SDCC 2014: 20th Century Fox Shows Off ‘The Maze Runner’, ‘The Book Of Life’, ‘Agent 47’, And More!

Hey guys, Zack here! I decided to do some writing this Con so I am here to tell you all about the 20th Century Fox Panel. On Friday, Hall H had no line, so I was able to get right in to this particular panel. Which in my oppinion, was a total sleeper hit. All of the movies are ones that we know about already. There wasn’t any lame/headscratching King Kong remakes to be had here. Just kick ass footage. The panel started with an introduction from moderator Ralph Garman.

The Maze Runner

The first clip opens with the booming sound of gears clanking and whirling. The image of a stream of light can be seen. We then realize that we are on a lift being pulled up. Thomas (Dylan O Brien) lunges up into frame, gagging and wheezing. He realizes he is in a lift shooting upwards. As he gets to the top, light can be seen, the music intensifies and so did my pulse. This was an amazing way to open and we get a chance to witness this jarring moment with our protagonist as he ends up in this giant field called The Glade with a bunch of kids called Runners. My wife read these Maze Runner books by James Dashner last year. She says the Maze Runner is the best of all of them even though they are typical “YA books”. This opening scene really had me going guys. They showed a trailer and another clip but I was already sold. Director Wes Ball also showed some concept art for a future film in the franchise if it takes off. I really hope it does. The cast was comprised of mostly young actors I didnt know. Except for Kaya Scodelario (Effie from the BBC show Skins). Here’s the trailer:

The Book of Life

Let it be known, I have been excited about this film since the first trailer debuted earlier this year. I love anything Guillermo Del Toro produces in any capacity. So the fact that he speaks so highly of this film, actually means something. He isn’t like your typical exec producer who says “This movie is great” and runs away with a bag of money like a thief in the night. Every word that comes from Guillermo drips with love and a sort of fan boy nature that is addicting.

Garman glowingly introduced the panel to a ravenous Hall H. Director Jorge Gutierrez, producer Guillermo del Toro, Christina Applegate, Ron Pearlman and Channing Tatum. The panel had a few things to say about the making of the film before we were treated to some amazing footage.

The first clip focuses on Manollo (Diego Luna) our mariachi protagonist. He stands in the middle of a bullfighting ring with his guitar. The music he plays is something beautiful and melancholy. He then proceeds to serenade his love Maria (Zoe Saldana) with the song Creep by Radiohead. This clip is so gut-wrenching and sweet at the same time that I literally had chills. They next showed a new trailer showing some new footage. All of it looked breathtaking.

After the footage was shown, director Jorge Gutierez said that being from Tijuana, popular music in America found it’s way down to him and he embraced it openly. As those words left his mouth, a music contributor to the film came out on the stage. And this contributor was none other than Biz mother flippin Markie. He was met with immediate cheers from Hall H as he belted out “Just a Friend” with the help of Channing Tatum. A moment that will forever be in my mind.  Forever for it’s pure awesome-ness.  After that, Ralph Garman opened up questions to the floor.

There were two standout moments from the Q&A portion of this presentation. The first was from a teenager who asked a question to Channing how it feels to be in a role that isn’t for his good looks or muscles. The second was Jorge’s answer regarding why he wanted to make a movie about Dia De Los Muertos. He responded by saying Day of the Dead has always been his favorite holiday. He even got married on Dia de Los Muertos because his best friend had passed away and he wanted him to still be his best man. That literally made me cry. I am tearing up as I’m writing this. Jorge seems like an exteremely passionate filmmaker and it shows in all the loving details of this film. No wonder Guillermo loves him so much.

