Why are movie studios snubbing Comic-Con? 6 theories

Its just a cut & paste from The Week Magazine: Political News and Cartoons, Current Events and Entertainment Online...


1. Studios are saving films for their own fests
Two years ago, Disney launched D23 Expo, aimed at uniting its fans and building enthusiasm for its projects in the same way Comic-Con does. It's no surprise, then, that the studio is saving its upcoming sci-fi epic John Carter and the superhero extravaganza The Avengers, which it is distributing, for its own convention. Using those films as the expo's centerpiece would do wonders to boost D23's status as a "Disney-dedicated rival convention," says Geoff Boucher at the Los Angeles Times.

2. The films aren't ready
Marvel's appearance at last year's Comic-Con with the starry cast of The Avengers was the convention's "thunderclap moment," says Boucher. Now that the film is actually in production, fans were hoping for a more substantial tease this year. But according to some insiders, Disney and Marvel don't have anything to show that could compete with their "own past and wild fan expectations." Same goes for Warner Brothers, which isn't promoting its upcoming Batman and Superman films this year either. The films just "aren't ready to show much yet," says Deadline.

3. There's no room at the inn
Comic-Con may have gotten too popular for its own good. Studios and their stars are being turned away from hotels because they're overbooked, says B. Alan Orange at Movieweb. Fans were quick to reserve rooms, while studios simply waited too long to book. "There seems to be no favoritism involved, which means the obese juice chuggler from Minnesota may be the only Captain America you'll be seeing in San Diego this summer."

4. The nerds will see the movies anyway
"Comic-Con is a great place to generate buzz among die-hard fans," says Charlie Jane Anders at io9, "exactly the people who will go see a film on opening night, no matter what." That doesn't always translate into mainstream success. Scott Pilgrim, Sucker Punch, and Tron: Legacy were "sensations" at the festival, but fan excitement didn't turn into mainstream enthusiasm, and the films, by and large, bombed at the box office.

5. Negative Comic-Con buzz can doom a film
A negative reaction from Comic-Con can be instantly damning for a project. "The swarm of dedicated fans," says Brooke Barnes at The New York Times, "can instantly sour on a film if it doesn’t like what it sees." Publicity teams are then left doing an overwhelming amount of damage control. For some films, the risk just isn't worth it.

6. The festival is becoming more of a TV showcase
More and more big movies may be skipping the convention, but Comic-Con is becoming increasingly popular with genre television shows. True Blood and The Vampire Diaries have had wildly successful panels there, and, this year, some of TV's most buzzed-about series, like HBO's Game of Thrones, are proving to be the festival's big draws, says Anders at io9.


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Why are movie studios snubbing Comic-Con? 6 theories - The Week

From what I have heard and seen of the prep and layout for this year there is no "snubbing" at all. I think this article is wishful thinking from someone who doesn't like them there, there is plenty of folks who don't want it to be a pop culture show just a comic book show. The points below are not even realistic. The hotel one is a load of bull, the hotels hold a ton of rooms back for celebs and they are not booked. In fact many open up rooms the day of the show that they held just in case. Sorry but they are willing to risk and empty night or two if they can have a celeb. I don't think any of us going will feel there is any film studios missing from the show, there will be lots of film stuff there.

Oh I agree, but I did hear a lot of movies people would expect to be there arent, for example The Avengers, but just today I read that they will be there.

Although I do agree about the negative buzz for a movie that I can see. Also, granted I havent been to SDCC for a few years, but even back then I thought they pretty much out grew the space they had. Wasnt there talks a year or two back about moving it elsewhere? For some odd reason I remember Vegas being one of the choices.

I'd wager 4 and 5 are the two biggest reasons. Hell, as "nerds", a lot of us have watched some straight up gahbage!

The first makes sense for Marvel/Disney really. Why throw a bunch of money into getting things ready for someone else's show when you can do it at your own and increase your revenue's with that draw.

I'm going with 5 also. I remember seeing something on G4's AOTS where they said the same thing. They don't want a crappy movie getting bad press ahead of time.

I read a different article a few months back saying the movie studios are starting to realize that regardless of how well received a movie is at a con, when it boils down to brass tax, the con crowd just isn't there in numbers to make a difference.

One example they used was Tron: Legacy. Teaser test footage two years ago - crowd went absolutely bonkers. When Tron: Legacy came last year, an incredibly warm & enthusiastic reception. Viral marketing, including Bruce Boxleightner & Cindy Morgan reprising their roles at an Encom event in San Francisco, "hack" into Encom and get an Encom group 7 clearance ID card. I mean, they did a TON of stuff for the die hard fans out there and in the end, they grossed $170M domestically on a film that cost about that much to make - not including marketing budget.

