Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm typing this about half an hour before the panel starts. I'm getting a jump on today's panels by doing my intro now. I have a huge day today with 6 interviews (that I know of) and 6 panels, talking about 20 plus movies. The day kicks off with Warner Bros's second of 3 panels of the Con. Their first panel was their animation spectacular yesterday, their next tomorrow featuring 300. So, below is what we have for today's panel featuring WICKER MAN, a video greeting from the set of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, THE REAPING and an update on SUPERMAN RETURNS.

WICKER MAN

Neil LaBute was there to talk about the flick and show something. Footage:

Neil LaBute brought the opening sequence from his remake. The scene starts with Nicolas Cage in full motorcycle cop outfit rolling along the rolling country side. The first impression of the footage is a good one. The cinematography looked sharp as hell. So, Cage is driving along and follows a station wagon. A rag doll is thrown from the car. Cage smiles, swings down and scoops it up as he passes by. He pulls the car over and doll in hand he walks to the driver's side window, giant 18-wheelers thundering by.

The woman driving unleashes a torrent of excuses... she's moving, she's so sorry... He hands back the doll, to the kinda creepy little girl in the back seat. The woman says the girl has been acting up and apologizes for it, all the while giant 18 wheelers rumbling past. The girl throws the doll back out the window, into the street. Cage chuckles, walks in the road, picks it up just as the car in the background on the shoulder gets totaled by a giant truck. You see this bit in the trailer as well as some of the rest of the clip that had Cage running to the crushed car... We see the crumpled lady in the front seat. The car's on fire. Cage tries to open the back door. It won't budge. He smashes the window with his cop helmet. We see the creepy ass girl just staring back at him through the broken hole. He reaches in, calling for her to give him her hand. She just stares. The car explodes, throwing Cage back.

Tidbits from the panel:

- The film is a reimagining, not a slavish remake.

- The society here is not a patriarchal society like the original, but rather a matriarchal society, which is why Ellen Burnstyn is in the Christopher Lee role.

- Instead of a paganism/christian struggle, it's more of a male/female clash.

- The island produces honey, not apples. It's sort of a Queen Bee analogy with Burnstyn.

- From LaBute: "There will be precious little singing."

- Edward Woodward cameos

- No Chistopher Lee cameo

- Aaron Eckhart has a small role

THE REAPING

No footage shown, but they had the cast (Hilary Swank, AnnaSophia Robb) and some of the creative team (director Stephen Hopkins and Joel Silver) were on hand. Here are some tidbits from the panel.

- The film is about a professor that scientifically explains miracles... so she goes to Louisiana and finds one she can't explain

- Hilary Swank said the script was a page turner with a twist that caught her completely off guard.

- Both hurricanes hit while filming... (I remember hearing the production was moved in to Austin when Katrina hit)

- Swank did tons of research, including getting a subscription to Skeptical Inquirer

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

The video was really short, but had Daniel Radcliffe sitting in Trelawney's classroom, introducing David Yates. He acts like he's about to tell us a big Potter secret when Yates shows up and interrupts. They talked a tad about getting to see Umbridge (who Yates called a genetic splice between Doris Day and Freddy Kruger) and Hagrid's big giant brother.

Tons more stuff coming. SNAKES ON A PLANE, SUPERMAN RETURNS, KONG: EE and more!

-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com