Tron Legacy takes the stage this morning at San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H, the same location where, two years ago, a teaser for the film met with roaring applause and helped speed the film into development.
Set to open on December 17th, Tron Legacy stars Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, James Frain, Beau Garrett and Michael Sheen and will hit regular theaters and IMAX in both 2D and 3D.
ComingSoon.net is gearing up to live-blog the event beginning at 11:00am (PST), so check back for frequent updates.
Patton Oswalt has appeared onstage to moderate.
“Welcome, furries!” he announced to the crowd before adding, “Sorry, that’s something I’m doing later.”
He also joked about a viral shirtless Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner knife fight tonight, the secret location of which will soon be revealed.
A brief series of clips was screened to showcase Tron‘s pop culture legacy. Though most of it has been shown at Disney events before, it’s now updated to include the recent South Park episode.
The cast and crew have come onstage, including director Joseph Kosinski, producer Sean Bailey, producer and director of the original Tron Steven Lisberger, and cast members Garrett Hedlund (Sam Flynn), Olivia Wilde (Quorra), Michael Sheen (Castor), Bruce Boxleitner (Alan Bradley) and Jeff Bridges (in the double role of Kevin Flynn and his alter-ego, Clu).
Both Quorra and Castor are being described as ambiguous characters, not necessary on anyone’s side.
Michael Sheen has promised that the film is actually in 4D “because Jeff Bridges brings a whole other dimension of awesome.”
Eight minutes of the film were screened:
Opening with a 3D Tron version of the Disney logo, the footage begins with Sam Flynn having just entered the computer world and captured by a red Recognizer.
“This isn’t happening,” he says, looking at the world before adding, “This is happening!”
“This program has no disk,” says one of the helmeted officers, “Another stray.”
Sam is taken aboard the craft and locked in a light field along a number of others. He tries to ask them about his father, but they are just speaking meaninglessly. One of them turns and glares at him, revealing his face is half missing.
We see that this Redeemer is part of a larger fleet, all headed towards a large conical building that looks a stadium.
Inside, each of the prisoners is approached and identified as either “Rectify” or “Games”. Sam gets games and is taken to a light-disc elevator that takes him down to a large empty room. From four sides come four attractive women in skin-tight white suits. They surround Sam and illuminate their fingers, touching them against his clothes which rip to shreds, falling to the floor and getting sucked away instantly.
A black bodysuit materialized around him and the women gather armor that they clip to his body.
“He is different,” one of them says.
Sam is then given an identity disk which is clipped into his back, causing his eyes to flash with light.
“What am I supposed to do?” Sam asks.
“Survive,” one of the women says.
On a different elevator, Sam is taken up, emerging in the middle of a large stadium, other programs all around him.
The footage switches to a montage with lots of bike racing. One shot has someone killed by a disc, slicing them in half as their body goes to pixels.
One shot reveals Clu, removing his yellow mask to reveal young Jeff Bridges. Another shot has him leaping mid-air and turning into a yellow light-jet.
“I’m not your father, Sam,” we hear Clu say, “But I’m very happy to see you.”
Following the footage, the audience was given a chance to help record ADR that they plan to incorporate into the final film. The screen gave the audience words to chant including “Disk! War”, “Rinz! Ler!”, and “Dee! Rez!” as well as the sound of cheering and stomping feet.
When asked if the original might get a rerelease in 3D, Bailey said, “Those are conversations we’re having right now.”
The panel ended with the new Tron Legacy trailer, which you check out for yourself right now below.
