screaming during the Twilight panel and I had yet to even visit the Exhibit Hall. So I promptly decided to skip the over-hyped Avatar panel and get the hell out of Hall H to go check out the floor and grab a bite to eat. Below I have posted some "Twilight Saga: New Moon" photos that were previously released by Summit Entertainment prior to Comic Con.

What say you? Are you excited for more Twilight? Did you line up in the massive line for Hall H Thursday moring? Strikeback...