Wednesday, June 20, 2012

SDCC 2012: Less Movie Madness This Year – Good or Bad?

... Let's just leave the Sparkly Vapid Vamps out of the blog post.

Precious squee time should be reserved for a certain Genius-Billionaire-Playboy-Philantropist, A Virtual Reality Mind Trip and possibly a pair of Furry Feet. Although it is highly unlikely there will be any Vulcans to ogle at.

In the last couple of years, regular SDCC-goers have long felt that the hype concerning movies was overpowering the "true meaning" of Comic-Con.

The Hollywood glitter invading the city for SDCC had led to unbelievably long lines, with some people even staying overnight in sleeping bags just to ensure they get good seats for the panels in Hall H or Ballroom 20.

Last year’s SDCC (which Red Dot Diva did not manage to attend) saw a number of studios promoting movies, like “The Immortals”, “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “The Avengers”, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” (ugh) and “Prometheus”. There was also a red carpet premiere for “Cowboys & Aliens” which starred Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Unfortunately, that movie did not do so well at the box office when it was released later that year.

Sometime last week, Variety broke the news about which film studios are expected to be at SDCC 2012. And Red Dot Diva is giving a quiet sigh of relief that fewer studios have decided to promote their wares this July. Sure, she loves movies and pop-culture but too much of hype tends to create unnecessary noise.

The fewer movie studios at SDCC 2012 also paved the way for the more popular TV show panels like “The Big Bang Theory”, “Game of Thrones” and cult-favourite “Fringe” to be upgraded to Hall H from the usual Ballroom 20.

Red Dot Diva cautions though -- until the official SDCC schedule is out though, most of the news remain as speculations at best.

Included in Variety’s news leak was the indication that Paramount will not be bringing any movies to the convention. This bit of news inevitably stirred up a wave of disappointment for throng of fans expecting for a sneak peek of “Star Trek 2”. One can still hope though, no? *Puss in Boots eyes*

And to-date, there has been no news yet from 20th Century Fox, who probably does not have something strongly genre-related to promote.

Dreamworks will also be skipping Hall H and will instead be holding an animation panel on Thursday 12 July hosted by Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke.

What's left in terms of movie studio presence at SDCC 2012 seems to lie in the collaborations of WB and Legendary, and Disney / Marvel.

WB and Legendary will be presenting their slate of films during a 2-5 pm block at Hall H on Saturday 14 June, which means that fans should be getting previews of “The Hobbit”, “Man of Steel” and possibly, “Pacific Rim”. Famous LOTR website The One Ring Net (TORn) says that WB has not officially confirmed about “The Hobbit”'s panel but thinks that it’s highly likely to happen.

"The Hobbit" - latest production blog #7 from Peter Jackson:



In any case, TORn will be having their own panel on Thursday, 10.15 am at Room 6DE. Join them them to talk about "The Hobbit"! Seats limited to 1,000 only!

Disney who was missing at SDCC last year will be joining hands with Marvel to give fans a sneak peek of “Ironman 3” which is slated for a May 2013 release date. Hellooooo, Mr. RDJ? Will you and your goatee be at SDCC? Red Dot Diva has been trying to nom you for years.

The other movie is the animated film "Wreck It Ralph", about a video game villain bored with his job and trying to be a hero instead.

Based on the trailer, Red Dot Diva thinks it is pretty hilarious and fun to watch. Everybody say it together now: "I can fix it!"



Then, there’s the interesting news about Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie “Django Unchained” by the Weinstein Company. The movie about a slave-turned-bounty-hunter stars Jamie Foxx, Leonardo diCaprio, Don Johnson, Samuel L Jackson and Christoph Waltz.

Question is out whether "Django"'s panel will be held offsite during SDCC due to their sponsorship with tequila brand Patron. But who knows? They may very well be at the convention centre itself!

The other studios heading to San Diego that are known so far are:

Sony – a reboot of “Total Recall”, “Premium Rush”, “Here Comes The Boom”, “After Earth

Lionsgate/ Summit – “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” (hopefully one of the first things to be shown on Thursday so there will be more convention space for geeks afterwards?), “The Expendables 2”, “Dredd

Still... there are 21 days more to Comic-Con. And Red Dot Diva says there could very well be some more surprises in store for us!!

What other movie panels are you hoping to be announced soon?

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the reminder about the Hobbit production blog - I really want to check that out. Sounds like you girls will have enough to do to keep you out of trouble. If that is possible. :-)

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