Stars thrill fans at ComicCon

Action Comics Number 1

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A LEATHER-CLAD Angelina Jolie whipped 6000 screaming nerds into a lather, while funnyman Will Ferrell had them in stitches on the opening day of Comic-Con.

The annual convention attracts more than 100,000 comic book, anime, computer game and sci-fi, horror and action film fans from around the world.

The fans, many dressed in superhero costumes, were treated to sneak peeks of upcoming movies, as Hollywood studios tried to stir a tsunami of positive buzz before the films hit cinemas.

"I got to play with just about everything, including using a fire extinguisher in a way I'd never used before," Jolie said of her work on the action-thriller Salt, directed by Australia's Phillip Noyce.

Ferrell joined his Megamind castmates Tina Fey and Jonah Hill onstage inside the San Diego Convention Center, with some fans lining up for six hours for a chance to see the actors.

Ferrell donned the costume of the sinister character he plays in the film, to the amusement of the crowd.

There was one Megamind co-star missing - Brad Pitt, who voices good guy Metro Man in the animated movie.

"Someone had to watch the kids," Megamind director Tom McGrath joked about Jolie and Pitt's large brood.

Another star-studded film that had the Comi-Con attendees in a tizz was Red, an action-comedy based on a graphic novel, starring Australia's Julian McMahon alongside Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfuss and Karl Urban.

Willis, Mirren, Freeman and Malkovich play former CIA agents who become the agency's top targets, with Urban one of the hunters and McMahon the vice president of the US.

Red producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, responsible for the Transformers franchise, laughed at the irony of a former Australian prime minister's son playing a US vice president and said McMahon did not draw on any of his late father's political traits.

"I think if he did, he would have really embarrassed his family because he plays the character in a fun, playful way," di Bonaventura told AAP.

Urban said he had a lot of fun throwing veteran action star Willis through windows during fight scenes, but like most New Zealanders, the Wellington-born 38-year-old had rugby on his mind.

"So who is going to win? The Springboks or the Wallabies?" Urban asked AAP about this weekend's Tri-Nations game in Brisbane.

When he was told the Wallabies would win, Urban, star of The Bourne Supremacy, Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, said: "We softened them up for you."

The Comic-Con masses were also wowed by Sylvester Stallone, there for his action film The Expendables, and the new Tron film, starring Jeff Bridges, Michael Sheen and Bruce Boxleitner.

Comic-Con runs until Sunday.