Winner- “Godzilla”
It was really their show to steal given Marvel’s huge absence, and Warner Bros. really made the most of Comic-Con as they could. Not only did they steal the thunder with “Shazam!” and “Aquaman,” but the film with possibly the most unanimous buzz of the entire event was “Godzilla: King of The Monsters.” For one thing, the trailer was phenomenal, and really earned the use of the overused, sometimes meaningless adjective epic. And you also know how “Godzilla” conquered? Look at the reaction of cinephiles, some of which could give zero sh*ts about Comic-Con. That community also seemed bowled over by the scale and tone of the apocalyptic looking ‘King Of Monsters.’ If you assumed this movie would be biding time between “Godzilla Vs. Kong,” or thought director Michael Dougherty would be a lesser substitute for original “Godzilla” director Gareth Edwards (who was supposed to direct the sequel initially), it appears you’re dead wrong. ‘King Of The Monsters’ looks badass and seems to have impressed everyone.
WINNER — New TV
In a year that was noticeably absent of the big stories from the film industry, studios took the opportunity to launch trailers and ad campaigns for a number of exciting new television series coming in the next year. There was the great new trailer for “Mayans MC,” which is a spin-off of the ridiculously popular FX series “Sons of Anarchy.” You have Matt Groening returning with a new series on Netflix, titled “Disenchantment.” The Russo Brothers got people buzzing with their new TV series, based on the popular comic book, “Deadly Class.”
But perhaps most exciting of all is Julia Roberts’ new series, from the creator of “Mr. Robot,” titled “Homecoming.” The teaser released doesn’t give too much away, but in a convention filled with shitty CW trailers, there shouldn’t be something this good showing up. But hey, we really are in the Golden Age of TV. And maybe when the film studios realize that SDCC isn’t what it used to be, we could be looking at TV taking center stage.
LOSER — Comic-Con itself (And the folks who went)
As Disney starts to change their focus to D23, Star Wars Celebration, and whatever Marvel press conferences they decide to create, we’re starting to see people wonder if SDCC is really the be-all-end-all for genre/superhero/fantasy filmmaking. And this year proved that the shine is starting to fade from the convention. WB had the entire show handed to them on a silver platter and the best they could do is 3 trailers, 2 of which were released immediately online.
For that matter, every major announcement that was made (including trailers) were online within minutes of the SDCC panel. Sure, there were a couple of exclusives, including a pretty decent bit of footage for “Halloween,” but by and large, there’s really not much that was gained by going to SDCC than just waiting on YouTube from the comfort of your own home. Fans are beginning to take notice as well, as reports from the convention floor said that overall enthusiasm was down and Hall H wasn’t the premier destination it was before, with plenty of room for fans and none of the camping out that the convention is known for.
As for the convention, itself, SDCC just didn’t have any of the surprises or announcements people were hoping for. No “Joker” news from WB, even though the last week has been filled with unofficial announcements about casting and production. No, “Birds of Prey,” either. Fox didn’t have anything new about future “Deadpool” and “X-Force” films. They didn’t even have anything on “Dark Phoenix,” even though that film is scheduled to be released before next year’s event. In a time with over a dozen major superhero films in production, this is lackluster, to say the least.
Part of this is bad luck and bad timing for Comic-Con. Fox’s Marvel films are undergoing reshoot and likely aren’t ready and Marvel at this point can’t really give away any teases of the highly-secret “Infinity War” sequel. And frankly, San Diego just may not matter to them anymore.
Overall, SDCC felt much more irrelevant this year. There’s no denying it anymore. Gone are the days of Marvel Studios trotting out their “Avengers” cast or showing the ‘Infinity War’ trailer months before anyone else saw it. There are definitely no more earth-shattering announcements. As mentioned before, the biggest news this weekend regarding superhero filmmaking didn’t even happen at the convention. Next year, Marvel has said they’ll be back, and with it, our last hope for something exciting at SDCC. But at that point, is it already too late?