The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con officially ended yesterday, and as expected, it once again delivered some surprise visits from some big name celebrities. With attendance to the convention surpassing the 125,000 mark, fans were treated to panels over the four days featuring all the best from the world of film and television with most all major studios present to promote their upcoming projects. Highlights this year included:

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON: Some fans waited in line over eight hours just to get a seat in the large hall where director Chris Weitz was joined on stage with surprise visits from the leads of the film, Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) and Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen). As Weitz stated, “I really do appreciate the tremendous love the TWILIGHT fans bring to the books and see our fidelity to the books as the key to making the movies work.” Fans were then treated to an exclusive look at a new trailer for the film that opens nationwide on November 20th.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: Director Tim Burton was on hand to show a clip from his highly anticipated film for Disney, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, scheduled for release in early 2010. As Burton thought about his past films, he explained, “Combining all the weird elements, I would say this is the most difficult one so far.” When asked if he brought anything other than the clip for the audience, he remembered he had also brought his “imaginary friend” and that if he “closed his eyes, he just might appear.” Johnny Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter in the film then walked out onstage as the audience went absolutely wild with applause.

AVATAR: After taking a seven year hiatus from filmmaking for deep ocean exploration, James Cameron returns to direct his first film since 1997’s TITANIC. Before showing the trailer for his new film that is due to be released at the end of this year, Cameron told the capacity crowd, “I feel like I’m one of you guys. I make movies because I love movies and because I’m a fan of fantasy and science fiction and other worlds.” He concluded by stating that he made this film for “the fourteen year old boy who’s alive and well in the back of my mind.”

IRON MAN 2: Director Jon Favreau tricked the audience gathered to see exclusive footage from IRON MAN 2 due out in 2010 by showing them a fake trailer, only to be called out on it by a surprise visit from Tony Stark himself, Robert Downey Jr. Downey told the director that what he had shown was “unadulterated garbage” and said that he had seen better stuff in the editing room. Downey then got the crowd to cheer on Favreau who did finally reveal footage from the new movie and give glimpses of the new cast of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow to the crowd’s delight.

The celebrities were not confined to the panel rooms though, and many were seen braving the expansive convention floor including: Elijah Wood and Jennifer Connelley, there to promote 9, Gene Simmons and son Nick, Seth Green, Leonard Nimoy, Brent Spiner as well as countless others.

This year the San Diego Comic-Con International sold out months in advance, so make sure to order your tickets for next year well enough in advance.

For more information, visit www.comic-con.org