They changed a lot of how we line up for Hall H, and we had to walk about half a mile through stanchions quickly raised. We noticed the tents in front where the Twilight people had set up shot the night before -- those were gone and replaced by standing, or sitting, or sleeping, teenaged and young adult women, talking eagerly among themselves.
We waited over 3 hours, sitting on the grass outside -- thankfully the fog helped us by keeping it cool -- and then filed into the3 massive Hall H. Everybody rushed for the bathroom. There are only about 20 stalls in the women's restroom, although we are thankful we don't have to leave the hall for the restroom -- which is ridiculous when you consider it seats 6,500 people. So, I don't need to say that there were long lines constantly. And a dearth of supplies, although the workers did the best they could.
Hall H features movies, movies, and movies, and that's what we were there for.
First up was Disney, Disney 3D. We were given plastic 3D glasses when we walked in, along with a Tron movie giveaway. We put the glasses on at each 3D presentation during the day, and I'm very glad to say I did not suffer any headaches. When I looked at the screen to the right and above me, though, I couldn't see the 3rd dimension, so I had to watch the faraway screen. We watched trailers for Disney's A Christmas Carol, and talked with director Robert Zemeckis. The effects and sound were spellbinding, and it was actually a very scary combination when Jacob Marley insisted we were going to meet our past and our future. Comedian Jim Carrey plays 8 parts in the film. He wasn't so funny here.
Then Tim Burton came out to show us some limited footage of his Alice in Wonderland. Patton Oswalt, funny man and voice of Emil in Ratatouille, pressed him to see if he had anything else to show us. Tim kept saying no, no, but then he brought out a friend of his: Johnny Depp. 
The crowd went wild, as you could expect. He was dressed very nicely, with longish hair, and only said hello, goodbye, and trumpeting, "This is Tim Burton!" The footage we saw, yes, in 3D, was simply amazing. We all know the story, of course, but it sounds like, from Tim's answers to fan questions, that he tinkered with the story a lot. The characters were bizarre-looking for distinctly recognizable. Johnny plays the Mad Hatter. Of course.
Disney ended its presentation with footage and some drawings from Tron. Tron has just begun principal shooting, and won't be finished until at least summer 2010. The motorcycle race they showed us was thrilling, and it stars Jeff Bridges, who starred in the original one -- and he was there on the panel -- but it doesn't look terribly spectacular. There was simply no buzz in Hall H. Time will tell. We'll probably see them again next year.
Next we saw a 3D presentation of some footage from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The title makes perfect sense when you see the trailer, as an inventor changes the weather to feed the homeless to very funny results. The pizzas really popped off the screen.
The Hole is another film presented, also in 3D. Cheap, stupid, horror film. The entire hall thought this was a great miss.
And Final Destination. New ways to die in 3D. This is the 4th film, I believe, and a lot of money has been poured into this one. I saw the first one, and it was cheaply made but with some good ideas. But I don't like horror/slasher films. The extended footage killed off at least 20 good-looking coeds.
Next was Summit Entertainment: Astro Boy, Sorority Row, and the new Twilight film, New Moon. Astro Boy brought out stars Freddie Highmore and Kristen Bell to say hi and then disappear. The trailer looks promising, but it's still a kid's animation movie.
Sorority Row features about 8 gorgeous women in college who have to cover up when one of them is killed due to a practical joke. The audience recognized several women from previous low-budget films, but I only knew Rumer Willis, daughter of Demi and Bruce, who seemed to hold her own; she has a unique look apart from the other model-looking Barbies.
Half the audience had been waiting for this moment, which came at about 1:45pm: the debut of Twilight: New Moon. Cast members were: Taylor Lautner (Jacob), Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and the woman who plays Alice Cullen, his sister. Taylor has obviously changed his appearance, as there had been rumors he would be fired. Apparently Jacob in the 2nd book gains in height, weight and muscle.
At least the Jacob we saw gained some muscle. They showed two clips. At least the screaming stopped for the clips. Not sure I'll see this one, although I did vaguely enjoy Twilight (the movie).
Somewhere in there I walked outside to get hot dogs for us. They'll allow you to go slightly beyond Hall H doors to get food, but that's it.
Finally, Avatar. Most of the people in that hall knew something about the movie, but not awfully much. They knew, though, that wunderkind James Cameron had been making this film for over 4 years, waiting for the technology to catch up. The star, Sam Worthington, who was in Terminator 3, couldn't be there, but we viewed a little video from him on set of his next film. He wore those little things on his body like Andy Serkis did to make Gollum real in Lord of the Rings. Jim mentioned that Gollum was an inspiration, so he took his dusty manuscript out of the drawer and went back to work, knowing that the technical aspects of combining human with technological image could now work for this film.
Much to my surprise, Sigourney Weaver walked on stage, and received a rousing ovation from the fanboys and -girls. She stars as a botanist in the film, and appeared in a couple of the shots Cameron showed us. I have to say, the 3D in Avatar popped like nothing else! The colors of this new world they showed us were real and unreal at the same time. And the creature that Worthington played had little floppy ears and a tail that moved independently. Zoe Saldana, she who plays Uhura in the new Star Trek movie, came out to talk to us, and she plays one of the indigenous species who helps this new avatar.
We stayed for one more, because who could resist Terry Gilliam? It seems like he spends his entire career finding financing for his next movie and then finally makes it. His movies are so dark they don't tend to do well. However, this one, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, is Heath Ledger's last role, and he wasn't able to finish it. However, Gilliam is obviously working around that issue. He showed a lot of footage to us, and it looks just amazing.
The trick of all of these films, especially the three I liked seeing footage the most -- Avatar, Dr. Parnassus, and Alice in Wonderland -- will only work if there's a decent story, a good script, and we have no idea if that's true. But I will be there to find out when they open.
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