Sony Pictures is presenting two of their Summer 2015 releases today, including the studio’s adaptation of Scholastic’s iconic book series Goosebumps. Jack Black is starring as author R. L. Stine and will be present along with director Rob Letterman. Director Chris Columbus will also have a special video announcement about his upcoming film, Pixels, starring Adam Sandler. Will we also learn more about Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie, which is being promoted with a banner at the Con? Follow along with the live blog below!
You can read the archived version of our live blog below:
12:26
EDouglasCS: Hey everyone! Welcome to the liveblog of Sony’s 2014 Comic-Con panel featuring Goosebumps, Pixels and possibly a few surprises!
12:26
EDouglasCS: I am not familiar with Goosebumps unfortunately, so go easy on me! 🙂
12:31
EDouglasCS: They’re about to begin! Drew McWeeney of HitFix is moderating the Sony panel
12:32
EDouglasCS: Drew says there will only be two films previewed… so maybe no surprises.
12:32
Comment From Guest
will we see trailers for anything??
12:33
EDouglasCS: Guest, I’m not sure if they have enough ready for either movie for a trailer. I assume we’ll see some footage from Goosebumps though
12:33
EDouglasCS: Remember that neither of these movies come out until next year
12:33
EDouglasCS: Chris Columbus has sent a video intro from the set of Pixels
12:34
EDouglasCS: He says that the visual FX are going to be groundbreaking in the way they bring 8 pixel characters to life
12:34
EDouglasCS: They’re going to show some early footage?
12:34
EDouglasCS: Okay it’s a bit of a joke….
12:35
EDouglasCS: They have Josh Gad going “I’d recognize that Centipede from anywhere!” and then there’s a tennis ball on a stick that chases him around as he runs around frightened.
12:35
EDouglasCS: They showed an animated logo for Pixels
12:36
EDouglasCS: They touted the fact that the high scorers at the Pixels Arcade can win a chance to be in the movie… so if you’re in San Diego, start saving up those quarters!
12:36
EDouglasCS: And we’re right into Goosebumps… which they say they’ve been trying to make for 12 years
12:36
EDouglasCS: R.L. Stine isn’t going to be in San Diego but he sent in a video introduction from the Atlanta set of Goosebumps.
12:36
EDouglasCS: Everyone wants to know what books they used and which monsters are in the movie, but he said that the movie is about HIM.
12:37
EDouglasCS: He’s talking about how they decided who to play him in the movie…
12:37
EDouglasCS: He says that his first choice to play him was Jack Black… and here comes Jack Black!!!
12:37
EDouglasCS: Huge cheers for his entrance
12:45
ComingSoon.net: We’re having a little Wi-Fi issue. Trying to get Ed back on.
12:48
EDouglasCS: Sorry guys, got knocked off line….
12:49
EDouglasCS: I’m back
12:49
EDouglasCS: Jack Black brought out director Rob Letterman who said “instead of talking about the tone, I’ll show you” and they showed a very early teaser trailer
12:49
EDouglasCS: Most of the monsters shown were pre-vis unfinished CG
12:50
EDouglasCS: They’re talking about doing the effects for the monsters
12:50
EDouglasCS: So the footage opens with the lead guy arriving at a new house with his mother, played by Amy Ryan
12:50
EDouglasCS: He’s greeted by Hannah, the girl next door
12:51
EDouglasCS: We then see the protagonist (whose name I don’t know) and his nerdy friend outside talking about Hannah and they hear a scream from her house so they go over and they pick the lock to get in
12:52
EDouglasCS: when they walk in, they’re scared by a cuckoo clock and then see a shelf full of manuscripts for Stine’s books and then are spooked by Black’s Stine standing in the shadows
12:52
EDouglasCS: There’s a tagline that “his stories are legendary”
12:53
EDouglasCS: Black says the ‘pleasure is mine” and tells the boys that all the monsters he’s created are locked inside those books
12:53
EDouglasCS: And that something bad will happen if they’re released
12:53
EDouglasCS: BTW, Kyle Gass of Tenacious D is in the audience sitting a few seats away from me
12:54
EDouglasCS: So let’s talk monsters.. everyone ready? 🙂
12:54
EDouglasCS: I’ve been told protagonist’s name is Zach Cooper, played by Dylan Minnette (thanks!)
12:55
EDouglasCS: Okay… we see Stine, Zach, Hannah and Zach’s friend in a car driving and a couple tentacles come down at them
12:55
EDouglasCS: But it turns out it’s actually a giant preying mantis!
