Last night, 8 minutes of TRON: Legacy were unveiled, Guillermo del Toro announced a new project, and Battle: Los Angeles began its attack for supremacy over higher-profile blockbusters. And all that happened while stars like Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, and Helen Mirren made 2010 an especially royal year at Comic-Con. Perhaps the only disappointment was Brad Pitt‘s non-appearance for the Megamind panel, though watching Tina Fey cradle and caress a Pitt standee was an acceptable substitute.

Angelina Jolie

TRON: Legacy was the presentation of the day — better said, overall, the Disney panel was the most surprising and fan-friendly. Legacy offered up insights from Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen, and Bruce Boxleitner, and it was the presence of TRON writer/director Steven Lisberger that created some moments where you could feel the 28 years between the original movie and its sequel bridging together. Director Joe Konsinski thrilled the crowd by involving us in an audio recording — fans chanted and stomped on command — that might be used for the film’s sound mix.

After Bridges, Boxleitner, et. al headed off-stage, suddenly the video screens flickered back to life, and Johnny Depp and a bottle of rum delivered a message from Captain Jack Sparrow on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (no real news, just an invite to see the fourth chapter of the saga). And then, Guillermo del Toro made his mysterious and much-publicized announcement: his next project will be … writing, producing, and possibly directing a live action version of Disney’s Haunted Mansion with a story that will reintroduce the Hatbox Ghost. His  joke about not returning Eddie Murphy‘s calls for the project was one of many harsh/hysterical quips from the day.

Battle: Los Angeles captivated the Hall H crowd, with the alien invasion movie looking like Black Hawk Down meets the video game “Modern Warfare”.  Live wire Michelle Rodriguez stoked the Q&A, though I’m still wondering if Aaron Eckhart is too pretty to be a Marine.

Angelina Jolie’s face looked amazing on the JumboTron screen, though the best thoughts on Salt and preparation for the action movie came from co-star Liev Schreiber, who considers the threats to his health and beauty before agreeing on any stuntwork. My eyes are on Salt’s opening weekend, and I still hope that Tom Cruise turns out to be the real Evelyn Salt.

Highlights from the evening: watching Robert Rodriguez and Danny Trejo make tacos for a hungry Machete crowd; bearing witness to Mr. Cartoon and some of the promotional art he created for the Machete event (stay tuned for more from him on a larger scale); listening to the cast of The Expendables help usher Sly Stallone into IGN’s Action Hero Hall of Fame; being so excited by the presence of William Fichtner that we temporarily forgot his name until a new friend at Lionsgate said, “You guys are IMDb, you should know it.”

Touché!