Warner Bros. then moved right along into Mad Max: Fury Road. Charlize Theron kicked things off with a video message talking about how great it was to work with Miller. After that brief clip, Hall H’s side screens lit up with the words “Blood Fire Oil” and then “Comic-Con Belongs to the Mad,” as the bass boomed dramatically. A retrospective then played, highlighting the last three films and including the words, “Over three decades ago, director George Miller broke every rule.”
After that, Miller himself came out, to wild applause from the crowd. “I wanted to make one long, extended take and find out what we can about the characters along the way,” he said of the new film, adding that it was interesting to return to the Mad Max universe and exciting to also attend his first Comic-Con. He said:
“I was always the kid who got into trouble for drawing cartoons, and reading too many comic books, and seeing too many movies, and I never dreamed that people would come from all over the world to a place like this. This is like a spiritual homeground.”
Miller had immense praise for Theron and star Tom Hardy, expressing his good fortune in finding two actors so perfect for the roles. He also commended Warner Bros., stating, “I’ve been making movies with Warner Bros. since the first Mad Max. They allow filmmakers to have their process.”
Before introducing a long sizzle reel for Mad Max: Fury Road, Miller also identified the tone of the film as “closer to Mad Max 2, simply because it happens over a short period of time. A few period of days, and there’s an extended chase.” Cue the clip, which almost every journalist in attendance has hailed as “awesome.” It didn’t include many plot details, though Max (Hardy) does escape from a creepy dude with long hair and a gas mask, alongside the character played by Nicholas Hoult. Max then teams with Furiosa (Theron), who has rescued some young girls. The footage is extremely action-heavy, with a massive sandstorm ripping apart vehicles; lots of blood, dirt, explosions and fire; glorious crashes and some of the nutty cars we’ve come to expect from this franchise. Specifically, the footage depicted vehicles with drums, spikes, people tied to poles and even one with an electric guitar-strumming baddie.
Shortly after that clip, Miller and Hardwick left the stage, leaving room for Stephen Colbert to come out and express his love for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. He was in costume, given that he has a cameo in The Battle of the Five Armies. Many, many people from the film emerged, including Peter Jackson Andy Serkis, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood and others.
When asked about the film by Colbert, Jackson explained that many visual effects are still being done. Lots of joking about the length of the films, with Jackson noting, “They haven’t stopped me from filming it yet.” Serkis praised the motion-capture teams and talked about that art form a little. Another interesting tidbit: Wood never read any of the books.
After a lot of this casual chatter, the teaser for The Battle of Five Armies played. It’s extremely large and epic in scope, with a considerably more serious tone as compared to An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug. Bilbo (Martin Freeman) narrates, saying, “I’ll remember everything that happened. Those who survived, those who didn’t.” Smaug (Cumberbatch) rains fire down on Laketown, but that’s not the only destruction seen. An entire city is destroyed. Other scenes include a chase sequence on ice and a shot of the evil Sauron. Then a conversation between Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) and Thorin (Richard Amitage. “Will you have peace or war?” asks Bard, to the response, “I will have war!” After a few more epic shots, Thorin ends the footage with the haunting question, “Will you follow me one last time?”
That’s all for Warner Bros. today, but of the films featured, I have to say I’m most excited for Mad Max: Fury Road. It’s been a long time coming, and everything I’ve heard so far about the movie makes me totally psyched to see it.
Out of that, Jupiter Ascending and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, what’s highest on your must-see list? Sound off below and let us know!