12:55
EDouglasCS: (Again, the FX they showed were all pre-vis and incomplete)
12:55
EDouglasCS: Stine says “I don’t remember writing about a preying mantis … oh yeah, now I remember”
12:56
EDouglasCS: They’re really being very coy about what monsters are in the books though when people in the audience ask about them.
12:56
EDouglasCS: We also see previs of the Abominable Snowman in an ice skating rink
12:56
EDouglasCS: There’s a very rough werewolf….
12:57
EDouglasCS: They also face a half dozen garden gnomes which they don’t think look dangerous until they start throwing knives
12:57
Comment From John
any word if anything from Bond 24 will be brought up?
12:57
EDouglasCS: Doubt it, John
12:57
EDouglasCS: AND…. they have the ventriloquist dummy Slappy from Night of the Living Dummy who is heavily featured in the movie.
12:57
EDouglasCS: They say that Slappy is the ringleader of all the monsters in the movie.
12:57
Comment From Roku
So is this like a family horror film? Like Beetlejuice?
12:58
EDouglasCS: Yes, Roku, very much so…and hopefully better than The Vampire’s Assistant. 🙂
12:58
EDouglasCS: We see the kids trying to capture the monsters by sucking them back into the monsters
12:58
EDouglasCS: Sorry… sucking them back into the books
12:59
EDouglasCS: Jack said he did some work with a ventriloquist dummy to prepare for working with Slappy and he has just brought out a Slappy dummy and will give us a taste of his ventriloquism
12:59
EDouglasCS: I’m not sure that’s Black doing the voice of Slappy though… I think this is a oke
12:59
EDouglasCS: Jack is now drinking water while Slappy talks
1:00
Comment From Dylan
Is the film Chappie also appearing on the paneil?
1:00
EDouglasCS: Don’t know yet.
1:00
EDouglasCS: Now Slappy is talking back to Jack saying that he didn’t create him, RL Stine created him…. Jack is telling him to get back into his box….
1:00
EDouglasCS: Slappy has threatened to bring some of his friends out to play
1:00
EDouglasCS: Slappy is quite menacing
1:01
EDouglasCS: He first introduces the Bog Monster and there’s soemone
1:01
EDouglasCS: The Graveyard Ghouls
1:01
EDouglasCS: Murder the Clown
1:01
EDouglasCS: The Witch Doctor
1:01
EDouglasCS: Professor Shock
1:01
EDouglasCS: A vampire, The Creep
1:01
EDouglasCS: The bugeye alins
1:01
EDouglasCS: The Pumpkin Heads and the Scarecrow
1:01
EDouglasCS: They just brought out all these characters on stage!!
1:01
EDouglasCS: Will try to get a picture
1:02
EDouglasCS: Also The Executioner and the Clown
1:02
EDouglasCS: The monsters dragged Jack Black outside
1:02
EDouglasCS: Sorry, it was really hard to get a picture… they looked great though
1:03
Comment From MIke Mauthor
Does Slappy looks menacing as well or just sounds menacing?
1:03
EDouglasCS: Both
1:03
EDouglasCS: That’s it for Sony apparently
1:03
EDouglasCS: I hope there’ll be some pictures of all the monsters cause they looked great and hopefully that’ll give us an idea of what they’ll look like in terms of the non-CG monsters
1:03
EDouglasCS: There were a LOT… probably 12 or more!
1:03
Comment From Jon
Did the teaser look/sound like a solid teaser? ive been dying for a goosebumps movie since i was a kid….
1:04
EDouglasCS: It looked like a good start… although all the CG was early pre-vis not complete….the monsters in costumes looked great though
1:04
EDouglasCS: This reminded me a little of the Hellboy: Golden Army panel at NY Comic-Con when Guillermo del Toro brought out a bunch of the monsters
1:04
Comment From James
Is Slappys voice scary?
1:04
EDouglasCS: Yeah I”m not sure who is doing the voice but it’s obviously not Jack Black
1:05
EDouglasCS: That’s it for the panel
1:05
Comment From Joe
All of those are in the movie?
1:05
EDouglasCS: I’m guessing that it’s very likely that’s who we’ll see… I think there are going to be a lot of monsters even though some of them may have smaller appearances
1:06
EDouglasCS: Back to the footage, there was a shot of the preying mantis turning over a bus
1:06
EDouglasCS: and one of the kids asks Stine why he can’t write about rainbows to which he responds “That wouldn’t sell 4 million copies!”
1:06
EDouglasCS: be right back if you have any other questions
1:08
Comment From DuToit
Will I be having nightmares with the clown?
