News
Studios to abandon Comic-Con?
The New York Times is reporting that major studios, including Disney, Warner Bros. and Dreamworks, have decided not to make major presentations at next month’s Comic-Con. In previous years, Comic-Con […]
The New York Times is reporting that major studios, including Disney, Warner Bros. and Dreamworks, have decided not to make major presentations at next month’s Comic-Con.
In previous years, Comic-Con has played a key role in marketing new movies and TV shows, with cast and crew interviews, and presentations prepared especially for the thousands of fans who descend on San Diego, California.
However, if a film isn’t well-received there – or indeed gets too rapturous a reception – it can skew the way the studios view the product, according to The New York Times business report. They note the example of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, which “was the belle of last year’s convention, and [Universal] spent heavily to make it so, draping the entire side of a skyscraper with an ad, for instance. Released just three weeks after the convention, Scott Pilgrim fizzled and the $60 million movie sold just $32 million in tickets.”
Despite that, Universal are still preparing a major push for Cowboys vs Aliens, which opens the weekend after Comic-Con; 20th Century Fox will be pushing the August 5 release of Rise of the Planet of the Apes; and Paramount are promising much on the first Tintin film, possibly including an appearance by director Steven Spielberg, whose TV show Terra Nova is also going to be heavily promoted.
Comic-Con runs from July 21 to 24.
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