A trio of Comic-Con posters

Comic-Con is happening in San Diego right now. It's one of the largest conventions of the year for not only comic book artists and publishers, but it also has grown in importance over the past several years for movie studios. Several major motion picture studios use the convention as an opportunity to showcase films coming out later in the year and to give the first glimpses of the major releases for the following summer.

Leading up to the first official events of the show, a handful of new movie posters were released for some high profile and awesome upcoming films.

First up: The Expendables 2

This is a fantastic throwback to the style of movie posters from the 1980s, which is when many of the stars of this film were in their primes. The film stars action heavyweights Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren and Terry Crews. I have no idea what the story is about, but I know it involves these guys blowing the crap out of anything and everything that gets in their way. Actually, the story is about efforts to stop baddie Jean-Claude Van Damme from getting his hands on nuclear weapons-grade uranium or plutonium, but that doesn't matter. This will be another testosterone-fueled ensemble shoot-em-up, and that's all I need to know to get pumped for this one. We only have to wait until August 17!

Next up: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The promise of another beautiful and dangerous journey across Middle Earth. This poster reminds me quite a lot of the Oz: The Great and Powerful poster that came out a few days ago. Storm clouds are brewing in the distance, but Gandalf the Grey offers us a ray of hope amidst the darkness. Peter Jackson did amazing things with the Lord of the Rings trilogy a few years back, and I'm psyched that he's back behind the camera for The Hobbit. I'm a little concerned that they've split the story into two parts, but I trust that Jackson and company know what they are doing. Coming this Christmas!

Finally: Pacific Rim

Guillermo Del Torro has directed some amazing and downright brilliant films over his career. The Hellboy films were fun action-oriented monster movies with heart, and Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favorite films of all time. His next project is Pacific Rim, which features giant robots fighting interdimensional beings. If that sounds confusing, then maybe the official plot synopsis will clarify things.

"When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity's resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, were controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes - a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi) - who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind's last hope against the mounting apocalypse."

And who says we don't have any original ideas in Hollywood? What is obvious from the poster is that the scale of this film will be massive. Those Jaegers are huge, and del Torro has promised lots of giant robot versus giant alien action. Look for Pacific Rim next summer. I'm sure we'll be seeing more about this one soon enough.

What upcoming film news would you like to see coming out of Comic-Con? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!