Fans descend on San Diego for the 50th Comic-Con
SAN DIEGO — Dust off your Captain Marvel cosplay, San Diego Comic-Con is here.
The four-and-a-half day convention kicked off Wednesday with the show room floor opening to thousands vying for exclusive merchandise, from art to toys. Later, Warner Bros. is hosting a ScareDiego event promising some hair-raising new footage from It: Chapter Two.
“We have some exciting footage but I can’t go into details,” said It director Andy Muschietti.
“But I think it’s going to be worth it for the fans to go and watch.”
Workers were putting the final touches on the all the branded exhibitions Wednesday evening, like the Walking Dead-themed AMC Deadquarters installation, while enthusiastic fans lined up outside of the convention centre.
A few were already in full costume, including a man in a Stranger Things Hawkins Police uniform and an Australian couple dressed as Marty McFly and Doc Brown, although most opted for the nerd-approved T-shirt (there were more than a few AT-AT, Jurassic Park and Laura Palmer shirts) for badge pickup.
Those in full cosplay were grateful for the cooler-than-usual temperatures.
“I would be melting,” said Ana Nibbla of San Diego, who was dressed as a female Pennywise, or Princess Pennywise as she likes to call it.
As the week goes on, movie fans will also get a look at Paramount’s Terminator: Dark Fate at a Hall H presentation Thursday, and on Saturday be treated to a Marvel Studios presentation with its president, Kevin Feige.
Details for the Marvel show are being kept under wraps, but many expect Feige and his “special guests” will outline the plans for Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which could include announcements about Black Widow, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Shang-Chi and The Eternals.
The movie fare is lighter than usual, however.
A few of the studios have chosen to sit this year out, like Sony, which is already cleaning up at the box office with Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Universal Pictures, which doesn’t have any superheroes on its slate at all.
Although Warner Bros. is coming with It: Chapter Two, it does not have a big Hall H presentation planned for any of its DC properties like Joker and the Harley Quinn spinoff Birds of Prey.
And there will be no Star Wars news either.
“If anything, the exiting of some movie studios has made more room for TV and TV is just the best of the best right now,” said Perri Nemiroff, a senior producer for Collider.com and host of the YouTube series Movie Talk.
Television enthusiasts will have their pick, whether they want one last go-around the cast of a show that’s ended (like Game of Thrones and Supernatural), to check in with some old favourites (The Walking Dead, The Good Place, Westworld, Arrow, Rick and Morty and Riverdale), or get first look at a new property (such as Snowpiercer, Star Trek: Picard and The Witcher).