Director Andy Fickman and stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Carla Gugino discuss the “reimagining” of the Witch Mountain movies — this one is called Race to Witch Mountain. But really, all I remember is the new footage from Tron 2, which actually stars Jeff Bridges.

Highlights:

• Umm, Tron 2!!!
• Jeff Bridges in Tron 2!!!
• New footage of light cycles in Tron 2!!!
• Race to Witch Mountain is like 48 Hours meets the Bourne movies, but is also a lot like the originals.
• Also Whitley Strieber was involved with its production.

Read the liveblogging after the jump.

4:05 - Something secret (TRON 2!!!!!):

Wait a minute.

They’re back onstage.

Showing us something secret.

That “no one will see for another year or so….”

Some sort of a clip.

Disney logo, Tinkerbell flies over, and the castle turns evil looking.

Storm clouds.

Holy fucking shit.

IT’S TRON.

Badass light cycles and everyhing.

CGI galore, my mouth is on the floor.

Looks like a remake.

Clashing light cycles.

Dear god, someone please put this on YouTube.

Jeff Bridges is in it.

Bearded and everything.

Tron 2.

So a yellow and blue lightcycle clash on the game grid, duking it out.

Blue escapes through a crack in the wall, only to be taken down by yellow a bit later.

The blue rider’s bike is thrashed, and he skids to a stop on the ground. Yellow dismounts, walks over, and takes the disc off his back. Blue rider screams, “But…. it’s just a game!” Yellow rider’s faceplate vanishes and it looks like a young Jeff Bridges (this is all done in CGI by the way) and says “Not anymore.” Throughout this, we see a live-action Jeff Bridges in a spartan / zen-esque executive office. Looks like he’s meditating, then gets up, smiles, and walks away.

Wow.

And now we’re officially out.

4:03 - Speaking to the Witch Mountain fans:

Fickman assures us that “fans of the old movie will find everything from Winnebagos to aliens to appease them, and fans of the new movie will find a lot of action and special effects that they’ll enjoy.”

The Rock urges us all to “stay classy, San Diego”, and they’re rolling the long trailer again. It hasn’t changed in the last 30 minutes, so I think we’re safe, unless The Rock decides to pummel us.

3:55 - More questions:

Someone got up to ask The Rock why his action film career derailed after “The Roundup,” to which The Rock shot back “You mean…. The Rundown?” Ouch, schooled by The Rock. Fickman chimed in with “No, he means The Round Up! That adult movie where you play a “friendly cowboy!” The Rock came back with, “Stay on for eight seconds… that was the tagline.”

Fickman compares the movie to “something between 48 Hours and a Bourne movie”. Now that’s what we like to call “reaching.”

Someone finally asked poor, neglected Carla Gugino a question, and wanted to know how she picks her material. She said, as all actors do, “It just depends on the material. Sin City happened because I’m a big fan of Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, but I really like playing parts where I can just disappear into the role.

Someone came up and said that their job is to test DVDs, and that he’d watched The Game Plan thousands of times. Is that some form of cruel torture?

He’s also listened to the COMMENTARY on the DVD multiple times. Ouch. He wanted to know why The Rock and Andy Fickman (who also directed The Game Plan) got along so well. Andy’s short answer? “Well, Dwayne is a terrific actor.”

3:45 - Bringing back original Witch Mountain stars:

Good news for hardcore fans, both Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann are part of this movie, and not just in cameo appearances. Woot! Pardon me while I geek out over this news for a bit.

Fickman went off on a rant saying “This is my tenth Comic-Con. For nine years…. nine years!!! I’ve been coming to these thins and sitting in the audience. I’d come and wait in log lines, I’d eat sketchy food, I’d come in with my shopping list of things to buy at the booths. I’m a fan!”

The Rock really is towing the company line here, saying how much he loves Disney. “I have a beautiful six year old daughter, and I start and end every day with her. I like that I get to work on things with family values and also go off into action of fantasy at Disney.” I swear, when this panel wraps he might say “I’m going to Disneyland!”

3:40 - Fielding questions from the audience:

When asked what attracted him to the project, The Rock said “Well, as an actor… it was the paycheck. I mean, Disney… cha-ching!”

The next question came from a kid who “drove all the way from Texas and escaped Hurricane Dolly in order to ask this question - do you give The People’s Elbow to anyone in the movie?”

The Rock’s answer, “Clearly, there is some good weed in Texas.”

Wow, this guy really has a sense of humor, despite what you might have thought after seeing The Game Plan.

According to Fickman, The Rock actually “kicks a lot of ass in this movie” and the Rock said he does indeed drop the Elbow on “someone’s candy ass.”

Where’s the R-Rated version of Witch Mountain? That would be a real eye-opener. You’ve got kids with superpowers who can literally kick ass? It’s a no brainer.

Carla assures us that there’s a lot of comedy in the film as well.

Fickman is back to drag us down with a lot of UFO information, apparently Whitley Streiber was involved in the movie as well. Fickman said “I was born in Roswell, New Mexico, I’ve been living with alien probes all my life!” It’s not hard to believe, given his crazy voice. He sounds like a cartoon character.

3:32 - If you haven’t seen Disney’s Escape From Witch Mountain or Return to Witch Mountain, then you really need to. Especially since they’re remaking it now with a budget, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The trailer for the film unspooled before the cast took the stage, and it looks like a CGI fest. In fact, some scenes didn’t have any completed effects.

After that, The Rock stormed the stage, and was joined by co-star Carla Gugino and director Andy Fickman. Fickman calls it a “reimagining” of the original movie, and The Rock said he’s a huge fan of the original. It’s hard to picture him sitting down now, all bulked up and watching this… but maybe when he was a kid. Sure, I can get behind that.