by Sean Molloy
Next week the droves of comic book fans, moviegoers and pop culture enthusiasts will descend upon San Diego, California for Comic Con 2015. A once niche summer event is how the epicenter for movie studios, comic book companies and video game developers to show up to give the world a first glimpse as to what they’ve been working on. With the monumental success of the super hero film genre in years past, it is no secret that if you want your new tentpole franchise or sequel to make a splash with an audience, Comic Con is the place to deliver the goods.
I chose to preview some geeky goodness that’s sure to stir things up and the get crowds buzzing at this years show…
Warner Bros is set to start off the Saturday programming at the convention in a monumental kind of way. Batman vs. Superman Dawn of Justice takes center stage for the first time at 1030 in Hall H. After making millions of fanboys cry with the first shown footage last year, director Zach Snyder and stars Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot are all expected to make an appearance. Expect questions and answers related to how did Bruce Wayne get the kryptonite to weaken the man of steel? What role does wonder woman play in the new film? And what motivation does Jesse Eisenberg draw upon with his new portrayal of Lex Luthor? As a bonus gift, David Ayer’s villain centric movie, Suicide Squad is also rumored to take up some stage time and maybe if we’re lucky, fingers crossed, show the first scene or two of the new film.
Star Wars is not going to just have a panel at the show this year, The Force Awakens is set to have its own dedicated day at Comic Con. All building towards its own conference on Friday at 530 in Hall H. Already confirmed for the show is director JJ Abrams, Lucasfilm president and producer Kathleen Kennedy, co-screen writer Lawrence Kasdan and “special guests.” The audience is guaranteed to be shown a “first look” at some new footage before the rest of the planet so again, this is not a panel to be missed. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even be given some new details about the next batch of movies to come about after Episode 7.
With Marvel studios officially not having a cinematic universe panel this year, their usual time slot is being taken by 20th century to showcase their upcoming slate of movies. Expect something significant from Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot which opens about a month after Comic Con. Bryan Singer confirmed via his social media pages that the newest mutant filled film, X-Men Apocalypse is going to be at the show in some capacity. Singer also revealed that the first ever screening of the Rogue Cut of X-Men Days of Future Past will be playing that same day at the Reading Gaslamp Theater. The blu ray and digital HD versions of the Rogue Cut will be available to own on July 14th. Now hopefully some of the cast of Apocalypse will be on hand to have a chat with the audience of Hall H and the rumor is that the Merc with a mouth himself, Deadpool, COULD be on hand to showcase what audiences can expect when his self titled movie comes out next February.
On a completely different note, Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to San Diego Comic Con, it was here at the show that the writer/director showed the first footage of his film Django Unchained in 2012. He returns this year to showcase his new western, The Hateful Eight. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern, and while we don’t yet know which of these actors will be in attendance, a Q&A session with the cast is expected. But come on, you know it’s Tarantino who’ll steal the show anyway!
Much more excitement is of course going to happen at the show this year, but there you have it- five or six films and events to keep your eyes on at Comic Con 2015.