The fans numbers (as much as I hate to admit it) just aren't there.

Now, you can argue for T:L the story was weak, etc, etc, but Transformers 3 opened this weekend and grossed $116M opening weekend.

Edit: Okay, so basically I just went into more details about #4 in the above article :$

It could also be that the studios aren't confident in their movies or know they're crap from the get go. Or maybe nerds are too critical for them lol

.:MirrorminD:. said:

5. Negative Comic-Con buzz can doom a film
A negative reaction from Comic-Con can be instantly damning for a project. "The swarm of dedicated fans," says Brooke Barnes at The New York Times, "can instantly sour on a film if it doesn’t like what it sees." Publicity teams are then left doing an overwhelming amount of damage control. For some films, the risk just isn't worth it.


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I don't think there is such a thing as negative reaction at Comic Con - if there is I've never seen it. Fans there will scream for anything and everything . Remember when the prequels were in motion and every year Steve Sansweet - Lucasfilm's favorite used car salesman, would take the stage and promise how this time we'd be seeing a "true" Star Wars film- people would be suckered in and cheer. :lol

TheRocketeer said:

The fans numbers (as much as I hate to admit it) just aren't there.

Now, you can argue for T:L the story was weak, etc, etc, but Transformers 3 opened this weekend and grossed $116M opening weekend.

Edit: Okay, so basically I just went into more details about #4 in the above article :$

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Remember Transformers is more in the public eye and little kids watch the cartoons and buy the toys. Tron -- what's that??

I bet you there will some kinda Dark Knight Rises viral marketing thing going on.

Look no farther; this is the reason...

.:MirrorminD:. said:

The nerds will see the movies anyway

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The marketing challenge is not to get geeks to go see sci-fi/fantasy/comic-book movies. The marketing challenge is to get non-geeks (i.e. women) to go see sci-fi/fantasy/comic-book movies.

"Negative Comic-Con buzz" has ZERO, repeat ZERO, impact on a film's box office performance.

I really think we have to wait for post-con to judge how much movie promotion is going to be done. There's probably a lot of stuff being kept secret until the last minute.

.:MirrorminD:. said:

Oh I agree, but I did hear a lot of movies people would expect to be there arent, for example The Avengers, but just today I read that they will be there.

Although I do agree about the negative buzz for a movie that I can see. Also, granted I havent been to SDCC for a few years, but even back then I thought they pretty much out grew the space they had. Wasnt there talks a year or two back about moving it elsewhere? For some odd reason I remember Vegas being one of the choices.

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ComicCon was looking at leaving San Diego because they were starting to out the SD Con Center and, probably more importantly, their contract with them was expiring and San Diego didn't seem to appreciate them enough initially so they started to explore alternate locations once the contract with the SD Con Center was up. There were like 3 prime contenders, one of which was Vegas and the other two were LA and Anaheim (of Los Angeles:lol).

.:MirrorminD:. said:

Disney launched D23 Expo, aimed at uniting its fans and building enthusiasm for its projects

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Disney made D23 to cash in on merchandising.

A hand full of Rocketeer props peppered among hundred of doodads for sale is what we just saw.

Riceball said:

ComicCon was looking at leaving San Diego because they were starting to out the SD Con Center and, probably more importantly, their contract with them was expiring and San Diego didn't seem to appreciate them enough initially so they started to explore alternate locations once the contract with the SD Con Center was up. There were like 3 prime contenders, one of which was Vegas and the other two were LA and Anaheim (of Los Angeles:lol).

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More like, we've been wooed for years by other cities, and there is a small active window where moving is a possibility, every few years when the contracts expire. No one on the CCI Committee goes actively looking for an alternate place to host Comic-Con - these other convention centers come to us. They then release things to the press saying we're looking at moving and it gets spun like crazy. But as it works in our favor and we know we can't control the media...

This article above is a prime example. The media is going to make up wild theories surrounding things that are very simple.

I agree that enthusiastic reaction at SD:CC is no barometer of box-office success. This has been proven over-and-over. The Geeks go primate-feces over some movie and the general public goes, "Ehh...". But, the studios love the whole ambience and star worship that ComicCon affords their projects; so they keep coming and pimping.

Sometimes, withholding your film from a CC rollout can have a negative effect. Attendees will wonder what is wrong with the film and why did the studio "chicken out" on hyping it.

Many companies push their films to hype sales of ancillary merchandise, ala Weta, who have done very well with their merchandise tie-ins at the show ore the years.