Snowden, Valerian, Silicon Valley, Luke Cage & More Highlight SDCC Day 1

Every year the masses converge on San Diego Comic-Con International. The massive convention encompasses and displays all genres in the entertainment and comics. For four days, devout fans engage in panel discussions, costumes, first-looks at upcoming projects, and a diverse selection of popular arts. Held at the San Diego Convention Center, it’s the largest event of its kind in North America. It’s here that the world’s of science fiction, fantasy, horror, anime, video games, and more intertwine and illustrate all the elements that stirs their spirited fan bases.

Thursday, July 21st was the first day of the convention. The opening day was helmed by several new projects and viewer favorites. Here are some of the attention grabbing projects from day one:

Valerian

The highly anticipated Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Prodessional) directed sci-fi film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was on full display yesterday. The first images and videos of comic book adaptation wowed the masses. Starring Dane DeHaan (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) & Cara Delevigne (Suicide Squad, Paper Town) the epic tells the story of two operatives embark on a mission to the celestial city Alpha, where they encounter many forces that pose a threat to humanity. The cast also includes Ethan Hawke, Rihanna, Clive Owen, and John Goodman among others. It’s set for release in the summer of 2017 however Besson showed the first 7 minutes of the film and it was met with a standing ovation.

#Valerian selfie with @Caradelevingne @lucbesson @joshuahorowitz producer Virginie Besson-Silla and all of #HallH!! pic.twitter.com/oBKv83mLi8

— Dane DeHaan (@danedehaan) July 21, 2016

Here’s the panel discussion:

Snowden

Oliver Stone(Platoon, Wall Street, Natural Born Killers) lends his Oscar winning vision to the film retelling of one of the most intriguing and controversial stories of the decade. Snowden provides a cinematic illustration of real-life whistleblower and previous government employee Edward Snowden and his dramatic exposure of the NSA’s monitoring system of American citizens. The film stars Josheph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception) and Shailene Woodley (Divergent, the Fauilt in Our Stars) and is finally getting released this September after Stone was turned down by every major studio. He finally found funding for the project in France and Germany. Stone stated “Snowden is a larger-than-life story of what is happening right now, under our noses and it affects the majority of you, in this audience.”

Trailer:

Panel:

Silicon Valley

The @SiliconHBO cast cracked us up in our @instagram Boomerang booth! 😂🙌 #SiliconValley #SDCC #EWComicCon pic.twitter.com/ZO9AjnkmlA

— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 21, 2016

The Mike Judge, John Altschuler, and Dave Kinney created HBO series graced comic-con to highlight their third season and to provide glimpses of the series’ direction going into the fourth. The show tells the story of Richard Hendricks a shy computer programmer, played by Thomas Middleditch, and the launch of his music app Pied Piper. The hit comedy series displays all the highs and lows of innovative success in the tech and digital world. Mike Judge told the audience Thursday, “It’s more fun to watch these guys be uncomfortable and fail and be humiliated. They’re funnier that way. If they become successful and live happily ever Judge was awarded Comic-Con International’s “Ink Blot Award,” in honor of his achievements in film and TV. The panel touched on the riuns of Pied Piper after last season’s finale, druken cast slumber parties, and matching jackets. Writing for the new season has begun but judge warns, “The way writing goes we try and make plans for the whole season but then things fall apart,”.

Luke Cage

Trailer