We're all excited about Tron Legacy, but more so for the return of light cycles and less because of the script — but Universal has given Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (who've also written many episodes of Lost) the task of turning the Ouija Board flick into a film, which I'm assuming is a step above the Viewmaster Movie and a step below the Monopoly film. According to The Hollywood Reporter this is what they are basing the film on.

The studio is looking at the project as a supernatural action-adventure movie. It is possible that certain rules of the game - never use it alone, never use it in a graveyard, always say good-bye - figure into the plot.

Wait a minute, those were the rules????? I thought the rules were if your parents caught you talking to the devil board, you'd be locked in the basement for three days without any light, so the devil's magic would be washed out of your soul. And what about the rule of fucking with the person who brought said board by making it say horrible things, since they are most likely the only person not to be forcing the triangle to spell their will? Also, spelling is boring.

This whole thing is just a ploy to sell more board games that supposedly connect you to the spirit world. And we all know the only way to really talk to ghosts is with the professional Ghost Hunters team and a film crew, duh.

People talk about Comic Con as the place you go to create the next geek-entertainment sensations — and it's definitely true to some extent. But it's by no means that simple. Nerd tastemakers do get their first look at the next summer's movies, and they do start spreading buzz — but the event is probably best at helping smaller projects get more exposure. If a movie, TV show, comic or novel goes into Comic Con with tons of buzz already, the best you can hope for is simply to keep the momentum going.

Look at last year — Comic Con 2008 had a clear winner (Watchmen) and a clear loser (The Spirit). And the bad exposure at Comic Con definitely hurt The Spirit, but it's hard to argue the event helped Watchmen all that much. Meanwhile, Star Trek stayed away from Comic Con 2008, and did better than almost any movie that actually did panels there. (Looking back, Wolverine did a panel, and it grossed less than Trek domestically.)

So the io9 brain trust got together and figured out which projects we feel came out of Comic Con with more buzz than they had going in. It's highly subjective, but these are the ones we heard more excitement about after SDCC was over.

#1: District 9

This film excited us more than any other. District 9 went into Comic Con with a ton of viral marketing, and not much else. After a full year of wacky alien segregationist signage (Comic Con 2008 was plastered with the stuff, and now it's on bus shelters) we were starting to wonder if this film was just an excuse for an ARG. Then we got to see the actual movie — and suddenly Moon wasn't the only standout indie movie of the year. It didn't hurt, too, that producer Peter Jackson put his considerable mojo to work promoting it. (We managed to corner Jackson for a few minutes of geeking out about monster movies, and he explained how D9 came out of the ashes of the failed Halo movie.) The raves about District 9 were both unanimous and ubiquitous, with everyone either gushing about having seen it or wishing they had.

#2: Zombieland

Another sleeper project, and one that features the overexposed undead, Zombieland crawled out of a buzz grave at Comic Con. This movie was just so gleeful and so outrageously gonzo with its mayhem, and the panel was full of great quotable soundbites. (As opposed to the bland boilerplate we heard on some other panels.) The former TV pilot script does a great job of reinventing the buddy comedy in a fresh way, from the characters named after towns to the pairing of the paranoid Jesse Eisenberg with the gung-ho Woody Harrelson. We were wowed, and so was a capacity crowd in Hall H. The L.A. Times says simply, "Zombieland keeps the movie genre alive."

#3: V

This was a television franchise we weren't sure we wanted to see back again, and yet another remake/reboot that we were leery of. But this show opened our bleary eyes with its moody, weird and scary pilot. The cast, including Firefly's Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk and Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell, were snappy and fun to watch. And the old "beware of aliens bearing gifts" trope still turns out to have a decent amount of life left in it. The 4400's Scott Peters brings the right amount of paranoia to a story where the terrorists turn out to be anti-alien freedom fighters, and the media is lying to us all along. We heard several people marveling afterwards that a V remake could be so intriguing. Hollywood Reporter says the screening and panel got a strong Comic Con response."

