Looks like this year’s Comic Con could be a heavily disappointing one for movie announcements. The convention which is designed purely for fans has become a hot bed for movie studios in recent years for announcing new projects. 4 years ago Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford made huge casting announcements for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Last year there was plenty of hoopla surrounding The Green Hornet, Scott Pilgrim vs The World and the entire cast of The Avengers were on stage at one time together.
However this year it could be a less exciting place. Several of the major studios have announced they will not be showing up. Warner Bros, DreamWorks, Marvel and The Weinstein Company will all be no shows. Yes that means that two of the biggest releases next year The Dark Knight Rises and the Superman reboot Man of Steel will not get any press from the infamous convention.
Seems strange that two massive comic book characters will not grace a comic book convention. However, Christopher Nolan has never really done the whole Comic Con thing. Zack Snyder had Sucker Punch last year which created a lot of buzz but then failed to cumulate into box office receipts or warm critical reception.
Big studio tentpoles such as Tim Burton‘s Dark Shadows and Bryan Singer‘s Jack the Giant Killer will not be present. DreamWorks and Disney have less of interesting slate, but there will be nothing of Real Steel or War Horse nor Cars 2 or even the long approaching John Carter (formerly John Carter of Mars). With Marvel out, there will be nothing on The Avengers or Iron Man 3 updates.
There may be a bit of superhero action going on through. Due to the franchises being the properties of Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox respectively, The Amazing Spider-Man will be there and some speculate that an announcement on The Wolverine will be made.
So why is this? Why have several of the major studios skipped on what has in the past been a lucrative marketing tool for them?Well, in the past few years the track record for Comic Con hasn’t been successful. In fact, the buzz almost has the reverse effect in terms of success. Some of the films last year that generated the most buzz were Sucker Punch, Scott Pilgrim vs The World and Tron Legacy. All three met with enthusiastic love from the fans and all did lukewarm business at the box office. Scott Pilgrim especially.
Avatar was met with a rather more reserved reaction and it’s now the biggest selling film of all time. Maybe not the bext example but it is interesting to see how the “geek” demographic doesn’t transpire to mainstream audiences. As a result we could assume that the studios have cold feet.
That all being said, there’s still plenty to look forward to. Cowboys & Aliens will have its world premiere there and a couple other big films will be showing their face. Expect to see The Adventures of Tintin, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and of course Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.
Sony will have a bunch of stuff to push as well which could possibly include Bond 23 and most excitingly The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (don’t hold much hope for this one though, Fincher like Nolan hasn’t yet embraced Comic Con).
With the convention a little over a month away (July 21st to July 24th), I’m definitely excited to see what comes out of it.
Stay tuned to the site as we’ll keep you updated on all the latest.
Source: (The Playlist)
