‘Alien' TV show lands at Comic-Con
The pop culture convention held annually in San Diego was the chosen setting for the world premiere of the FX series created by Noah Hawley.
'This is by far the biggest thing I've ever made,' Hawley told 6,500 cheering fans in Comic-Con's Hall H before presenting the first episode, which he also directed.
And in Hall H—unlike in space—you could hear them scream.
'It was crazy!' squealed Nicole Martindale, a fan of the franchise who traveled from northern California for the event.
'It wasn't what I expected based on the Alien movies, but it was pretty cool,' she added.
Alien: Earth is set a couple of years before the events of Ridley Scott's seminal 1979 film starring Sigourney Weaver.
Scott served as executive producer of this expansion of the franchise, which will hit streaming platforms in August.
'If I have a skill at adapting these films, it's in an understanding what the original movie made me feel and why, and trying to create it anew by telling you a totally different story,' Hawley told the audience.
The panel also featured stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Babou Ceesay and Samuel Blenkin, who discussed what it was like to become part of the storied franchise and share a scene with the Xenomorph.
'It's a dream, it was surreal,' said Chandler, who plays Wendy, a 'hybrid' who is a blend of human consciousness and a synthetic body.
'I've been a sci-fi and Alien fan forever. I keep pinching myself.'
'Tron'
One of the world's largest celebrations of pop culture, Comic-Con brings together 130,000 people, many of whom come dressed as wizards, princesses or characters from movies, games or TV series.
This year, the lines to enter Hall H have been less frenetic than in previous editions.
Fans accustomed to camping out at the gates of the venue to get a spot inside say the lack of a big Marvel Studios presence has eased the crush.
'Last year, we arrived the night before and had to wait hours to get' in, said Carla Gonzalez, who has attended the event every year with her family since 2013.
'This year the first panel is about to start, and there are still empty chairs. If Marvel were here, it would be packed,' she added.
There was still plenty for afficionados to get excited about, including a panel on Predator: Badlands directed by Dan Trachtenberg and set to hit US theatres in November.
Trachtenberg, responsible for revitalising the franchise with Prey (2022), is expected to appear alongside stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who plays the Predator, Dek.
The panel is expected to reveal more details and images from the production, which places the predator at the center of the plot for the first time as prey, not hunter.
Actors Jared Leto, Jeff Bridges and Greta Lee were also expected yesterday to present exclusive clips from Tron: Ares.
The film, directed by Joachim Ronning, is the third installment of another beloved science fiction franchise, which began in 1982, with Bridges playing a hacker who becomes trapped in the digital world.
Comic-Con concludes tomorrow. — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
18 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Alleged ‘Hollywood Con Queen' loses fight against extradition from UK to US
LONDON, July 29 — An Indonesian national dubbed the 'Hollywood Con Queen' by the media for allegedly impersonating top female movie industry executives in a seven-year fraud today lost his bid to block his extradition from Britain to stand trial in the US. Hargobind Tahilramani is wanted in California on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly defrauding around 300 people out of a total of approximately US$1 million (RM4.23 million) between 2013 and 2020. The 45-year-old is accused of tricking people into travelling to Indonesia and paying exorbitant fees for non-existent film work, before he was arrested in a hotel in Manchester, England, in November 2020. Tahilramani's extradition was approved by a judge and then British ministers in 2023, but he challenged the decision to send him to the US to stand trial, arguing prison conditions would breach his human rights due to his mental health. His lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told London's High Court in April that Tahilramani, who has applied for asylum in Britain, was also at risk of being attacked in prison as a gay man. Fitzgerald said this meant Tahilramani was likely to be held in isolation while in pre-trial detention, which put him at high risk of suicide given his underlying mental health issues. But Tahilramani's appeal was dismissed by Judge Derek Sweeting, who said in a written ruling that the lower court was not wrong when it ordered his extradition to stand trial. — Reuters
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Free Malaysia Today
AI bands signal new era for music business
