Arnold Coming To Comic-Con; Does This Make Schwarzenegger Officially Back?

Luke Y. Thompson is contributing to Deadline’s Comic-Con coverage. This year’s event runs July 12-15.

Movie studios and TV networks have been trickling out their individual schedules for next month’s Comic-Con convention, but the official schedule for the first full day — Thursday, July 12 — is now out. And it includes a big name (literally): Arnold Schwarzenegger is making one of his first official appearances on the Hollywood scene since leaving the governor’s office. He will be part of Lionsgate‘s The Expendables 2 panel in the massive Hall H alongside co-stars Sylvester Stallone, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Back in the pre-Hall H days of the convention, Schwarzenegger came to promote Terminator 3 as a surprise guest, and he promised he’d be back (but then, he always says that). The presumption is that fans, especially California ones, will be forgiving of Schwarzenegger’s politics and personal foibles. Comic-Con officials are expected to release Friday’s schedule tomorrow, Saturday’s on Saturday and Sunday’s on Sunday.

Kicking off Thursday’s slate is Summit‘s final panel (barring the inevitable reboots and spinoffs) for The Twilight Saga‘s last installment Breaking Dawn Part II, which will be released November 16. Other notable Thursday participants include Jackie Chan on a panel promoting his new movie CZ12. Disney also is well represented with a Frankenweenie panel featuring Tim Burton (though it feels obligatory as the studio had some stuff last year too). More actual footage of Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great And Powerful should be interesting, and Wreck-It Ralph, which looks to do for video games what Toy Story did for action figures, is hugely anticipated by the geek community. Disney’s known for last-minute surprises, too, like two years ago when they had Guillermo del Toro talk Haunted Mansion, or last year when they didn’t show at all to try and bolster their own D23 fan convention. Would showing some John Carter footage at Comic-Con have helped that movie? Hard to be sure, but it might have gotten them a better read on the fanbase.

The first full day closes with a screening of the documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope. Because you come to Comic-Con to watch a movie about other people coming to Comic-Con.