As our CraveOnline film channel editor stated in his recap of the most exciting announcements from Comic-Con, if you weren’t attending, this year probably seemed headscratchingly lackluster. Why?
First, some studios chose to stay away this year. The biggest benefactor — without even being there — was probably Universal. Universal distributes Legendary Pictures’ films, who indeed held a panel and wowed audiences and news junkies. Legendary probably had the most exciting actual announcements from this year’s Comic-Con: three legendary monsters will appear in the Godzilla sequel and they are crafting an origin story for one of their most popular behemoths, King Kong. Universal was able to receive buckets of goodwill without even having to show any footage from their own (non-Legendary) productions, such Jurassic World (Legendary only has an “associated with” credit on that title).
Second, many that were there took a wait-and-see approach. Warner Brothers surprisingly chose to scale back from last year (where they announced Batman Vs. Superman), and chose to not publicly ramp up their superhero-universe-arms race with Marvel Studios (even though they’re way behind already). Warner Brothers did not announce any new DC Comics-related films on their “untitled” release schedule.
Similarly, Marvel chose to tout what they’d already announced in the past and — despite having a 14-year release plan — not tip their hand about their future. Although possibly upsetting for fans, long-term this could be wise for Marvel as all the other studios are dutifully lifting from their interconnected-stories playbook. And it was bound to be disappointing almost regardless of what they do because they’ve announced so many “mystery” titles.
Related: The Top 5 Film Announcements of Comic-Con 2014
By Monday, so many questions about schedules, casting and costumes remained. For the armchair fan who wasn’t able to attend, what were the most disappointing non-announcements or non-presentations from Comic-Con? Were you chaffed from anything we haven’t mentioned? Please share below!
SLIDESHOW: CraveOnline’s picks for The Five Biggest Movie Disappointments from Comic-Con 2014
Brian Formo is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrianEmilFormo.
Comic-Con 2014: The Top 5 Film Disappointments
-
5. No Official Doctor Strange Casting Announcement
Marvel has a director, Scott Derickson (Sinister), and screenwriter, Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) in place for their next big confirmed (and dated) origin film. Prior to Comic-Con many fans were hoping that there'd be a Benedict Cumberbatch announcement. But something interesting happened just as Comic-Con was revving up: multiple reports of Joaquin Phoenix being "beyond talks" and "in negotiations" to play Doctor Strange.
Many fans were already hoping for a casting announcement at Marvel's panel. Then there seemed to be some new and different heat. But their big announcement was a Guardians of the Galaxy sequel. If talks are as deep as they sound, an announcement should be soon. But it would've been a bonkers moment to patch through the shy, oddball actor from the set of the Woody Allen film that he's currently filming.
Continue reading the Joaquin Phoenix reports...
Continue reading what Marvel's Kevin Feige has in mind for the Doctor Strange movie...
-
4. No Terminator: Genesis
Unlike Jurassic World, the new Terminator sequel did have its parent studio present. Paramount was very coy about what they'd be showing.
But with a big Terminator sequel on deck, star Emilia Clarke probable for the "Game of Thrones" panel and Arnold Schwarzenegger a Con mainstay it seemed probably that there'd be some footage or ... something from the film that's been shooting for more than two months already. Turns out both Terminator, Schwartzenegger and Clarke were entirely absent from Comic-Con and that Paramount was mostly being silent because they had Christopher Nolan and Matthew McConaughey coming in for a surprise Interstellar panel. And fans were ecstatic to be shown a new trailer for the space travel film.
Still, an acknowledgement of the fifth Terminator film would've been nice.
-
3. Lack of DC Universe Details
Warner Brothers brought director Zack Snyder, Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) in person to unveil Gadot's Wonder Woman costume (a highlight from the convention) and some teaser footage from the currently filming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice film. And it's understandable that that team couldn't stay too long, as they're currently in production.
But Warner Brothers didn't fill out any new untitled DC films on their release schedule. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's numerous tweets hinting that he'd been cast as Shazam were not confirmed with any announcement. No members of The Justice League were announced to have their standalone film. However, later -- on the same day -- Marvel kept the same scheduling and title secrets in-house, so maybe DC knew they could show and not tell. Or maybe they lucked out.
Warner Brothers certainly did well with the Mad Max: Fury Road presentation, which kept them in very good standing with their audience.
-
2. No 'Fantastic Four' Costume/Footage Reveal
The reboot of The Fantastic Four has already been in some fan hot-water over casting and comments from star Kate Mara saying that the film won't be rigorously faithful to the source material. The film is currently shooting with Mara, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.
Instead of going mind-eraser damage control (like Marvel did with its presentation of Ant-Man, seemingly appeasing many who were nervous with Edgar Wright no longer at the helm), Fox decided not to show anything. A photo did leak of a motion capture bust for The Thing (to the left). But that certainly wasn't officially through Fox. In fact the Twitter handle has already been erased.
Showing footage before anything is comfortably ready could potentially be the mark of death on the project, so that is understandable. But not having anything ready is not going to assuage fears of what fans have been reading, or dispel any notion that it might be a disaster like the previous 2004 version.
An in-costume photo from the Warner Brothers panel was enough to quiet some Wonder Woman-casting doubters. Something similar from Fox concerning The Fantastic Four would've gone over much better than nothing at all.
-
1. No Marvel Character Film Announcement
By having almost the entire cast of the new Avengers film present, Marvel certainly did well by their fans. But when you say you've mapped out your universe through 2028, you're bound to leave many things unanswered in July 2014.
The only new film that was announced was a sequel and not a new standalone franchise. While that was met with excitement (particularly from those who've already seen the first Guardians of the Galaxy film, out this weekend) and while studio head Kevin Feige was very open in interviews throughout the weekend, there was a bit of a letdown feeling.
Particularly on a weekend where Scarlett Johansson's actioner Lucy destroyed Hercules.
Johansson's Black Widow has been a key part of the Marvel universe without ever having her own film (and Feige mentioned previously that Joss Whedon's Age of Ultron script made him want to give Black Widow her own film). For those who think Marvel is too much of a boy's playhouse -- while female action heroes are gaining a lot of heat at the box office -- not announcing any female lead (or anything at all) past July 2017 registers as a bit tone deaf.
Although, we keep hearing that they have a plan.
Continue reading with an interview with Marvel's Kevin Feige...