#4: 9

We've been excited about this film since we first saw Shane Acker's award-winning short film, and every clip has gotten us more thrilled. But the movie's presentation, in the cavernous Hall H, won an uproarious response from people who had never seen anything quite like its style. Rolling Stone's Douglas Wolk (who was on our io9 panel on Thursday) praises its "rich, run-down visual design." The L.A. Times says 9 "snagged" the audience. We felt the excitement in the room, and heard people wondering afterwards about just what kind of movie would get both Tim Burton and Wanted's Timur Bekmambetov on board as producers. (We'll have exclusive interviews with Acker and Bekmambetov, later in the week.)

#5: Felicia Day

Comic Con is pretty much Felicia Day's home town, but this year she ruled more than ever. Her panel for The Guild was one of the big hits of the Con (we heard people talking about it days afterwards) and her booth for the Guild was a major destination. Tubefilter says Day had an "entrance typically reserved for A-list movie stars" at her panel, where she announced Wil Wheaton was joining the cast. And Dark Horse announced a Guild comic. But oh yeah — she also starred in the unaired Dollhouse episode, which completely rocked our world. And Joss announced that her post-apocalyptic survivalist character would be turning up again in Dollhouse season two. All she needed was the announcement of a musical about cyborg Penny, and she'd have ruled the entire con.

#6: Tron 2

Actually, the biggest winner of Comic Con 2008? Was probably Tron Legacy, or Tron 2.0, or Tr2n. Whatever they're calling it this week, the Disney sequel generated as much excitement with one amazing surprise clip of lightcycles as any other property did with a whole panel and banners everywhere. This year, Tron built on that excitement, with a clip that showcased more of its storyline. But honestly, nothing about Tron's Comic Con panel generated a tenth as much chatter as the recreation of Flynn's arcade, complete with video games we'd only played in our dreams. And a real lightcycle. That was all people wanted to talk about for days.

#7: Richard Kadrey

His new novel Sandman Slim comes out in August (we'll be reviewing it soon) and we witnessed several awestruck conversations about the cyberpunk veteran's Comic Con prowess. People talked about his three-book deal with Eos, and Sandman Slim has gotten raves from Cory Doctorow and William Gibson. There were whispers that Hollwood was paying attention, and that's part of what Comic Con is for.

#8: Stargate Universe

The Stargate franchise is rivaling Star Trek for number of consecutive years on the air, and number of shows with things like SG-1 or DS9 after the franchise name. So there's been some doubt as to whether SGU would be true to Stargate and feel fresh and interesting. But the new trailer got people ramped up, and the producers said the right things about keeping this show true to the franchise's traditions. And then Robert Carlyle said the thing about how everybody was going to die. And we were pretty much sold. We also overheard tons of hallway conversations from people surprised they were stoked about Stargate again. The San Diego Union Tribune calls SGU "promising" and says it's one of a few shows that prove "there could be light at the end of our sci-fi TV apocalypse."

#9: Sherlock Holmes

Everybody expected Iron Man 2 to be fun and to feature Samuel L. Jackson swaggering as Nick Fury. And awesome Tony Stark banter and outbursts. We even kinda expected War Machine to turn up. Iron Man 2 lived up to our expectations. But none of us expected Robert Downey Jr.'s other movie to be so much fun, and so full of Victorian verve and rocky bromance between Downey and Jude Law as Watson. We were disappointed when producer Joel Silver told us this film wasn't steampunk, but we certainly heard lots of people suddenly talking about Sherlock. Associated Press quotes Downey as calling Sherlock Holmes an "intellectual superhero." So yeah, Iron Man didn't lose any buzz, that we could see. But Sherlock noticeably gained some.

