20th Century Fox Pulls Out Of SDCC 2016

[Autbot_Benz]

According to The Wrap, 20th Century Fox has decided not to attend San Diego Comic Con this year over piracy concerns. That means there will be no footage from Michael Fassbender's Assassin's Creed or any announcements regarding The Wolverine 3 or Deadpool 2.

With footage from Hall H panels generally leaking online just a few hours after the presentation, Fox feels that there's no way to combat overzealous fans and so they'll just sit out SDCC's grand showcase altogether. The Wrap also reports that (gasp) Disney and Marvel are also considering skipping SDCC this year. Disney usually skips SDCC when there's a D23 Expo in the same year but that's not the case in 2016.

The Wrap reached out to a Disney rep for confirmation on their sources tip but was told Disney was not considering such a movie. Still, don't be surprised if there's an announcement made sometime between now and July.

Is this the end of SDCC, at least for the big film studios? Industry analysts have long been critical of how buzz from the annual fan expo impacts a movie's box office performance. There have been several, recent big-budget sci-films that "won Comic-Con" and went on to flop or just barely break even. Perhaps studio execs are taking notice and deciding that the money spent on competing at SDCC can be better spent elsewhere?

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Studios must hate it, but those grainy potato-quality videos can generate a lot of buzz.

It certainly got people talking about Suicide Squad and Deadpool pretty early.

[Cure]

Makes sense to me. It's either this or tighten security waaaay up.

[plastroncafe]

They say it's security, but it's really that they don't like how geeks can't be counted on to be Yes Men.

[TigerClaw]

its interesting cause I don't think it hurts the movie at all, regardless if the footage is unfinished, It just gives it more buzz.

As for Disney and Marvel, they have D23, they no longer need SDCC to show anything, they can do it in there house since they have more control.

[Roseangelo]

Yeah, the piracy excuse is BS.

The honest truth is that the investment the studios have been making into Comic-Con hasn't turned into extra revenue for whatever it is they're trying to sell. This has been an on-going story for a few years and there's always a few studios who "pull out" of attending. The hype over the hype of Comic-Con has become a bit over-exaggerated by the press, so it's very possible there will be some deflation in the event. But I also think there's likely to be enough companies waiting in the wings to fill these empty spots that it won't cause a noticeable change in the scale of the event. For now, at least.

[TigerClaw]

Yeah, the piracy excuse is BS.

The honest truth is that the investment the studios have been making into Comic-Con hasn't turned into extra revenue for whatever it is they're trying to sell. This has been an on-going story for a few years and there's always a few studios who "pull out" of attending. The hype over the hype of Comic-Con has become a bit over-exaggerated by the press, so it's very possible there will be some deflation in the event. But I also think there's likely to be enough companies waiting in the wings to fill these empty spots that it won't cause a noticeable change in the scale of the event. For now, at least.
Its interesting cause when SDCC first started, It was all about the Comics, and meeting the artists and writers of them.

Today these Cons are more about Movies, TV, and Video Games, and some Comics thrown in.

[NinjaPug]

Yeah, the piracy excuse is BS.

The honest truth is that the investment the studios have been making into Comic-Con hasn't turned into extra revenue for whatever it is they're trying to sell. This has been an on-going story for a few years and there's always a few studios who "pull out" of attending. The hype over the hype of Comic-Con has become a bit over-exaggerated by the press, so it's very possible there will be some deflation in the event. But I also think there's likely to be enough companies waiting in the wings to fill these empty spots that it won't cause a noticeable change in the scale of the event. For now, at least.

Exactly. This has nothing to do with piracy. Studios aren't seeing the return to justify the costs to have a panel.

[Commenter 42]

They say it's security, but it's really that they don't like how geeks can't be counted on to be Yes Men.

x100 upvotes.

Also, who cares about leaks? "Don't advertise for us!!!!!"

Soooooo stupid.

[Roseangelo]

Its interesting cause when SDCC first started, It was all about the Comics, and meeting the artists and writers of them.

Today these Cons are more about Movies, TV, and Video Games, and some Comics thrown in.

This is only partly true.

If you look at the Comic-Con website and see who their listed special guests are, you will see almost everyone is straight from the world of comics. You will not see movie or TV stars, or other "entertainment" personalities. When Comic-Con releases their programming schedule, you will see that a lot of it actually is directly connected to the comic book, or related industries.

However, Comic-Con does sell exhibit space and panel time to entertainment studios. And those studios bring in their big names and celebrities and host wild events and it is these things that grab all the front page headlines for the week. If you avoid all this stuff, there is still an amazing comic book convention going on.

Unfortunately, there are A LOT of cons now that are all about simply bringing in the celebrities and selling you autographs and pictures. I HATE THESE CONVENTIONS. Wizard World is the biggest offender, but there are a lot of Wizard World wannabes that are around now.

While you will find people at Comic-Con selling autographs and pictures, they are mostly niche celebrities who have paid for the table space to be there. Autograph sessions that go on with the large studios are all free (but extremely limited).

There is plenty of room for criticism for various aspects of Comic-Con, but the "oh, the movie studios have taken it over…" diatribe really isn't a fair one.