Comic-Con 2012: Who's in, who's out
EXCLUSIVE: With Comic-Con a month away, Hollywood is firming up plans to haul its geek-friendly film fare to San Diego — though Paramount and 20th Century Fox have joined Relativity Media, DreamWorks and DreamWorks Animation in skipping the Hall H panels this year, with Universal still up in the air, Variety's Josh Dickey and Marc Graser report. Disney and Marvel will return, however, after sitting out Comic-Con in favor of the Mouse House’s own D23 fanfest last year. A look at IRON MAN 3 is firmly expected there. Warner Bros. also has reserved a three-hour block Saturday and is likely to anchor its presentation with THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, and plans include first-look footage from next summer’s MAN OF STEEL (studio has never taken one of Christopher Nolan’s Batman pics to the show, and there are no indications that this year will be any exception). Sources also tell Variety that Legendary Pictures plans to join distrib partner Warners with a preview of Guillermo Del Toro’s tentpole PACIFIC RIM, though the studio would not confirm those plans. Sony and the merged Lionsgate-Summit, meanwhile, are understood to be planning a presence inside the San Diego Convention Center’s biggest space.
Sony teased TOTAL RECALL last year, and may give Hall H an extended look at the Aug. 3 reboot next month. TWILIGHT has never missed the show, and they’re expected back for the Comic-Con finale. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Universal would show this year, though it does have the Dark Horse Comics property R.I.P.D., which wrapped in January, to begin promoting ahead of its June 2013 release. Relativity Media brought three titles to Comic-Con last year, but won’t be back for 2012, as the studio has nothing on its slate that warrants it. DreamWorks Animation is eschewing the big hall in favor of a Thursday animation panel hosted by Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke. Live-action DreamWorks, meanwhile, whose fanboy-targeted ROBOPOCALYPSE was recently pushed to a 2014 release date, is sitting out. Paramount could certainly still change its mind before the convention announces its full lineup in the coming weeks, but if no plan comes together, that means no Comic-Con push for its delayed G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, no sneaks of zombie apocalypse Brad Pitt
vehicle WORLD WAR Z, HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS, Tom Cruise actioner JACK REACHER and — in a development sure to disappoint a wide swath of the Con crowd — no first look at STAR TREK 2, which has wrapped lensing.