Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a report from the GHOST RIDER portion of Sony's panel at this year's SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON 2005. The panel featured Avi Arad, director Mike Steven Johnson and Eva Mendes and yes, the did show some footage. Avi also went into what properties will be out from Marvel's team-up with Paramount.

TIDBITS:

-When asked about which story they're telling, Johnson said they didn't want it to be too convoluted like it became later in the series, so they're focusing on the original story, the origin era of the comics.

-Sony Imageworks is doing the CG work.

-They're about a month and a half away from having the first full CG sequence with the Ghost Rider.

-During filming there was always either Nick Cage or his stunt double for the Skull head to be placed on via CG, instead of a completely CG character whenever Ghost Rider is onscreen. While filming this, Cage would wear either an interactive light color around his neck or a green bubble around his head... I had visions of a ridiculous version of Mysterio when I heard Johnson talk about this. I hope we see that footage on the DVD!

-Weapons Ghost Rider will use: Fire chain, Hellfire Shotgun, pennant stare and, of course, the Hellcycle.

-The CG fire around the skull will be an extension of Ghost Rider's personality. When he's pissed, it'll flame higher and become white hot, when he's sad it'll be more short and blue, etc. I liked this thought, myself.

-Bringing up DAREDEVIL, someone asked if he's going to be put into a similar situation where he has a good movie, but then has to cut a half hour out and release his cut on DVD. Johnson said that Sony is very supportive of GHOST RIDER and it doesn't hurt to have Nick Cage have your back, but that he fully expects they will release his full cut.

-Nick Cage has a Ghost Rider tattoo on his arm in real life. He loves the character... matter of fact, a lot of Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze's wardrobe comes straight out of Nick Cage's closet.

-Avi was asked about the films Marvel and Paramount are putting into production... here's a partial list: Captain America, Nick Fury, Thor, Iron Man, Black Panther and possibly Dazzler (although I'm not sure if this was a joke or not... the way he said it, it could have been for laughs or not).

-Avi was then asked about any cross-over possibilities. He responded saying he needs to put enough characters out with their own movies before he starts doing cross-overs.

-He was then asked if he'd reveal who the villains in SPIDER-MAN 3 are going to be. He said, "Yes." The audience cheered. When the cheers quieted down, Avi said, "Thomas Hayden Church... Topher Grace..." and the audience went, "Awwwww..." That was it. The bastard didn't reveal! What better time, I ask you? I guess somebody somewhere has an exclusive agreement to release the villains... damn.

CLIP:

The clip started off with Johnny Blaze jumping a line of buses on a football field, end post to end post. He's interviewed by Eva Mendes... not much was said... I actually remember very little of the dialogue, except the big funny closing-of-a-trailer line... as Nick Cage is holding his head and he's asked (by Sam Elliott, I believe) if he's alright. He says, "It feels like my skull's on fire..."

We did get a bit of Peter Fonda as Mephistopheles and he was really cool. Wes Bentley looked pale and weird as Blackheart... not a bad weird, more of a creepy weird. Also looking cool was Sam Elliott. He looked like a confident, dick-swinging low cowboy mentor to Johnny Blaze. Cage was... well, Cage.

Not sure what to think of what I saw. On the surface I liked it, but there is something deep inside me that says that this could go either way. I personally liked what Johnson did with DAREDEVIL and the DVD cut was a big step better. I'm hoping GHOST RIDER is just as drastic a step up as the director's cut of DAREDEVIL, but without seeing any of the effects work on the Ghost Rider, I really don't know how it'll come off. It has a good cast, especially with the supporting characters and Johnson has an enthusiasm that is infecting.

I got my fingers crossed on this one. What about you folks?

-Quint