METALLICA: Official Video Footage Of San Diego COMIC-CON Panel

On July 19, the members of METALLICA appeared at Comic-Con in San Diego, California to discuss "Metallica Through The Never", filmmaker Nimród Antal's captivating 3D movie featuring one of music's most enduring and iconic bands. The group was in Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center, joined by Antal; the star of the film, Dane DeHaan; and producer Charlotte Huggins.

Official video footage of the question-and-answer session can be seen below.

METALLICA reportedly spent $20 million of its own money to make the film, which will also play at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas several days before it opens in limited release on IMAX screens around the country on September 27. The film will then expand to more theaters on October 4.

Asked why the band felt like a concert movie needed a side story with a detailed plot, METALLICA drummer told the San Francisco Chronicle: "The idea was to put something else in there to balance the concert, to kind of weave it in and out. It just seemed exciting to try that. We had no idea how or with whom or why. We went searching through Hollywood and tried to explain this to a bunch of very well-known A-list directors — all of whom you know — and most of them just kind of looked at us like we came from Planet Zulu or something. Nimród was the first guy who just nodded along and joined in the madness and the unpredictability and craziness of it."

Regarding what the movie plot is about, Ulrich said: "I don't know. I stopped asking a long time ago. ... I think that ultimately what we've always tried, with James' [Hetfield] lyrics and stuff like that, the thoughts that come from METALLICA are pretty ambiguous. We don't sit there and carve out what it is we're doing or what we're trying to do. Half the time we don't know, either. I think this film is right in line with that. At the end of the day, it's sort of what you want it to be."

A review of the film by Dennis Harvey of Variety can be found at Variety.com.

The soundtrack, which features a number of METALLICA classics performed live in the movie, will be out on September 24. The two-disc CD will come out on METALLICA's own label, Blackened Recordings, also in digital and vinyl formats.

The concert sequences for the movie were shot in August 2012 at two shows in Vancouver, Canada and feature a stage containing elements of many of METALLICA's previous live productions from the past 30 years.