Robots from Jonathan Mostow’s sci-fi thriller Surrogates revealed at New York Comic Con

Disney previewed Pixar’s Up and the Bruce Willis sci-fi thriller the Surrogates at New York Comic Con, over the weekend.

Up director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera walked the audience through three very extended clips from the new animated film, and explained the some of the technical challenges in creating the movie, including how a group of balloons believably lift main character Carl Fredricksen’s house from its foundation.

Docter also confirmed that Pixar’s next film is Toy Story 3, which is due in theaters on June 18, 2010. That sequel will be directed by Lee Unkrich, who co-directed Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc.

Next up, Disney showed an extended trailer for the Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3, U-571) film Surrogates, which stars Bruce Willis, James Francis Ginty, Michael O’Toole, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Ving Rhames, Michael Cudlitz, Boris Kodjoe and Jack Noseworthy.

Surrogates is based on the graphic novel series by Top Shelf, created by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele. The story takes place in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact only through “surrogate” robots. The trailer clearly revealed the “surrogate” robots’ look and how they are constructed. The first murder is also shown in the trailer which, in the original comic, was committed by a techno-terrorist named Steeplejack, whose agenda sought to disconnect humanity from its dependence on “surrogates”.

The surrogate robots resemble endo-skeletons made of metal, that are covered in human-looking tissue. They all seem to be very attractive, and allow users to live out basically any fantasy they can dream of.

Bruce Willis plays the main character – Detective Harvey Greer – who is assigned to investigate the first murder in 14 years, which kills the surrogate and its human counterpart.

Other than the extended trailer for Surrogates, none of the cast and crew were present to discuss the film. However, a parade of beautiful models – I assume representing surrogates – engulfed the audience, handing out business cards with the website chooseyoursurrogate.com on them.

Unfortunately, the model I had chosen had left the IGN Theatre, before I had a chance to say anything.