SAN DIEGO — This weekend’s Comic-Con turned out to be an old-fashioned revival meeting — as in, revival of hobbits, Superman, the Lone Ranger, Godzilla, Captain Hook, Dracula, the Wizard of Oz, scores of undead zombies and a former California governor.
Legions of pop-culture fans — 130,000 strong — were treated to glimpses of upcoming big-screen blockbusters that include Robert Downey Jr.’s “Iron Man 3” and the “Twilight” finale, plus sneak peeks at what’s to come in TV favorites such as “Game of Thrones,” “Dexter,” “True Blood” and “The Walking Dead.”
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Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up alongside fellow action veteran Sylvester Stallone to preview “The Expendables 2,” which marks the start of a busy return to Hollywood for the ex-governor. Colin Farrell was on hand for his own Schwarzenegger revival — a new take on the 1990 sci-fi adventure “Total Recall.”
The four-day fan convention that ended Sunday also offered looks ahead at Peter Jackson’s two-part “The Hobbit”; Johnny Depp’s “The Lone Ranger”; Sam Raimi’s “Oz: The Great and Powerful”; Superman’s rebirth in “Man of Steel”; Peter Pan pirate Captain Hook’s voyage into TV’s “Once Upon a Time”; and Adam Sandler’s Count Dracula in the animated “Hotel Transylvania.”
And Godzilla was a surprise guest with a teaser to herald the mighty lizard’s return to theaters.
Among the news emerging from Comic-Con:
• Developers for the sci-fi shoot-’em-up series “Halo 4” told fans Saturday that they could expect 10 new episodes of the cooperative Spartan Ops mode each week after the game’s launch Nov. 6. The extra downloadable content will be free and will last as long as the game’s single-player campaign.
• The crowd went wild over the 12-minute “Hobbit” preview reel, which included a chillingly comic exchange between Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and Gollum (Andy Serkis); a tender moment between Ian McKellen’s Gandalf and elf queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett); and the pivotal moment when Bilbo discovers the ring.
• On Saturday, Downey, star of “Iron Man 3,” said, “The future is uncertain” when asked whether there could be more “Iron Man” movies after this one.
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige also announced other upcoming Marvel movies, including “Thor: The Dark World,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the anticipated “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Ant Man.”
Madonna riles far-right French party
PARIS – France’s far-right National Front said Sunday that it plans to sue Madonna after the singer showed a video at a Paris concert that included an image of the party’s leader with a swastika on her forehead.
The video has been shown at other concerts on the singer’s tour, and the party has warned that it would take action if the video were shown in France. On Saturday night, Madonna played it at the Stade de France.
National Front spokesman Alain Vizier said Sunday that the party would file a complaint in French court next week over “insults.”
Party leader Marine Le Pen is briefly pictured in the video during a montage in which famous faces — or parts of faces — morph one into the next. Soon after Le Pen’s face flashes up, Madonna’s face follows with Hitler’s mustache.
Maybe they’re amazed by abrupt ending
LONDON – Concert organizers pulled the plug on rock stars Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney after they defied the sound curfew at London’s Hyde Park, silencing their microphones at the tail end of the show.
Springsteen had already exceeded the 10:30 p.m. curfew by half an hour Saturday when he welcomed McCartney on stage and the pair sang the Beatles hits “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Twist and Shout.” But the microphones were turned off before they could thank the crowd.
A statement from concert organizer Live Nation said it was unfortunate that Springsteen’s three-hour-plus performance was stopped “right at the very end,” but it said that the curfew had been laid down by the authorities “in the interest of the public’s health and safety.”
Steven Van Zandt, who plays guitar in Springsteen’s E-Street Band, criticized Saturday’s decision as heavy-handed.
“English cops may be the only individuals left on Earth that wouldn’t want to hear one more from Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney!” he tweeted. He added: “There’s no grudges to be held. Just feel bad for our great fans. … It’s some City Council stupid rule.”
London’s flamboyant mayor, Boris Johnson, said Sunday that the singers should have been allowed to keep going.
“It sounds to me like an excessively efficacious decision,” he told London radio. “You won’t get that during the Olympics. If they’d have called me, my answer would have been for them to jam in the name of the Lord!”
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