COMIC-CON 2013

Comic-Con 2013: Summit's 'Divergent' & 'Ender's Game' Video Blog

by Alex Billington
July 19, 2013

"If you succeed, you will be remembered as a hero." Is it looking better? The first major panel of Comic-Con 2013 where brand new footage was debuted was hosted by Summit Entertainment. The studio, now owned by Lionsgate, brought in two sci-fi adaptations - Divergent, directed by Neil Burger, and Ender's Game, directed by Gavin Hood. How was the footage? Let's get into the discussion. Comic-Con is all about bringing in the kind of footage that blows us away, even if it's raw without effects, though that wasn't the case with Ender's Game - which looks better and better every month. Divergent, on the other hand, didn't impress.

Immediately following the presentation on Thursday night at Comic-Con, Ethan Anderton and I recorded a short video blog talking about our thoughts on the footage from both movies - Divergent and Ender's Game. It's a quick video, and doesn't spoil anything, but it's a good chat about the footage we saw. Watch:

Instead of showing a clip or any specific scene from Ender's Game, they showed a "sizzle reel" featuring a lot of visual effects, big sci-fi moments, epic scenes of attacks on the formics and some of the training. But not a lot of Battle School or personal interaction between the characters. However, the effects and the visuals we're finally starting to see are looking really really good. In fact, the movie they showed us today and are selling with this footage is not the one anyone has seen in public yet. It's much bigger, much more epic, and much more polished than anything we've seen yet. And it's finally enticing those who haven't read the book.

Divergent, which stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James, is another adaption similar to The Hunger Games set in a dystopian future Chicago. The footage was almost designed purely for those who have read the book, as it was just raw footage that showed a few key moments but nothing that made me care about what was happening. I'm still all about Ender's Game and hopefully everything they showed us will end up online soon, because I want everyone else to be as excited for this epic sci-fi adaptation as I am. Stay tuned for Ender's Game updates and an interview from Comic-Con. For more on the panel, check out SlashFilm.

Find more posts: Comic-Con 13, Sci-Fi, Video Blog

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