Movie highlights from Comic-Con 2010 -- but will you watch?

What we said: The film, [based on a 66-page graphic novel and] set as an action comedy, departs from the graphic novel, which is much darker in nature. The decision appears designed to take advantage of Bruce Willis’ deadpan delivery, sharpened in “Die Hard.” Helen Mirren, with her “Masterpiece Theatre” demeanor, provides Willis with a refined counterpoint.

The transformation from literary noir to action comedy didn’t tweak the novel’s creators, Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, who appeared on the panel alongside Willis, Mirren and Karl Urban, who plays Willis’ nemesis.

Trailers: IMDb.com

  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)

What we said: Walt Disney Pictures is going back to the theme park.

The studio announced [at Comic-Con] that it was developing a new film based on its Haunted Mansion attraction, a live-action monster picture that uses characters and elements from the haunted house. Upping the news -- and intrigue -- level is the filmmaker taking it on: Genre auteur Guillermo del Toro (pictured) will direct the film and co-write it with his “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” co-scribe Matthew Robbins.

  (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

What we said: Kenneth Branagh, whose last directing gig was an arty adaptation of the Anthony Shaffer stage play “Sleuth” and who specializes in bringing Shakespeare to the screen, came to the convention to present footage from his “Thor,” next summer’s massive comic-book adaptation from Marvel Studios and Paramount ...

... Branagh says that, despite appearances to the contrary, he’s already made a movie much like “Thor”: his initial directing gig in 1989. “My first film, ‘Henry V,’ was a dark adventure with an epic battle,” Branagh says of the historical war story, “and had a reckless young man at the center confronting his past. So this didn’t seem that unusual to me.”

When he and Marvel first started talking about teaming on “Thor,” Branagh made it clear that neither party would be happy with a so-called “shooter,” someone who can stage action scenes but has no real feel for character development and emotional impact. “They felt they would fail without a strong point of view,” Branagh says of Marvel.

  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images)