Warner Bros. had plenty to showcase during its WonderCon 2019 panel, which included brand-new footage from “Annabelle Comes Home,” “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and, of course, “Shazam!”
The studio had kept the plans for its presentation under wraps so most fans who packed the Arena at the Anaheim Convention Center on Saturday attended on blind faith (and educated guesses) that their upcoming film of choice would be among the ones spotlighted.
Kicking off the event was the new trailer for “Annabelle Comes Home.” The Gary Dauberman-helmed horror is the third film in the “Annabelle” series and part of the “Conjuring” universe.
Previously teased as basically “A Night at the Museum” with Annabelle, the trailer was jam-packed with the terrors Annabelle helps awaken in the Warrens’ artifact room.
“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” writer-director Michael Dougherty and his co-writer Zach Shields took the stage to hype up their upcoming giant monster movie with “not quite a trailer, but something special.”
The footage showed King Ghidorah — the giant three-headed creature from classic Toho kaiju movies — rising up from under frozen terrain, ready to unleash destruction upon the humans in and around a nearby base. But then, Godzilla appears for an all-out battle to prove that a “King” is no match for a “God.”
The extended look beautifully teased the scale of the battles between the various Titans that will appear in the film, which will also include Mothra and Rodan.
“Mothra was great to work with, but Rodan was a [jerk],” joked Dougherty.
If the reaction of the audience is any indication, “Godzilla” fans should be looking forward to the film’s May 31 release.
1/28
Emily Christiansen, 21, of Lake Forest, cosplays as Capt. Phasma from the “Star Wars” universe of films.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 2/28
Marlyne Hurtado, 29, of San Diego, cosplays as Batgirl from “Batman: Thrillkiller.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 3/28
Joshua Winick, cosplaying as Fel Lord Zakuun from the game “World of Warcraft,” gets help putting on his costume during the 2019 WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 4/28
James Lively, 31, of San Deigo, cosplays as a member of the Sons of the Harpy from “Game of Thrones.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 5/28
Emily Vogt, 24, from Aliso Viejo, cosplays as Marvel’s Captain Marvel, also re-creating the comic book cover from “Captain Marvel” No. 1 in 2012.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 6/28
Peter Shmain, 24, of Los Angeles, cosplays as a steam punk mad scientist.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 7/28
Cosplaying as cats from the musical “Cats,” Hudson Hawk Pritchard, Lily Rodriguez and Rebecca Rose Gibson strike a pose at WonderCon 2019.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 8/28
Shad Armstrong, 29, of Los Angeles, cosplays as DC’s Aquaman (the Jason Momoa movie version).
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 9/28
Jerry Powell, 67, of Costa Mesa, cosplays as Batman of Borg, a mashup of DC’s Batman and “Star Trek’s” Borg.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 10/28
Unmasked and at full height, Jerry Powell in his Batman of Borg costume at Wondercon.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 11/28
Dylan Bartholew, 23, of La Habra, cosplays as Orion from DC’s “The New Gods.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 12/28
People walk past a statue of Marvel’s the Incredible Hulk at the Anaheim Convention Center.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 13/28
Kalani Patterson, 46, of Studio City, cosplays as a rebel fleet trooper from the “Star Wars” universe of films.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 14/28
Ian Long cosplays as Batman character Red Hood.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 15/28
The walkway is packed outside the Anaheim Convention Center during WonderCon 2019.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 16/28
Nik Holt, from Escondito, cosplays as DC Comics’ Green Arrow.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 17/28
Matt Wright and Tita Ghanjanasak cosplay as the Joker and Harley Quinn from the Batman universe of characters.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 18/28
Gregory Vingua of Torrance goes through comic books for sale at WonderCon.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 19/28
Jennifer Norton, 26, from Boston, cosplays as Harley Quinn from “Batman.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 20/28
Cosplayer Dustbunny portrays Sora from “Kingdom Hearts.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 21/28
John Lopez, 53, of Palmdale, cosplays as Lego Batman while checking out the scene from a balcony at the Anaheim Convention Center.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 22/28
William O’Neil, 32, of Palm Desert cosplays as Richter Belmont from “Castlevania X.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 23/28
Amber Hellman-Wylie, 33, of Vallejo, cosplays as a Silent Hill Nurse from the video game and movie “Silent Hill.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 24/28
Alyssa Darby also cosplays as a Nurse from “Silent Hill,” albeit one with an ominous-looking wrench.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 25/28
People pose for a photo in front of a replica of a stargate -- it is the 25th anniversary of the film -- during WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 26/28
Kyrra Marie, 21, of San Deigo, cosplays as the Carol Danvers version of Ms. Marvel.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 27/28
Amy Spence poses while dressed as Samus Aran from the video game series “Metroid.”
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 28/28
The street in front of the Anaheim Convention Center is packed with people and food trucks for WonderCon 2019.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Closing out the show was the “Shazam!” team, which included director David F. Sandberg and stars Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer.
In addition to fielding questions from fans about everything including their favorite Shazam powers and any on-set pranks, the cast and director shared over five minutes of footage from the upcoming DC superhero film.
A majority of the edited clip focused on the scene where main character Billy learns that he has “bullet immunity” while he is superhero Shazam.
“Shazam!” hits theaters April 5.
WoderCon 2019: ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ panel shows the MCU post-‘Endgame’ »
WonderCon 2019: ‘Dark Phoenix’ panel debuts new footage of the X-Men in space »
tracy.brown@latimes.com
Twitter: @tracycbrown
