We here on the East Coast are just as eager to hear all the cool news from San Diego as you are. It can be kind of overwhelming to comb through the enormous amount information streaming out as studios and filmmakers do everything they can to compete for eyeballs amidst a circus of promotions, teases, trailers, panels, interviews, press conferences, etc. Naturally there are a lot of great people and sites out there swimming through the insanity, and I’ve done my best to keep up with it.

Below you’ll find a quirk and dirty rundown of the big news that has emerged and caught my eye, along with some great coverage from different people. Naturally I hope you’ll tab these pieces out and stick around for all the great content here (for example: the latest video, or upcoming Cap reviews from Nick and I), but there’s plenty of exploration for a geek to do out in the wide. As the Con continues, I’ll definitely be running more of these, as I try and keep up myself.

Robert Rodriguez (Heavy Metal, Sin City 2, Machete 3 & 4, Frazetta Film)

This will be a bag of eyerolls…

First off know that Heavy Metal has left the comforting arms of David Fincher and somehow lapsed to Robert Rodriguez and his new Quickdraw production shingle. The plan is to do another anthology, with few details beyond that…

Russ at /Film

We were shown a rendered logo featuring pieces of recognizable Heavy Metal art, such as RanXerox and the Druuna character also featured in the original animated version. The footage was scored by a not terribly good cover of Sammy Hagar’s tune ‘Heavy Metal’ from the soundtrack to the original film. (That cover turns out to be by Robert Rodriguez’s band.) This Heavy Metal will evidently be an anthology, possibly in the Sin City structural mold, with a wraparound/framing story and three other tales. No creators were announced.

The one cool aspect is that Rodriguez is employing his Grindhouse-y crowd-sourcing instincts and running a contest that will have a fan submitted idea making it into the film. Badass Digest is involved in that whole number, and you can take a look at the submission page right here.

Quick hits:

Sin City: Of course there was also the obligatory mention of the Sin City sequel that will probably never happen. Even Rodriguez himself admits it will never happen unless it happens soon (as in by the end of the year). Most of the Sin City sequel would be made up of new stories from Frank Miller, with the classic book A Dame To Kill For providing the backbone (and a tie-in to the first film). I really wouldn’t count on this, and is anybody really asking for it?

Machete: There was also a brief mention of a follow up to Machete, as promised at the end of that film. The twist is that the third, Machete Kills Again, will take place in space. A trailer will be shot and put at the beginning of Machete Kills (which is apparently about to film), and will hopefully go no further.

Finally, Rodriguez had one super cool announcement, and that’s his involvement with the Frank Franzetta estate. Aside from helping with the creation of a museum that will allow the fantasy artist’s original work to remain collected and unsold, he’s also looking into making a Sin City-style film that uses VFX to remain slavishly devoted to Franzetta’s aesthetic.

Charlie at i09

“Rodriguez showed us a concept trailer, created by three artists on the project so far, that gave us a sense of what it would be like. And… basically, it’s just a nonstop flood of insane images, of mostly naked barbarians fighting monsters, beheading giant squids, riding giant lizards, fighting giant lizards, grappling with ginormous tentacle monsters, standing atop the corpses of dead huge giant spiders. And snowy landscapes and crystal fortresses and huge freaking axes, and rivers of lava flooding over everything. If the final film looks even remotely like what he showed us, it could be the ultimate fantasy acid trip.”

Right on.

Nicholas Refn’s Drive & Logan’s Run

We ran the trailer this morning, and I think that shit speaks for itself. No way it’s not near the top of most Chewer’s most-anticipated lists. Here are some thoughts caught from a panel led by Guillermo Del Toro…

Jim at JoBlo

-Del Toro really loves DRIVE (and from what I saw, this film looks amazing) and couldn’t say enough about the cast. Especially Albert Brooks and Perlman whom he says “creeped him the fuck out”.

-The entire film (DRIVE) was filmed with a wide-angle lens to give everything more depth.

-Perlman says he was drawn to the role because “being born a Jew was an accident of birth” and that he was always “suppose to be Italian”. When meeting with Refn, the director asked him who his character is and Perlman said “I have no idea but when you yell action, some shit is going to happen.”

Refn is also going to be responsible for the Logan’s Run remake (after years of Bryan Singer’s failed attempts), and he explained to Meredith at i09 why his version actually makes sense to produce.

“You can kind of say the obsession with youth culture, the open sexuality, the drug taking. The book [deals with] a lot of sexuality. It was written in the 60s and it had a lot of political undertones. And all that we’ve gone through. The original film version is very different from the novel. I think the novel has a lot more going on that could be interesting to work with. Not just remaking the original movie. Which I think is the main problem and the reason why [a new film version] was never made. Everybody tried to remake the movie, which itself is dated.”

In Time

This seems to quickly be growing as one of the most interesting surprises of the Con already. Just look at this fucking sizzle reel and tell me this isn’t a movie you don’t want to see but quick…

More In Time Videos

IGN brought that reel above, and Rope of Silicon brings some nice poster images as well.

As I mentioned above, I’ll be running more of these coverage re-caps, so you know exactly where to go for the best info. Let us know what you think of everything via twitter, in the comments below, or on the boards.