The Comic-Con convention is taking place right now at the San Diego Convention Center, which is an event that brings together fans, exhibitors, studios, media, and celebrities under the common umbrella of comics and related art forms. As a result, we see news, announcements, and presentations related to comic book series movies (think X-Men, Superman, etc.) and tangentially, other sci/fi, action, and fantasy genres.

For example, there was a panel yesterday hosted by Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures, and Nickelodeon Movies, and some casting announcements were made and exclusive footage of upcoming movies was shown.

I've included the full press release put out by Paramount, but here are the high points:

• Steven Spielberg announced that Karen Allen has joined the cast of the fourth Indiana Jones movie. She appeared in the first installment, "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
• J.J. Abrams announced the first cast members for the next Star Trek movie as being Zachary Quinto (from TV's "Heroes") and Leonard Nimoy, both playing Mr. Spock at different ages.
• Footage and trailers were shown for Iron Man, Beowulf, Drillbit Taylor, Stardust, and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
  

Press Release

Paramount Pictures/ Dreamworks Pictures/ Nickelodeon Movies Unveil Exclusive Footage and Major Casting Announcements at Comic-Con International

J.J. Abrams Announces Two Mr. Spocks for New 'Star Trek' Film: Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy

Steven Spielberg Reveals Return of Karen Allen For Fourth 'Indiana Jones' Film

First Footage of 'Iron Man' Shown by Director John Favreau

World Premiere Trailers For 'Beowulf' and 'Drillbit Taylor'

SAN DIEGO, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The halls of the San Diego Convention Center were abuzz with the news that came pouring out of the panel today hosted by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Exclusive footage and major casting announcements included:

Director/Producer J.J. Abrams revealed his first casting for the "Star Trek" adventure: Zachary Quinto (Sylar on "Heroes") will step into the ears of the young Mr. Spock and veteran Leonard Nimoy will return to the role he made famous. Both Quinto and Nimoy made surprise appearances and were greeted with wild applause. Abrams, producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman answered questions from the audience. The new "Star Trek" film will be released on Christmas Day in 2008.

Appearing live via satellite from the set of the new "Indiana Jones" adventure, director Steven Spielberg and three of his cast members Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf and Ray Winstone discussed the film, and Spielberg revealed that Karen Allen, the co-star of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," will be returning for the fourth installment, which debuts over the Memorial Day weekend 2008.

In another surprise, director Jon Favreau shared world premiere footage from his upcoming "Iron Man" starring Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow. The action/adventure based on the Marvel Comic launches the summer season on May 2, 2008.

Paramount Pictures, Shangri-La Entertainment and Warner Bros. hosted the world premiere trailers, the first, for Robert Zemeckis' epic adventure "Beowulf," due for release November 16, 2007, which was introduced by the film's writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. Later in the day, there were invitation-only screenings of select 3-D footage for "Beowulf."

Producer Judd Apatow and director Steven Brill sent a taped greeting to introduce the first-ever viewing of the trailer for the Owen Wilson comedy "Drillbit Taylor," which opens nationally on March 21, 2008.

Other highlights of the afternoon panel included appearances by "Hot Rod" director Akiva Schaffer and actors Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone, who jointly introduced a clip from the film that is due for release August 3, 2007. Neil Gaiman also presented a clip from the film version of his graphic novel "Stardust," which opens August 10, 2007. The film was screened at Comic-Con Thursday evening. A trailer from the upcoming "The Spiderwick Chronicles" was followed by a Q&A with the film's director Mark Waters, Oscar(R)-winning special effects whiz Phil Tippett and Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, authors of the "Spiderwick" book series. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" opens February 15, 2008. And the first poster art was revealed for Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" starring Johnny Depp. "Sweeney Todd" opens December 21, 2007 in exclusive runs and nationally on January 11, 2008.

About Paramount Pictures Corporation

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies and DreamWorks Studios. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studios, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

About DreamWorks Pictures

DreamWorks Studios was formed in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. The company won three consecutive Best Picture Academy Awards with "American Beauty," "Gladiator" and "A Beautiful Mind" (both co-produced with Universal.) Among the company's other successes have been such films as "Saving Private Ryan," "War of the Worlds," "Dreamgirls" (all co-produced with Paramount), and "Blades of Glory." Among its upcoming productions are "Things We Lost in the Fire," "The Kite Runner (distributed by Paramount Classics), and "Sweeney Todd" (co-produced with Warner Bros.)

Source: Paramount Pictures Corporation