Agent 47

After The Book of Life, we were treated to the trailer debut of the new Hitman film staring Rupert Friend (Homeland). Rupert was away shooting that film and wasn’t able to make it but he did manage to send a nice little recorded message. The footage opens with Agent 47 in an interrogation room. A man stands on the otherside of the table with a loaded sniper rifle pointed right at our Agent. 47 explains how he’s basically totally ok with this scenario. He then kicks the table up which pulls the guns trigger and he in a bad ass slo mo kind of way uses the bullet to shoot off his hand cuffs. We then cut to beautiful locations like Singapore and Berlin. A large scale car chase goes down. S.W.A.T. team looking guys all in black harpoon Agent 47’s car from all directions and zip line in as he starts to take them out one by one. This was probably my favorite scene from the trailer. There was a lot of kick ass stuff and Zachary Quinto so you can sign me up for this one. Also, bravo to the filmmakers of this one for having the balls to shoot in such beautiful lush places that normally don’t get play on film.  Once Agent 47 was over, “Lets Be Cops” took the stage.

Lets Be Cops

This movie looks hilarious. The panel had Rob Rigel, Keegan-Michael Key, Nina Dobrev, and Daman Wayans Jr. Jake Johnson wasn’t able to make it due to shooting Jurassic World, but he had filmed a hilarious video for Hall H. The footage was mostly stuff you’ve seen in the trailer with a few extra curse words. However, it was all brilliant comedy. They also showed a scene of Wayans Jr. and Johnson’s fake cops meeting the valiant straight laced cop played by Rigel. In the clip, they respond to a break in at an Ace Hardware. The fake cops have fake guns and they even make fake gun cocking noises as they are next to their actual cop brethren. I don’t want to give the rest of the scene away, but lets just say it involves a large naked human. That’s all. It was refreshing to see Rigel play a non douche bag character, as he’s such a charismatic actor and I love that he is finally playing against type. Suffice it to say, I am seeing this movie opening day. It looks like it has a great blend of action and comedy.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

This panel was moderated by Mark Millar (why did we have to lose Garman?) He opened with how special Hall H to him because of how popular Kick-Ass became after it debuted there years ago. He explained how director Matthew Vaughn was in the hospital and couldn’t make it, but Vaughn recorded a special message for the audience. It opened with Vaughn in a Kick-Ass mask talking about how special it is that his new movie is in Hall H and that he got the chance to work with one of his heroes. The particular hero he was referring to was actually standing right next to him as the camera panned over to show Mark Hamill in a Hit Girl wig. Hamill had his Jedi beard going and mentioned that he had it for a “little space opera art house film you’ve never heard of”. Once they were done introducing the film, we were introduced to the world of the Kingsman.

The opening scene takes place in a snowy mountaintop cabin inhabited by several armed guards and a man tied to a chair. It’s revealed that this man is Mark Hamill, playing basically a Brittish doctor of some kind in his Joker voice (better than it sounds). As these dudes are interogating Hamill, they are interupted by a knock at the door. Then we are treated to a bevy of awesome gun fights and fisticuffs as the knock at the door belongs to a secret agent (very James Bond esque). This guy manages to kill every one and is about to untie Hamill when another knock at the door can be heard. The secret agent goes towards the door and is sliced in half by a girl with sword legs (completely crazy). She hastily covers up all of the dead bodies and opens the door for Sam F’in Jackson. If you’ve seen any of the trailers for this film, you know Jackson was a strange lisp thing going on. I feel like it really works well in this scene so I am excited to see how it works in the film.

We also got another scene of Colin Firth and his protege talking in a pub. They are rudely interupted by some hooligan dudes who Colin Firth kicks the shit out of using only his hands and a very tactical umbrella. I really want you to see the movie so I won’t spoil exactly how this marvelous fight goes. I will say that some of the music cues were super cheesy. I hope it’s just temp score because it takes away from the performances.

The thing I loved about the footage is that this is an old school kind of spy movie. Like a bat shit crazy Connery James Bond with some Brittish Avengers in there for good measure. If you have enjoyed any other Vaughn’s other films, I’m sure this one won’t dissapoint.

Sure this wasn’t a Saturday Hall H panel with all sorts of surprises. It was just a really amazing panel full of great moments. No punches were pulled during this one folks. If I were you, I would be on the look out for all of these films.

So what do you think? Are you excited for any of these ones?