The shadow of Spotify's AI DJ voice, Xavier 'X' Jernigan, is pictured at the launch of the latest Spotify tool in Mexico City. (AFP pic) NEW YORK : A rising tide of artificial intelligence (AI) bands is ushering in a new era where work will be scarcer for musicians. Whether it's Velvet Sundown's 1970s-style rock or country music projects 'Aventhis' and 'The Devil Inside,' bands whose members are pure AI creations, are seeing more than a million plays on streaming giant Spotify. No major streaming service clearly labels tracks that come entirely from AI, except France's Deezer. Meanwhile, the producers of these songs tend to be unreachable. 'I feel like we're at a place where nobody is really talking about it, but we are feeling it,' said music producer, composer and performer Leo Sidran. 'There is going to be a lot of music released that we can't really tell who made it or how it was made,' Sidran said. The Oscar-winning artist sees the rise of AI music as perhaps a sign of how 'generic and formulaic' genres have become. 'AI highlights the chasm between music people listen to 'passively' while doing other things and 'active' listening in which fans care about what artists convey,' said producer and composer Yung Spielburg on the Imagine AI Live podcast. Spielburg believes musicians will win out over AI with 'active' listeners but will be under pressure when it comes to tunes people play in the background while cooking dinner or performing mundane tasks. If listeners can't discern which tunes are AI-made, publishers and labels will likely opt for synthetic bands that don't earn royalties, Spielburg predicted. 'AI is already in the music business and it's not going away because it is cheap and convenient,' said Mathieu Gendreau, associate professor at Rowan University in New Jersey, who is also a music industry executive. 'That will make it even more difficult for musicians to make a living,' Gendreau said. Music streaming platforms already fill playlists with mood music attributed to artists about whom no information can be found, according to University of Rochester School of Music professor Dennis DeSantis. 'Meanwhile, AI-generated soundtracks have become tempting, cost-saving options in movies, television shows, ads, shops, elevators and other venues,' DeSantis added. AI takes all? Composer Sidran says he and his music industry peers have seen a sharp slowdown in work coming their way since late last year. 'I suspect that AI is a big part of the reason,' said Sidran, host of 'The Third Story' podcast. 'I get the feeling that a lot of the clients that would come to me for original music, or even music from a library of our work, are using AI to solve those problems,' Sidran said. Technology has repeatedly helped shape the music industry, from electric guitars and synthesisers to multi-track recording and voice modulators. Unlike such technologies that gave artists new tools and techniques, AI could lead to the 'eradication of the chance of sustainability for the vast majority of artists,' warned George Howard, a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. 'AI is a far different challenge than any other historical technological innovation,' Howard said. 'And one that will likely be zero-sum,' he added. Howard hopes courts will side with artists in the numerous legal battles with generative AI giants whose models imitate their styles or works. Gendreau sees AI music as being here to stay and teaches students to be entrepreneurs as well as artists in order to survive in the business. Sidran advises musicians to highlight what makes them unique, avoiding the expected in their works because 'AI will have done it'. And, at least for now, musicians should capitalise on live shows where AI bands have yet to take the stage.
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
What's in the box? Fans gamble (again) for Labubu love at San Diego Comic-Con
Labubu was created by a Hong Kong artist and is based on Nordic mythology Labubu dolls have been popularized by celebrities, including Lisa from Blackpink People at Comic-Con lined up to buy Labubu dolls from Pop Mart SAN DIEGO, July 29 — San Diego Comic-Con is the latest location where the ugly-cute dolls named Labubu have been trending, with fans carrying the plushies globally popularized by celebrities Rihanna, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, and Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink. The wide-eyed and grinning doll was created in 2015 by Hong Kong artist and illustrator Kasing Lung. In 2019, Lung allowed them to be sold by Pop Mart, a Chinese toy company that sells collectible figurines, often in 'blind boxes'. 'Blind boxes' are sealed boxes containing a surprise item that is usually part of a themed collection. Naomi Galban, from San Diego, waited in line on Sunday at the Pop Mart booth in the San Diego Convention Center for a chance to get her first Labubu. 'Every time I go to a Pop Mart store, they're sold out,' the 24-year-old told Reuters. She hoped to buy one for her little sister. Emily Brough, Pop Mart's Head of IP Licensing, spoke to Reuters on Thursday about Labubu fans at Comic-Con. 'We love to see how fans are personalizing it (Labubu) for themselves,' Brough said next to the Pop Mart booth. While Brough noted that there were many people with a Labubu strapped to their bags and backpacks at Comic-Con, the doll's popularity did not happen overnight. Labubus had a huge boost in 2019 after Pop Mart began selling them, and in 2024, when Blackpink's Lisa, who is Thai, created a buying frenzy in Thailand after she promoted Labubu on social media. Pop Mart saw sales skyrocket in North America that same year, with revenue in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2025 already surpassing the full-year U.S. revenue from 2024, Pop Mart said. When he created Labubu, Lung gave the character, who is female, a backstory inspired by Nordic mythology. He called her and his other fictional creatures 'The Monsters.' Diana Goycortua, 25, first discovered Labubu through social media, and before she knew it, it felt like a 'game' to try and collect the dolls. 'It's a little bit of gambling with what you're getting,' the Labubu fan from San Diego said on Sunday while waiting at the Pop Mart booth, concluding that her love for the character made it worth trying blind boxes. Goycortua already has three Labubus, and was hoping to score her a fourth one at Comic-Con. — Reuters
