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"DreamWorks Animation kicked off Comic-Con 2014 with an exclusive look at Home, an even longer (and laughs-heavy) look at The Penguins of Madagascar and of course, Benedict Cumberbatch's first appearance in Hall H.\n\"I am here because I am frightened of (DreamWorks Animation CEO) Jeffrey Katzenberg,\" quipped panel moderator Craig Ferguson, among the first of many big laughs The Late Late Show host would get in the big room.\nSEE ALSO: What's Cool and New at Comic-Con's Preview Night: A Look Inside\nThe panel opened with Tim Johnson, who directed the March 2015 'toon Home, and Jim Parsons, who voices the main character \"Oh\" \u2014 so named by his alien brethren by way of the sound they make every time the bumbling little blob shows up. Parsons got a big chorus of cheers from the Big Bang Theory fans in the crowd. \n\nHOME director Tim Jonson and Jim Parsons, lead voice actor at #SDCC pic.twitter.com/4tQck0YCdw\n\u2014 Josh Lincoln Dickey (@NotoriousJLD) July 24, 2014\n\nParsons and Johnson name-checked Rihanna \u2014 who voices the little girl in the film but wasn't on hand in San Diego \u2014 saying she was a big part of the creative process for her character. The film centers on the girl in the middle of an invasion by bumbling aliens, the Boov, who believe they are improving the Earth (while doing the opposite, of course).\n\"When you first see your voice with that character, it does take an adjustment period,\" Parsons said. \"I was a little horrified. The animators are the greatest excuse-makers for your performance in the world. I deliver my lines and I'm like, 'I don't like that performance at all. And then they draw it and I'm like, 'That was perfect!'\"\nBut the big draw at Thursday's morning session was, of course, Cumberbatch. The Sherlock star, who a wolf in Penguins, and Ferguson warned the crowd that if anyone asked a Sherlock question, \"Comic-Con will be canceled.\"\n\nWhat it sounds like when Benedict Cumberbatch makes his first Comic-Con appearance #SDCC https://t.co/mjvNTa1UQs\n\u2014 Josh Lincoln Dickey (@NotoriousJLD) July 24, 2014\n\nAsked what he did to prepare for the role, Cumberbatch unfurled his full wit:\n\"You have to work undercover for a long time,\" Cumberbatch purred. \"I worked at Yellowstone National Park as a wolf for a while. ... about a month into It I realized that two other wolves were Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis.\"\nIrrespective of the Cumberbatch factor, the extensive Penguins footage played extremely well in the room, with big laughs at almost every beat of the film about the Madagascar spin-off characters. John Malkovich voices the film's villain Octavious Brine, a genetic scientist who can change forms but is in fact an octopus.\nWhen Ferguson noted that the character looks a bit like the eccentric actor, he replied: \"He does. But he actually looks a lot more like my youngest sister. ... which ... she's just finding out about now.\"\nThe audience Q&amp;A was a string of questions \"for Benedict\" \u2014 which quickly turned into a running gag \u2014 including a woman who flaunted Ferguson's rules and asked if he'd be back for Sherlock next year.\n\"Aw yeah,\" he replied, sending up a big cheer from the Hall H crowd \u2014 before realizing she was asking whether he'd be back at Comic-Con for the show, not whether he'd reprise the role.\nBONUS: 5 Biggest Moments in Comic-Con History\n\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/07/24/comic-con-dreamworks-animation-panel-benedict-cumberbatch/>