Hall H, why have we forsaken thee? Oh, because everyone is either on strike or figuring out what to tell their shareholders before they can even think about fan-baiting.
Several prominent studios announced recently that they would be skipping this year’s San Diego Comic-Con amid the writers’ strike, and the newly minted SAG-AFTRA strike isn’t helping matters.
However, Paramount is seizing the opportunity to be the only major studio sharing something in the legendary Hall H this year — and that project is writer/producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
The film releases Aug. 2, and director Jeff Rowe and Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the original TMNT comics, appeared onscreen to present around 20 minutes of new footage. You can see a fraction of that footage below:
Per Deadline, the footage began with the Turtles using stealth to grocery-shop for Master Splinter (Jackie Chan). The clip then showed the guys becoming distracted by news about a heist being pulled off by villain Superfly (Ice Cube) before deciding to take the long way home — aka stopping at a revival theater and watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
This explains why, in the clip above, Splinter wants to know where they’ve been for the last several hours. Additional footage apparently showed the Turtles meeting April O’Neil (Ayo Edebiri) after getting her scooter back from a group of not-so-savory characters.
In a sizzle reel shown alongside the new footage, Eastman shared that although he’s now 61 years old, he’s still “drawing turtles every day.” Rogen also appeared onscreen to describe his love for the franchise, saying he first became a Turtles fan when he was five. He convinced his father to buy him nunchucks, which we’re sure never resulted in broken lamps and bruised forearms in the Rogen household.
Following up the panel was…nothing at all. We’ve been prepared for this since Marvel and Lucasfilm said they would skip presenting this year and offer only a few booths on the convention floor; for people who want a T-shirt or something.
In addition, HBO, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Netflix decided to avoid Comic-Con entirely — likely because the WGA strike has caused the delay of various projects, and now actors can’t even take the stage to promote those delayed projects.
This has caused much consternation among the fandom, but perhaps cosplayers who love Marvel movies could use this opportunity to buy an actual comic book and see what all the fuss is about.