After the pandemic, studios have lost their business sense and are now reliant on the annual fan convention.
However, this year some studios have decided to abandon the convention. Sony (which has an ambitious slate “Spider-Man”-Adjacent projects are in the works), Universal Pictures (concluding their revamped “Halloween” franchise this fall) and Lionsgate (where they’ve already started hyping the “Hunger Games”Prequel, due next Thanksgiving), is foregoing major panels despite their presence in years passed.
Warner Bros., Disney’s Marvel Studios and Paramount, meanwhile, are back in Hall H — the massive convention hall that fits nearly 5,800 fans and the most highly coveted location in all of Con.
Hiram Garcia, president production at Seven Bucks Productions. “DC League of Super-Pets”And “Black Adam”To the convention), believes the journey to San Diego was still worthwhile. “What we’ve been working on has taken so long to get here and to now be so close to the finish line, it’s just one of the things you want to be able to share with the fans, and do it in a really big, fun, explosive way.”
We will never know how large or explosive we are.
San Diego Comic-Con 2019 was the last true edition of the event. It was filled with the pomp and circumstance that has made the event so popular in recent years. Hall H was waiting for a new version of Comic-Con when Tom Cruise surprised them all. “Terminator”Film (one that was quietly released and almost immediately forgotten about) with a brand-new trailer “Top Gun: Maverick,” a movie that, in our current time-is-a-flat-circle existence, feels like it only opened a few weeks ago. The “Riverdale”The kids have yet to be able to escape into an alternate dimension. “Picard” still hadn’t returned to our televisions.
Marvel Studios unveiled a slate of theatrical and streaming content, as well as a spectacular Saturday night panel. “Phase 4.”The majority of those projects have been successful to some degree. But being in the room that night, far away from feelings of oversaturation and the awkwardness of the streaming series format (Disney+ wouldn’t even debut until that fall), things felt There are no limits.
However, the failures of some Marvel projects as well as larger studio bets such as Sony Pictures Entertainment have led to a lack of success. “Terminator: Dark Fate”You can’t deny the unpredictable nature San Diego Comic-Con. Even things that are great in the room, often suffer from lack of commercial success.
“I don’t know that anybody really treated Comic-Con as a meaningful way to promote a movie,”According to a producer of franchise films. “’Scott Pilgrim,’ ‘Fright Night,’ ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ and ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’ had huge presence at Comic-Con yet they all ended up not translating into box office in the real world.”
Similarly hyped Comic-Con favorites that didn’t produce actual results include “Elysium”And “Blade Runner 2049.”
While Marvel Studios’ Hall H presentation remains a mystery, Warner Bros. has been very upfront about Dwayne Johnson and his DC projects being front and center. These projects don’t have the same fan base as something that is based on more mainstream characters. Luckily, there’s nobody that knows how to sell a movie with as much enthusiasm as Johnson. And he led the charge on this year’s Comic-Con.
“For us, doing events like Comic-Con is always a big deal and DJ is as good as it comes to being in front of live audiences,” Garcia said. “Obviously that’s where it all started from, whether you say from the football field or wrestling, so he loves to be in front of a crowd. It’s always a priority for us to get over there and he really drove this initiative to get to Comic-Con. He was very aggressive about saying I want to take ‘Black Adam’ to Comic-Con, I want to take ‘Super-Pets’ to Comic-Con, I want to do something special over there and I want to be with the fans.”
However, San Diego Comic-Con may not be around anymore. “Whatever presentations and stars are there are just to appease the fans,”We were told by a top talent agent. “The crazy Comic-Con era of the late 2000s-early 2010s is never coming back.”
Instead of an emphasis on long-term planning (in 2019, the Russo Brothers’ AGBO unveiled a slate of projects that, incidentally, have yet to see the light of day) or big event movies, this year’s Comic-Con leans heavily on TV titles that are coming to the small screen relatively soon. This includes streaming shows like Netflix’s heavily hyped (and long in-the-works) adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” (debuting on the platform on August 5), HBO’s inaugural “Game of Thrones” spin-off/prequel “House of the Dragon” (coming August 21) and Amazon Prime Video’s eagerly anticipated, ultra-expensive “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” (September 2).