#10: Avatar

James Cameron's space epic had the biggest hype, and thus the most to lose. So it's not surprising there's a bit of an "Avatar backlash." But like we said yesterday, even most of the detractors were saying things like, "I still think it'll be great, but..." And while the footage we saw wasn't photorealistic, it was an improvement on any CG world-building we'd ever seen before. As long as this movie avoids coming across as too preachy, it stands a great chance of capitalizing on Comic Con excitement. When you have the Kansas City Star reporting that a packed room of screaming fans gave Avatar a "resounding endorsement," that's buzz.

Flynn's Arcade image by JoelTelling on Flickr. Felicia Day image by GeekGirlDiva on Flickr.

Serinda Swan says that she, Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer) and two other actresses play "temptresses from inside the computer world." She explains:

We're sort of the main guy's go-to girls. There are lights actually sewn into our wardrobe, so it's like nothing you've seen before!

By the "main guy," does she mean Kevin Flynn's evil cyber-self, or someone else? And whom exactly are these "temptresses" trying to tempt? Sean Flynn, Kevin's son? This could get ooky pretty quick.

Meanwhile, Swan, who plays Zatanna in tonight's Smallville, says she actually played her spells backwards on her ipod so she could memorize those lines backwards — when you replay her dialogue backwards, it'll sound intelligible, she promises. And Clark's mysterious wish is one that "turns him upside down." Also, she wants to find the spell-book to bring back her father, Zatara, because he died protecting her. The episode leaves the door open for her to return.

[TV Guide]

Ain't It Cool News got the scoop from a source on the movie's Vancouver lot. Apparently it starts out in 1989, where Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) has created a ton of best-selling games based on his Game Grid challenges, from the first film. He's marketed everything he saw in there, as toys and action figures. Then Flynn disappears, leaving behind his seven-year-old son Sean. Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner) takes over Flynn's company.

Then we jump forward to the present day, and Sean is now a twentysomething. Bradley gives Sean info that causes him to search for his dad, and the search leads him to Flynn's old arcade, and inside the computer world. Sean meets the CLU character (Flynn's computer avatar in the first movie). Flynn programmed the CLU to make the computer world a better place, but the CLU got corrupted and is creating its own interpretation of "improving the world." CLU is trying to eradicate a type of program called ISOs, and the ISOs believe Sean Flynn will save them from the CLU's attacks.

And somewhere, out there, the real Kevin Flynn is whizzing around on a classic lightcycle. Sean has to find his real dad and enlist his aid against his preternaturally young computer avatar. There's a light cycle versus light jet duel, with both the cycle and the jet creating light walls. And a huge disc battle.

It sounds like fun, and the possibilities of the two generations of Flynns teaming up against the computer image of Flynn, frozen in youth, sound almost endless. Here's hoping! Oh, and supposedly the actual title will be "Tron" plus something after a colon.

While Wilde's enthusiasm for Tron 2.0 (or Tr2n, or 2ron or whatever the hell it's calling itself today) may be obvious, what struck us about her interview with Sci Fi Wire was just how secretive a movie this seems to be:

Of course, I'm, you know, in a total cone of silence here, so I can't give you anything interesting. But the film will be just as impressive for our time as it was in 1982 for the original. The technological advances have, of course, been enormous, and the effects that we have access to have been so revolutionary. ... We saw an incredible advancement in technology with the use of the face replacement in Benjamin Button, and I think that is marking some of what's to come, and certainly .... in the direction of Tron. Just as far as people being incredibly innovative and taking huge steps forward as far as using technology to create alternative realities. And I think that it's really going to please people that it's going to be just as kind of huge and shocking and just as much of a new movie-watching experience as the first one was.

Part of that pleasure, of course, came from the Light Cycles of the first movie, but ask Wilde whether she gets to ride one in the new movie and you get this response:

[squeals] I can't tell you!!! But I want to! I want to! I'm afraid I'd be murdered before I left the building [laughs].

Okay, someone needs to cut down on Olivia's meds right now. No more squealing or paranoid delusions of people murdering her for today, please.

