Today Empire unveiled the first details of Big Screen, which set itself up to be the biggest movie event in the UK, with premieres, cast and crew Q&As, screenings of new and classic films and Muppets.
Hear that? Muppets.
On the 12th-14th of August the O2 arena in London will house over 250 movie related events, performances and sneak peeks of some huge films and they are casting their net wide, with something, they hope, for everyone.
First up there are the premieres. The opening night will see the UK premiere of Jon Favreau’s Cowboys And Aliens with some of the film’s stars in attendance, the film will also be playing throughout the event so audiences will be able to see the film before it is released across the country. Closing up Big Screen is the premiere of Craig Gillespie’s Fright Night which looks to be a lot of fun, and Dr. Who fans will have their chance to see David Tennant who will be attending.
The other events across the three days show the range Empire are going for. In anticipation of the Star Wars films making their Blu-ray debut ILM will be on hand to talk through and reveal new content from the forthcoming discs, something that will surely appeal to hardcore fan, alongside something they are calling a Padawan Training School which is more focused on younger fans (although I know of a few thirty-somethings who will be signing up).
Other films at the event include Brendon Gleeson’s latest The Guard, with a Q&A with John McDonagh, The Woman in Black will flashing an ankle or two (in movie terms of course), the acclaimed Norwegian film Trollhunter will be there as will Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. There will be a look at the 3D version of Titanic, a film which will have a huge impact on the technology if all is well.
Other events which jumped out at me was the epic undertaking to screen all of the Pixar films and shorts as part of “To Infinity and Beyond – Celebrating 25 years of Pixar Animation Studios”, Composer David Arnold will be on hand to deliver a masterclass, Empire’s own Kim Newman will be luring passers-by into his Chamber of Horrors, part of which will include a screening of Don’t Look Now.
And there will be Muppets.
It seems that this will be a worthy extension of the Empire Movie-Con events which were a great success over the last few years, there’s a genuine sense that the potential to bring in huge crowds of film fans will be met, with some great events and screenings on offer. We’ll be there covering every second and it seems as though the event will hopefully rival the very best of the conventions in the US.
Find out more and book tickets at EmpireBigScreen.com. It should be a very fun few days.
