Have you booked your tickets and hotel room yet for the San Diego Comic-Con? No? Well, you're probably shit out of luck as that thing has been sold out for a while now. So whether you'll be on the floor basking in geek heaven or sitting enviously at home, here's what can be expected at this year's festivities. Thus far, there is really nothing in the way of truly big surprises.
Warner Bros., Lionsgate and Disney are all set to unveil goodies for their big films over the weekend-long event, with Universal still undecided though something tells us they would be foolish not to parade "R.I.P.D." out there to start getting some buzz going on that one, or "47 Ronin" to maybe change the tide after it was pushed into 2013. But let's get to the good stuff, starting with WB. The big news of their presentatoin is the fact that they are likely not to show anything from Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises." None of the Batman films have unspooled at Comic-Con, and that probably won't change this year, especially with the movie set to open a week later. But they'll be making up for that by showing off the first footage from Zack Snyder's "Man Of Steel" and their 3-hour presentation block is expected to include Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit," Guillermo Del Toro's "Pacific Rim" and more. Maybe Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity"?
Meanwhile, Disney is expected to sneak some "Iron Man 3" stuff along with the video game-inspired "Wreck-It Ralph" and Sam Raimi's "Oz The Great And Powerful" which has been surprisingly kept under wraps so far. No word yet on what Sony will show, but M. Night Shyamalan's "After Earth" with Will Smith, and "Total Recall" seem like good possibilties. And we would guess Neill Blomkamp's totally secret "Elysium" needs to start marketing for its spring release next year, so we'd put money down on some kind of preview for that happening. And perhaps "The End Of The World" with Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and all their friends as well, which is already filming with set visits for press happening today.
As for Lionsgate, they are expected to drop "The Expendables 2," "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" and though unconfirmed, "Dredd" (but at this point given the zero buzz behind it, they would be foolish not to). Meanwhile, The Weinstein Company will be thrilling fanboys with "Django Unchained." Currently, 20th Century Fox, Relativity Media, DreamWorks and DreamWorks Animation are not expected to have any panels this year.
But perhaps just as interesting is that Paramount, a long standing fixture of Comic-Con currently isn't planning to attend. And frankly, who can blame them. "World War Z" is now a troubled film, and both "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" and "Hansel & Gretel: With Hunters" got unceremoniously pushed to 2013. Their only big film suitable for the audience in San Diego is "Jack Reacher," which is already test screening to some decent word, so perhaps they'll make a late-stage play for that. But the word is that J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek 2" won't be making an appearance. Sorry dudes.
More to be announced as the event draws near. Comic-Con runs from July 12-15. [Variety/Collider]