All of these shows are coming out so soon it’ll be hard to discern what (if any) bump they got from their elaborately staged and marketed appearance at San Diego Comic-Con.
If the Comic-Con is over, what’s it for?
It became less inwardly focused, at the least according to a franchise producer. “Comic-Con really became a place for agents and executives to get away on the company card for a few days,”The producer stated. The producer said it almost regretfully. “The sad thing is that once Comic-Con started to be about the movies, not the comics, most of the comic creators were tragically given short shrift by the Con.”
Themed parties were another mainstay of Comic-Con. They combined extreme excess with an effort to build awareness and buzz. While a few of these parties are still happening (Fandom is throwing a big bash, there’s a tavern experience themed to Paramount’s upcoming “Dungeons & Dragons” movie and a yacht party meant to evoke A24’s upcoming horror romp “Bodies Bodies Bodies”It is now a distant memory of all the extravagant parties and drunken gypsies that used to dominate the convention’s evening hours.
“It’s not the same anymore. Agencies used to throw huge parties. Stars with no affiliation to any of the presentations used to go there,”We were told by a talent agent. “That era is gone.”
Comic-Con’s importance and the fact that it is important for its success when it comes time to launch a new project are not in jeopardy. Garcia has always got a new venture in his sights.
“For us, it’s just about this is the fun of making these kinds of movies and starting with the people that are so passionate and so fired up and are dressed up in costumes and are begging every day for more footage,” Garcia said. “There’s just something very fun and organic about going to a place like this. And honestly, we always believe that you put the work in the film and you make something special.”
This year’s Comic-Con is like 2019’s in another key regard: It’s taking place a few weeks before D23 Expo, Disney’s version of Comic-Con. This year it will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center across from Disneyland. Comic-Con 2019 will be Disney’s biggest event, but this year it is different. They aren’t saving everything for their own event.
Disney will host 18 (!) panels. San Diego Comic-Con panels. Marvel Studios is the most popular panel with Saturday night slots. Friday will see a supplementary panel dedicated to Marvel Studios Animation. “What If …?,” spin-off “Marvel Zombies,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”Short films inspired by the Holocaust “I Am Groot”Future projects are not yet disclosed). There are panels dedicated specifically to Disney animated series such as “The Ghost and Molly McGee”And “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.” There will be a special Sunday morning screening of Pixar’s recent “Lightyear.”
As a PR email inexplicably declared, “Disney+ is heading to Comic-Con for the first time ever!” Of course, the last proper San Diego Comic-Con convened before Disney+’s November 2019 launch. But Disney’s supersized presence at Comic-Con, which also contains a dedicated activation themed to Chris Hemsworth’s upcoming National Geographic show “Limitless,”Also, leadership changes are necessary.
Zenia Mucha also left the company when Bob Iger, CEO, resigned. The New York Times describes it as the company’s “powerful”And “combative”Chief Communications Officer. She was also a driving force behind D23, the official Disney fanclub and the foundation of the important D23 Expo. Mucha ensured there was minimal crossover between the two events. This also helped to ensure that D23 Expo featured the larger, louder presentations in all areas (except Marvel Studios, which remained a Comic-Con favorite). Mucha sent parting gifts to journalists when she left. Some of them she had long-standing relationships with. Mucha left a handwritten note as a goodbye gift, an unsold D23 goodie and a membership card.
Disney is now able to engage fully with Comic-Con audiences, despite mucha being gone. D23 has less emphasis and corporate pressure. Maybe with so many studios dismissing Comic-Con’s importance (or not showing up at all), Disney can win over some of those hearts and minds. Comic-Con has seen some amazing things.
Umberto Gonzales and Adam Chitwood contributed to this report.
