For those lucky enough to be attending this year’s Comic Con, you’ll be able to participate in the upcoming apocalypse with “The Walking Dead Escape.” Robert Kirkman, creator and brainchild behind THE WALKING DEAD is teaming with his publisher Skybound to celebrate the 100th issue of his comicbook in a robust way: a zombie themed obstacle course in the San Diego Padres baseball stadium, Petco Park. The event takes place from July 12th through 14th, timing it perfectly with this year’s Comic Con (July 12th to 15th).

You will be allowed to be a Walker, or attempt to be a survivor, or merely watch the blood bath in what sounds like the most fun obstacle course ever conceived. The news comes courtesy of Hollywood Reporter. Kirkman had the following to say about the event: ”Our fans have been reading about it, watching it and now they get to live it with The Walking Dead Escape…We are literally transforming Petco Park into the early days of society’s collapse and San Diego is just the first city to fall.” Can we expect more of these events in other cities across the world? With the popularity of THE WALKING DEAD and the ingenuity behind the idea, I don’t see why not.

Also, who’s got an extra ticket to the Con this year?

COMIC-CON EPISODE IV: A FAN’S HOPE is from SUPER SIZE ME filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, and boasts an impressive line-up of comic notables including Stan Lee (also producing), Kevin Smith, and Eli Roth. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and is headed into homes soon. A trailer, below, is first evidence for audiences at large of this fantastic project, and for the uninitiated, will be a first glimpse into the world of Comic-Con.

Synopsis (courtesy Wrekin Hill Entertainment):
“A behind-the-scenes look at the fans who gather by the thousands each year in San Diego, California to attend Comic-Con, the world’s largest comic book convention.” 

Comic-Con!

Summit Entertainment also presented a sneak peek of exclusive footage of some of its upcoming major film releases such as Astro Boy, Sorority Row and the Comic-Con crowd favorite, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Astro Boy is set in a futuristic word where a young robot searches for his destiny. Although the footage wasn’t bad, it was nothing to write home, or tweet about. The cast of Sorority Row spoke about their horror sorority sister characters in a panel before presenting debut footage from the upcoming film. Both Astro Boy and Sorority Row were blown away by the crowd’s adoration for the cast of the second film in the Twilight series. The actors spoke about how the chaos of the huge fan base changed the way they felt while filming by giving them more confidence and reassurance. The clips included Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner shirtless, which of course, met the fan’s standards.

After a generous quantity of dazzling 3-D footage from Avatar, which premieres December 18, an announcement was made that August 21st will be “Avatar Day.” This means 15 minutes of free footage will be shown in IMax theaters throughout the world. After being part of the first public screening of footage in 3-D from the action/adventure/fantasy and listening to James Cameron, Jon Landau and cast members talk about the spectacular new world of Pandora, Avatar will be worth the ten bucks. Conceived 14 years ago and over four years in the making, Avatar should live up to all expectations and break new ground in movie making.

Heath Ledger’s final film, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, is yet another film worth waiting in line for. Gilliam himself introduced footage from his new film starring Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, Heath Ledger, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Verne Troyer, Tom Waits and Lily Cole. So far, the dialogue and scenery lives up to the hype. 

As evening approached, world premiere footage from Kick Ass, based on Mark Millar’s bestselling comic series was presented by director Matthew Vaughn (Stardust). The footage earned a standing ovation by some, and an animated reaction from an exhausted crowd. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), Clark Duke (Clark and Michael), ad comic co-creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. A crowd favorite was surprise guest Chloe Moretz, a young star in the film. Some of the first to experience this gritty, brash and funny actioner literally gave the preview a thumbs up. Hopefully this will help the film land a distributor. 

Focus Features and Comic-Con presented a rare U.S. appearance by acclaimed Korean filmmaker Park Chan-Wook, whose “scandalous vampire melodrama,” Thirst, won the Prix du Jury (Jury Prize) at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival. In the time of Twilight, Thirst’s thoughtful narrative may just give more cerebral vampire fans something to thirst for.

You can check out an exclusive screening of Sony Pictures’ Angel of Death at this summer’s Comic-Con in San Diego. 

With comic book legend Ed Brubaker, actress and stunt woman Zoë Bell, Doug Jones, Ted Raimi, director Paul Etheridge and producer John Norris for a panel, Q&A and screening Friday, July 24 at 9 p.m. There will also be a signing at the Sony booth from 4:30-5:30 p.m. 

If you want to know more about the followers and makers of Angel of Death, check this out.

The eye-catching bus benches and billboards are just the beginning of the hype (they have already received almost 12,000 calls to the displayed 866 number) before the August 14 release of District 9. 

District 9 producer, Peter Jackson, will be making his first ever appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con to support the upcoming Sony film. 

Jackson told the New York Times that he is happy to support director Neil Blomkamp. “Neil is a tremendously talented young director,” Jackson said. “He’s made an extraordinary film, so it was important for me to come to San Diego to spread the word.” 

Jackson is able to pay a visit to the four-day convention because of the short break in his schedule. His adaptation of The Lovely Bones is finished. According to Dreadcentral, Dreamworks and Paramount Pictures plan to release the film on December 11. 

The two-part Hobbit adaptation, in which Jackson is a writer and producer with Guillermo del Toro as director, is in development. The first half may release in 2012, while The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, which he is producing, is in postproduction.

Guess who’s attending this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego?

In support of BBC America’s U.S. Premiere of four Doctor Who specials, the Doctor himself, David Tennant, will appear alongside writer/executive producer Russel T. Davies at the 2009 pop culture event. They will take part in a Doctor Who panel along with executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn, Sunday, July 26 10:00-11:00 PT.

You can also catch Davies and Gardner at a panel for Torchwood, alongside director Euros Lyn, Sunday, July 26 2:15-3:45 PT.

At the same panel, check out the talent from the sci-fi drama Being Human. Creator and Writer, Tobey Whithouse, lead actors Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlo and Aidan Turner will give you the scoop on what it’s like to play characters with double lives as a werewolf, vampire and ghost. All four of these panelists are also signing exclusively at the BBC America booth, Saturday, July 25 3:00-4:00 PT. 

For the first time, cult comedy favorite and BAFTA-nominated, The Mighty Boosh, is coming to Comic-Con. On Friday, July 24 from 4:45-5:45 the creators and actors will hold a discussion about their magical world. They’ll even sign autographs beforehand in the autograph area. 

Check out what’s coming up next at this year’s 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego.

Didn’t land tickets to this year’s sold-out Comic-Con? FM is here to ease your pain. 

In celebration of San Diego Comic-Con International’s 40-year history, a first-ever, exclusive television broadcast of a presentation will take place, due to a collaboration between Lucasfilm Ltd. and G4.

The Star Wars Spectacular! will air Saturday, July 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET/PT on G4. 

This will feature never-before-seen footage, breaking news, surprise announcements, guest stars and more. At 4:00 p.m.  G4 will also present three hours of live coverage from the Comic-Con floor. 

Fans are also invited to participate in a panel by submitting Clone Wars questions through a special G4 micro-site. Questions will be answered, live, by supervising director Dave Filoni and others from Clone Wars. 

The 2009 Comic-Con is also home to another Lucasfilm milestone- the Star Wars Stories Project. Fans will contribute to Lucasfilm’s own historical archive by describing their own personal memories through video testimonials. 

Calling all Star Wars fans! Get started here.