1:08
EDouglasCS: The clown that came out looked pretty scary.. did you ever see that movie Killer Clowns? Like that
1:08
Comment From Peter Parker
Are they going to acknowledge how they ruined my franchise? In what America does someone want to see a Sinister Six film?
1:09
EDouglasCS: No talk of Spider-Man at all… this was all about Goosebumps
1:09
Comment From Guest
Does Slappy have a recognizable voice?
1:09
EDouglasCS: Good question… I didn’t recognize the voice and they didn’t make mention of who it was… but it obviously wasn’t Jack
1:09
Comment From Bertie
so, does goosebumps look good (hope so) or lame?
1:09
EDouglasCS: I think what we saw looks good and they seem to have the right idea of how to do this movie
1:09
Comment From oggie
Did you see The Haunted Mask? A green monster mask that when put on cant be taken off.
1:10
EDouglasCS: No, that wasn’t in the footage….
1:10
Comment From Bob
What mode is jack Black in? hamming it totally or playing fairly straight ala King Kong?
1:10
EDouglasCS: he seemed to be having fun… even did some karate moves for a kid who asked
1:10
Comment From Guest
Anything on Chappie?
1:10
EDouglasCS: Nope
1:10
EDouglasCS: Not even a mention
1:10
Comment From Joe
Edouglas. Does this movie seem self aware like Cabin in the Woods for a family movie like this?
1:10
EDouglasCS: Yes, Joe… since R.L. Stine appears as a character in it and it acknowledges he wrote the books, it’s very META
1:10
Comment From Irvin
As a movie paying movie goer, will you go and watch it in theaters or Redbox?
1:11
EDouglasCS: I never pay for movies, Irvin… I’m a film critic 🙂
1:11
EDouglasCS: Thanks to Nacho, here’s a picture of all the monsters on stage
1:11
EDouglasCS: https://twitter.com/lacosac…
1:11
Comment From Adam
Any chance they’ll release the footage to the public soon? Or part of it?
1:11
EDouglasCS: Adam, probably not… they need to finish the visual FX. Maybe something by the holidays?
1:11
Comment From Mike Mauthor
Besides Slappy, is there any other monster speaking?
1:11
EDouglasCS: none in the footage or on stage
1:12
Comment From John
how long have they been filming goosebumps?
1:12
EDouglasCS: A couple months… I think they’re almost done if not done
1:12
Comment From Guest
Hey, im the guy from @lacosacin thanks for share my pic Doug!
1:13
EDouglasCS: No problem…. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough and I was using my smartphone for WIFI
1:13
EDouglasCS: Bill, if you’re still there, ask your question again?
1:13
EDouglasCS: I’m hanging for another five minutes then taking off
1:13
Comment From Jay
Does it seem tonally similar to Beetlejuice? Or more along the lines of Scooby Doo?
1:14
EDouglasCS: Good question, Jay… Beetlejuice has its own very specific tone… it doesn’t seem that outlandish so maybe somewhere in between?
1:14
EDouglasCS: It definitely seems darker but still fun and humorous
1:14
Comment From Mike Mauthor
Describe R.L.Stine’s mood at the panel.
1:14
EDouglasCS: He didn’t attend Mike… just sent a video introduction
1:14
Comment From Alec R
PG or PG-13?
1:14
EDouglasCS: I’d guess they’re shooting for PG
1:14
Comment From Matt
Quick question from the UK. What’s the general vibe at CC about Spider-man? I posted previously that the word out of Sony UK is very mixed and there’s growing rumours of a Marvel/Sony rift.
1:15
EDouglasCS: Matt, I’ve only really spoken to journalists about it… because it’s not being mentioned at a panel or anything, it’s hard to guage
1:15
Comment From LaCosaCine
That was a kick-ass live blogging, floks. Thank you very much.
1:15
EDouglasCS: Why, thank you very much… had a few bugs but it went by quickly.
1:16
EDouglasCS: Anyway, I need to run… thanks for tuning in. May be on later for something else but more likely tomorrow or Saturday
1:16
Comment From MattyDC
What’s next on the panel?
1:16
EDouglasCS: I believe there will be liveblogs for The Giver and Paramount…but not here.
1:17
Comment From Mike Mauthor
Are you going to be at The Giver panel as well??? I really hope that’s your next stop.
1:17
EDouglasCS: Sorry Mike, have interviews to do. Silas will have you covered
1:18
Comment From Mike Mauthor
Is there a question segment at this Comic-con panel?
1:18
EDouglasCS: They asked a few questions, the only about the movie was asking about monsters which they wouldn’t respond to.. but then brought out all those monsters
1:18
EDouglasCS: I’m out of here!
