Laremy Legel
Managing Editor of Film.com, member of the BFCA and OFCS, writer of criticism, noted interviewer, box office oracle, walker of dog named Bugsy, Qui audet adipiscitur.
Winners and Losers of Comic-Con 2009
Laremy Legel July 27, 2009
It’s been a wild ride. Five days of pure mayhem, starting with Wednesday night’s preview and concluding with Sunday’s not-so-grand finale. Here are the festivities by the numbers.
Comic-Con 2009 By The Numbers
Panels attended: 30
Parties attended: 1
Minutes of film footage screened: 283
Free T-Shirts: 1 (the Tony Stark Iron Man 2 shirt!)
Hours sleeping: 26
Hours at Comic-Con Hall H: 35
Hours on Comic-Con floor: .5 (too crowded to walk)
So it’s time to dole out the winners and losers of Comic-Con 2009.
Winners of Comic-Con
Avatar
James Cameron creates worlds, pure and simple. I’m the first guy to speak out against Titanic, but even I’ll admit that Cameron is the master at creating a universe from the ground up. Avatar presents just that, the alien planet of Pandora, inhabited by the Na’Vi. You’re not going to believe the level of CGI; the attention to detail is astounding. My only regret is watching the footage at all — I think you should see this one without watching anything as you’ll be happier not knowing plot points or specifics. I’ve heard about this film for what feels like forever, so it was nice to see that they’ve put the money and effort on the screen. This will be a massive cultural happening in December.
Tim Burton is a filmmaker I can’t quite figure out. All his work is instantly recognizable, but I feel like he loses the audience too often. That said, Alice in Wonderland seems uniquely suited to his vision. We only saw a few minutes of footage and the barest hint of new concept art — but the tone of Wonderland and Burton jibe perfectly. Plus the use of MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” was pitch perfect. This project could end up being delightfully odd.
Denzel had the audience loving him at the Book of Eli panel. Downey Jr. had people in the palm of his hand with both Sherlock Holmes and Iron Man 2. Johnny Depp made a surprise appearance, didn’t really speak, and still was given an uproarious ovation. Putting these guys in front of 6,000 people is a no-brainer. Being in the same room as megawatt stars makes marketers out of the audience, all of whom are marching back to their hometowns with a story.
Comedies?
Paper Heart and Mike Judge’s Extract both received prominent placement. Could we be seeing a shift away from horror, fantasy, and sci-fi efforts dominating the coverage?
It should be noted that the lowest grade I handed out all Con was a C+. The studios are dialed into what the Comic-Con audience loves, and most of the presentations are fluid and solid. But if we’re crowning winners we’ve got to hand out a few demerits too.
Losers of Comic-Con
3-D
I still don’t know who is clamoring for 3-D. When people see it, yeah, they think it’s cool. But you never hear anyone saying, “We need more 3-D films!” Yet the studios keep bankrolling and marketing them. Avatar wasn’t cool because it was 3-D. Rather, it was innovative in spite of being 3-D. The third dimension seems to be the cure-all for all of Hollywood’s problems, only no one in the real world wants to pay four more dollars per show to wear glasses for two hours. It’s an odd phenomenon.
9
Focus Features had an hour to present footage and a panel of the animated 9. Only the project seems really inaccessible. A PG-13 post-apocalyptic world where inanimate objects have been brought to life by a mad scientist? The footage looked interesting, but too grown up for kids and too kiddie for adults. Just a strange notion for a feature film.
The Eardrums of Comic-Con Attendees
During the Day One panels, the sound was so loud that folks were covering their ears. I’m talking “permanent hearing loss” loud here. The opening panel was Christmas Carol and I’m still not even sure if I disliked the footage, or simply disliked how loud the footage was. I was pretty far back of the speakers too, I can’t imagine what those in the front went through. I get that the experience needs to be a “wow” but I don’t think it needs to be an “Ow!”
On Thursday morning I arrived at the line at 4:00 a.m. I was beaten to that line by around 1,000 people at 4:00 a.m. When the New Moon footage came on the energy level simply wasn’t there. I’m not saying the kids didn’t scream and shout — of course they did — but I am saying waiting in line for a couple days will weaken an audience’s spirit. And there’s got to be a better way. Why couldn’t they sell Hall H tickets apart from regular passes? It’s not like the Hall H’ers get a chance to walk the floor anyway, they’re always in line. Having an assigned seat would allow people to plan their schedule better. I spent eleven hours total sitting in a line throughout the Con — is that really a win? They wouldn’t be better off with me buying items or seeing the booths during that time? It seems like a gloriously unorganized waste of hours and effort, as ushers have to figure out how many seats are available every fifteen minutes. Assigned seating would raise revenues, eliminate fatigue, and allow people to see more things during their time at the Con. Studios might think people camping out overnight means their product is “buzzy,” but it can lead to out-sized expectations and residual bitterness. We have the technology and foresight to fix this before next year. Let’s shake up the world.
That’s it from sunny San Diego. Thanks to everyone who dropped me Twitter notes, emails, and followed along at home. It wouldn’t have been a Comic-Con without ya!
Tags: 2009 comic-con, avatar, james cameron
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