SDCC Panel: Disney's 'Escape to Witch Mountain' and 'Tron 2'

by Elisabeth Rappe Jul 25th 2008 // 1:46AM

Filed under: Festival Reports, Remakes and Sequels, ComicCon



This was a real accidental panel for me to have attended. The lines proved impossible to navigate for Fox and Summit, and I lacked the studio credentials to bypass the Hall H morass -- so I ducked in as soon as it was quiet and prepared to relax to Disney. But the Race to Witch Mountain panel was anything but relaxing. It wasn't full, but those who were there were serious diehards of the original, so the questions thrown at director Andy Fickman, and stars Carla Gugino and Dwayne Johnson were a little intense. Here's the key points, gleaned from the Q&A:

-- Race is not a sequel or a remake, but a re-imagining. They went back to the original book for inspiration, and tried to incorporate everything, but while writing a new mythology.
-- All were huge fans of the original, which drew them to the project. Johnson is particularly fond of Disney projects due to his young daughter, Gugino jumped at the chance to do a departure from the original.
-- Delving deeply into the UFO movement, essentially a UFO story.
-- More action packed to keep with the book, and also to keep up with the likes of the Harry Potter movies. Fans of the original will find Winnebagos to delight them, new fans won't have to have seen the old ones to get the story.
-- Gugino plays a "discredited astrophysicist" and Johnson a cab driver. The kids are aliens. Much ass is kicked by all the characters.
-- The original kids, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, are in it. People went absolutely crazy at this, and it's hinted their part is large, but no other details were forthcoming.
-- Fickman said the closest comparison to the movie was 48 Hrs or the Bourne movies. Seriously.

Tron is back ... and after the jump ...


Once the Witch cast cleared off, the head honcho Jeff Walker came out to announce that we would be seeing some "surprise footage" that wouldn't be seen again for at least a year. Shock and awe, it was Tron 2 -- which, honestly, looks far cooler than it should look. The guy sitting next to me went a bit breathless and said "I haven't even seen the original -- but that looks slick!" It looks like the Tron you remember, but sleek, modern, and violent. Yes, Jeff Bridges makes a return, and the clip showed him battling a young and badass opponent. Crushed, his bike destroyed, he cries "It's just a game!" "Not anymore." Very intriguing, to say the least, and I'll be watching it with a bit more interest now. Hall H went from happily interested to loudly buzzing by the time the lights came back on and by the time we left, it was one of the "I can't believe we saw it!" moments of the con.

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Tags: andy fickman, AndyFickman, carla gugino, CarlaGugino, Dwayne Johnson, DwayneJohnson, Ike Eisenmann, IkeEisenmann, Jeff Bridges, JeffBridges, Kim Richards, KimRichards, Race to Witch Mountain, RaceToWitchMountain, San Diego ComicCon, SanDiegoComiccon, SDCC 2008, Sdcc2008, Tron 2, Tron2

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