San Diego Comic-Con 2014: M.I.A. in Hall H

by Josh

Saturday’s Hall H lineup at Comic-Con was a lot of fun. Hall H-ers were able to say farewell to the Tolkien Universe, with the final movie being released this winter (The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies), reintroduced to some old favorites with Mad Max coming back to the big screen, and learn more about the future of their favorite movie franchises, such as The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Godzilla 2. We got to see some of our favorite directors: Peter Jackson, George Miller, Gareth Edwards (via video message), and Guillermo Del Toro. We also got to see a lot of our favorite actors: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Evangeline Lilly, Steve Amell, and so on. But I could not help but notice, there seemed to be a lingering void for Saturday. This could of course be because the schedule was so packed that studios couldn’t fit anymore in, but let’s talk about it and see what we think.

Warner Brothers Panel

Sure, Zack Snyder brought some minor test footage of Batman V. Superman and showed off the new Wonder Woman costume, but that was really it about the DC universe. I would think DC really needs to start building hype for their cinematic universe that they are trying to develop now. Rumors had been flying around leading up to Comic-Con that several DC films would be announced, including films based on Shazam, Sandman, and Wonder Woman. I personally thought that at least some of the cast for Justice League would be announced. Dwayne Johnson even teased that a DC role he was cast for would be announced “soon” before Comic-Con. Johnson was even at Comic-Con so the announcement seemed inevitable. Unfortunately, we were left wanting with the tidbits about Batman V. Superman being the only DC Universe news.

Legendary Panel

Legendary had a pretty thorough panel. They discussed several upcoming movies, including Godzilla 2, Warcraft, As Above, So Below, Crimson Peak, and given hints of others: Skull Island and Hellboy 3. They definitely brought the goods. One film that I am surprised they didn’t mention at all though, was Dracula: Untold. It seemed like the prime moment to discuss the film to build hype. It comes out a few months from now, and it seems to fit right in with the Comic-Con vibe. Could Legendary not get anyone to come down with some footage? Does Legendary realize the movie isn’t going to do well? It is very unclear to me why they wouldn’t try to get some traction for this movie at Comic-Con. Additionally, many Hall H-ers were expecting to see something about Jurassic World, which comes out in June 2015 – before next year’s Comic-Con, but we got no mention of the movie whatsoever, which was very disappointing.

Marvel Panel

The Marvel Panel was awesome–don’t get me wrong. Seeing Ant-Man back on track with a new director, and seeing some test footage was fun. Then followed up with much of the cast of The Avengers: Age of Ultron was just amazing! Then on top of that, we saw a teaser for Age of Ultron, which can only be described as completely ridiculously awesome. That footage alone made the trip to Comic-Con worth it, let alone camping overnight to get into Hall H.

But I did feel that, like DC, they put the brakes on movie news this Comic-Con. Last year Kevin Feige came out and talked to Hall H about Doctor Strange coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Feige was strangely mum about the movie this year. I am surprised we didn’t hear about any of the other films either–Captain America 3, Thor 3 all seemed oddly absent from the panel. We are a couple years from seeing these films so that certainly could be the reason. Feige might just be keeping these in his pocket for next Comic-Con. After all, next year Avengers: Age of Ultron will already have been released, so Feige will need some more stuff to talk about. Captain America, Thor, and Doctor Strange might make Hall H then. Feige will most certainly want to bring the big news next year anyway–considering Batman V. Superman will most assuredly have some big news to bring for Warner Brothers.

Lionsgate

Oddly absent at Comic-Con this year was Lionsgate Films. The big film I would have thought to be at Comic-Con was Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. The movie is coming out this November, and it is shocking that they had no presence at Comic-Con. Lionsgate did have some off-site events for Mockingjay, but really no big names involved with the movie present. It seemed to just be showing the trailer with some of the lesser known cast introducing it. While they didn’t attend Comic-Con for the first film, they were there for the second, so it is odd that movie would be absent again.

20th Century Fox

Probably the most oddly absent film at Comic-Con was the reboot of the Fantastic Four. This film is set to release June 2015, and it seemed to have no presence at Comic-Con. Not with a panel anyway. Fantastic Four has received a lot of grief for rebooting the franchise. Comic-Con is the perfect place to get some hype for your movie, and being a film based on comic books, it would only make sense for the cast and crew to show up to get some buzz going. 20th Century’s panel didn’t have anything overly exciting on their panel, and most weren’t even comic book related. I do not think this bodes well for the movie releasing next year.

Final Thoughts

This year at Comic-Con seemed a little light on news in general. I have a feeling Warner Brothers and Marvel may have had a “cease fire” type of agreement, and we will see the big guns blazing next year at Comic-Con. Neither side seemed to want to “spill the beans” too soon, considering there is another Comic-Con between now and the big movie releases (except for The Avengers, which we got some pretty awesome info on). Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox really left me scratching my head though. Both seemed to me like they should be there with these big film franchises, but both were strangely not there. Did both film studios weigh the cost versus revenue of Comic-Con and deem it not worthwhile? I guess only the decision makers at their studios truly know the reason why we didn’t get anything at Comic-Con this year.

Was there anything else that you thought should have been in Hall H this year? I would really like to hear from you in the comments below! Also, if you have any better reasoning why we didn’t hear about certain films this year, I would be glad to read about it!