She did, however, admit that the previously released description of the character she plays in the movie - "someone who works in the virtual world to defeat the Master Control Program" - wasn't exactly correct ("I tell you, it's not a great description. I don't know who made it up. Someone's grasping for straws there.") and confirmed Bruce Boxleitner's involvement in the sequel:

He's so fantastic, Bruce. He's been telling us all about the process of making the first one. And it's just great. Like, they were on an entirely black velvet set, wearing white bodysuits that they weren't allowed to sweat in, even though there was a bank of lights so powerful that they caused a brownout in Burbank. So they weren't allowed to sweat. They're running around in white suits on black velvet with these lights. And they were saying terms that for the time had no meaning for them. They didn't know what a "program" was. Bruce was saying they were ... pulling these things out of, like, sci-fi dictionaries. I mean, they had no idea.

Olivia Wilde Reveals A Few Secrets From Tr2n, With A Blast From The Past [SciFi Wire]

According to Coming Soon, Boxleitner is back and ready for some serious action. We now know that Tron 2.0 is the next chapter after Tron and supposedly takes place after some time (which would explain why everyone is older). Also recently reported to join the cast is Olivia Wilde, who will play a worker who helps fight MCP (Master Control Program) and Beau Garrett is a "siren." I cannot wait, plus I'm over the moon that the cast is returning to make this film, beards and all.

In other good news TR2N is now being titled Tron 2.0 all across imdb, which means the TRZ name scare is probably behind us.

But how do you think the character Tron has aged over the years? And what do you make of this speculation that Bridges will be evil? (Possibly based on the beard alone.)

Production Weekly has a supposed synopsis from the new Tron, but I'm going to take it was a massive grain of salt, since it's still pretty early:

“After being transported into the surreal landscape of a mainframe computer to destroy an intruder, a programmer finds himself allied with the leader of a rebellion against a corrupt cyber-entity.”

If you read between the lines, it sounds like they're bringing in a programmer to save an endangered computer, in a cyber-war scenario and maybe, just maybe, Bridges is the bad guy. I think this would actually work, as he was sporting a big time bad guy beard in the special teaser trailer aired at Comic Con. Sounds interesting, but the most important thing Disney needs to do is to hook new audience members and I don't know if this film is going to do it with a title like TRZ.

[Production Weekly via Slashfilm]

In an interview with the Guardian Jeff Bridges explained why he wasn't afraid to strap on another Tron suit and how just making the trailer for Comic-Con was worth it:

Yeah, that's [TR2N] another unique, wild experience that was too good to turn down. Engaging in that world again feels just like it did all that time ago. Basically, I'm still a child, I love being childlike, and here was another chance to play with these crazy toys. And the cutting-edge technology makes it exciting. Doing the teaser trailer for Comic-Con, I had my first experience of motion capture. And that's turning the industry on its head. It's amazing being part of that.

But more importantly he addressed how they were going to upgrade TR2N for today's audience with motion capture and other work. Bridges compares the work to the differing King Kongs.

Well, when we made Tron there was no internet, no cellphones. But now we have motion capture, so I think we'll get a far more successful version of the story, which is someone literally getting sucked into a video game. When we did King Kong in the 70s, one minute you'd have a shot of Rick Baker in this big suit and then you'd cut to this 80ft stiff model, and they looked nothing alike. Compare to that Peter Jackson's King Kong the technology is there and they did a wonderful job. I thought they created a beautiful Kong. So I hope that'll be the same for Tron.

I'm so glad he's back for this, it's such a great idea and could be pretty brilliant because you can't over-CG or over-motion capture TR2N, in my opinion.

[Guardian]

Terminator Salvation:

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger saw a bunch of footage from Terminator 4, but it left him puzzled, mostly because he couldn't tell who the Terminator was in the film. Said Arnie:

I still don't know how it will play out with this one... They showed me some footage, but I don't have a feel for the movie. I didn't see enough. I wasn't sure who the Terminator was. I don't know if there is one or if he's the star or the hero. These are the things that determine the success and how the strong the movie will be.

[L.A. Times]

Tr2n:

In the Tron sequel, it appears from the trailer that the "crack" in the game-grid wall remains after all these years, and other players are using it. A new Sark program would know where the "crack" is, and that's why he's able to head off his opponent so easily. Also, the new "deadly disks" appear to be slimmer than the original versions, maybe because processing capacity has improved, so you can get more disk for your buck in a smaller space. [UGO]

Repo! The Genetic Opera:

Here's a new behind the scenes featurette for Repo! The Genetic Opera, focusing on the song "Mark It Up," which introduces the Largo children. If you're one of the people who's already super excited for this musical about Giles from Buffy going around harvesting people's foreclosed organs, then you'll probably be excited to see this. [ShockTillYouDrop]

Star Wars:

While we're all gearing up to enjoy the Clone Wars movie and TV series (or not, maybe), George Lucas and his team are still working hard on the live action Star Wars TV show that takes place after Revenge Of The Sith. Lucas reiterated that the live-action series takes place on "the lower levels of life" and we won't see any Skywalkers in it. "They hear about the fact it is no longer a republic and now it's an empire, but they are from a world where none of that really means too much to them." [Sydney Herald Sun]

Eureka:

The Sci Fi Channel sent us a preview clip from tonight's episode of weird-science-town show Eureka, featuring a real Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Sarah Connor Chronicles' Lena Headey says there won't be any romance between her character and Brian Austin Green's Derek Reese, but she hopes to have some romance with FBI agent Ellison. [TV Guide]

Lost:

Rumors for Lost season five. The premier episode, for the first time, takes place in three separate timelines. And apparently Sawyer spends the first few episodes entirely shirtless. [Doc Arzt]

Heroes:

Supposedly this is a video of a visit to Dr. Mohinder Suresh's lab, and it culminates with a shot of Maya all webbed up. Is this confirmation that Mohinder gets spider powers? Or just a weird viral thing? [SuperHiro]

And here are a few more promo stills from the new season opener. [Hellhound's Lair]

Chuck:

In the eighth episode of Chuck season two, there's a security problem at the Buy More store, so Big Mike leaves Morgan, Jeff and Lester in charge at night. But then Morgan comes up with dinner plans, so they all leave the store unattended. Big Mike ends up getting a call from the security company. Meanwhile, Chuck, Sarah and Casey are facing off with Fulcrum agents at a carnival. Chuck's ex Jill warns him about "yet another threat," and he's not sure who to trust, since he still has feelings for Jill. And apparently the line "Unleash the Casey" is spoken at some point. [Chuck TV]

Lost writers and producers Eddie Kitsis & Adam Horovitz have been brought on to the project to write the new sequel. Both gentlemen helped pen my favorite episode, "Ji Yeon," with the flash-forwards of Sun, and where Jin searches high and low for a Panda stuffed animal. So if that's the kind intricate story-telling we can expect from Tr2n then I'm completely on board for the sequel, even with a ridiculous name. Relatively unknown director Joseph Kosinski (who is also directing the remake of Logan's Run) has been tapped to direct the sequel. I'm don't know much about him, but happy that he's scifi minded.

Why did Lasseter ditch Lisberger's script? According to Jim Hill Media:

He felt that Lisberger had missed some obvious opportunities to create a truly compelling piece of entertainment. Something that would have touched an audience's emotions as it dazzled their eyes.

Which gives Lisberger more time to work on his fear-the-singularity movie Soul Code.

But if anyone else was confused about there being a trailer without a script, Jim Hill sheds some light on this conundrum. The sequel is supposed to be released in the summer of 2010, and only a small amount of test filming has happened so far. [Joseph Hill Media]