With the time difference and the fact that Preview Night doesn’t start until about 9 PM Eastern Time, there’s not a lot to report from Wednesday’s news feed.

Movie War Update:

I’m seeing on Yahoo News that DC unveiled the latest Batsuit, but that will have to wait for tomorrow’s feed.

Sony blinked, pushing back the release dates for Amazing Spider-Man 3 to 2018 and 4 from 2018 to “in development”.  Their claim on Free Comic Book Friday (the first Friday in May, now the traditional start of the Summer blockbuster season) for 2018 was vacated, and Marvel swooped in, adding another day to an already bloated calendar!  They control that Friday from now through 2019!  (Although there is a fight brewing in 2016, with Batman v Superman vs Captain America 3.)

Here’s the revised scorecard as of 6pm Wednesday evening.  I’ve listed all superhero dates, as well as Disney and Pixar animated features.

Movie schedule:
5/1/2015 The Avengers: Age of Ultron Marvel
6/19/2015 The Fantastic Four Fox
6/19/2015 Inside Out Pixar
7/17/2015 Ant-Man Marvel
11/25/2015 The Good Dinosaur Pixar
     
3/4/2016 Untitled Disney Animation Disney
May 2016 Batman v Superman DCE
5/6/2016 Captain America 3 Marvel
5/27/2016 X-Men: Apocalypse Fox
6/17/2016 Finding Dory Pixar
July 2016 Shazam DCE
7/8/2016 Doctor Strange Marvel
11/11/2016 Sinister Six Sony
11/23/2016 Untitled Disney Animation Disney
Xmas 2016 Sandman DCE
     
3/3/2017 Untitled Wolverine Fox
May 2017 Justice League DCE
5/5/2017 Untitled Marvel
6/16/2017 Untitled Pixar Animation Pixar
July 2017 Wonder Woman DCE
7/7/2017 Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 Disney
7/14/2017 The Fantastic Four 2 Fox
7/28/2017 Untitled Marvel
11/3/2017 Untitled Marvel
11/22/2017 Untitled Pixar Animation Pixar
Xmas 2017 Flash and Green Lantern team-up DCE
     
3/9/2018 Untitled Disney Animation Disney
May 2018 Man Of Steel 2 DCE
5/4/2018 Untitled Marvel
6/15/2018 Untitled Pixar Animation Pixar
7/6/2018 Untitled Marvel
7/13/2018 Untitled Fox / Marvel
11/2/2018 Untitled Marvel
11/21/2018 Untitled Disney Animation Disney
5/3/2019 Untitled Marvel

Wow… a year until Ant-Man.  Doesn’t look good, although the con movie poster does.

Also, Disney announced a release date for Pirates of the Caribbean V.

* Remember that PETA ad I mentioned yesterday?  Turns out Bluewater helped design it! 
 
* MTV presents Everything You Need To Know About San Diego Comic-Con In One Infographic
 
* Will there be an Iron Man IVForbes reports that RDJ made $75 Million last year, earning the top spot among Holywood actors.  Most of that came from back-end profit sharing.  Hmm…  when is Leo DiCaprio, who has a some comics DNA, gonna make a comic book movie?  I could see him as Stanford White.
 
The American Library Association and the Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation presented the 2014 Will Eisner Graphic Novel Innovation Grant to the Lewis & Clark Library during the annual ALA conference in Las Vegas.
Accepting the honor were Lewis & Clark Library teen services librarian Heather Dickerson and information desk assistant Eric Walliman, who worked together on the grant application.
Each of the grants awards the winning libraries with a $2,000 voucher to buy graphic novels from distributor-partner Brodart; and $1,000 to host a graphic novel-themed event.
* The Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex is out in full force!

IDW at 15: Ted Adams, Chris Ryall talk growth, risks, Comic-Con

Fifteen years ago in San Diego, IDW wasn’t publishing comics and Comic-Con drew about 45,000 people.
How times have changed.
The company that Ted Adams co-founded in 1999 with three fellow comic industry veterans has evolved into one of the top four comic book publishers, competing with 22-year-old indie innovator Image Comics for No. 3, albeit well behind superhero stalwarts Marvel and DC, both at least five times its age. Last year, IDW sold more than 1 million graphic novels. And the pop-culture phenom of a convention it shares a city with? A long-ago sold-out crowd of 130,000 is expected this week.

*ABC and Pixar have announced details about the next Toy Story Halloween special.

Created by Mike Mignola, “Toy Story That Time Forgot” will be “Toy Story’s” second TV special. The poster offers an illustrated version of what Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) and Sheriff Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) will face in the special.
Shocked that Mike “Hellboy” Mignola is working for Disney?  Okay, I guess not many people saw this.
 
* Want to skip town and rent your apartment to a geek?  NBC investigates.
If you only rent your place once a year for fewer than six days, there are no taxes or fees you’re required to pay to the city of San Diego, according to the Office of City Treasurer.  But those rules can change from city to city.
Building on their already established relationship, the companies today announced a co-production partnership for a series of CG-animated movies to be directed by Will Vinton. Vinton is, of course, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Claymation. Launched last year by CEO Darius Kamali, animation and social gaming production company Gnosis Moving Pictures will team up with Vinton Entertainment for a slate that will include the  previously announced last year The Quest. The Monty Python-esque comedy that Vinton co-wrote is set in outer space and features the voice of an actual Python, John Cleese. Other pics in the works include Jack Hightower, a comedic action adventure based on the Dark Horse graphic novel about a macho secret agent who’s shrunk to the size of a hotdog and Moby & Dick, a tale about the bond between fathers and sons, inspired of course by the classic Harold Melville novel. There’s also Nicholas, a mix of 3D stop-animation and CGI, an action-adventure story based on L. Frank Baum’s novel The Life And Adventures of Santa Claus.

Technologist Jeff Hammett put in a public records request for information related to the San Diego Police Department’s “Operations Secure San Diego.” It turns out that SDPD never wrote the privacy policies it promised were in place when it launched the program four years ago. Luckily, Hammett was able to obtain the list of cameras so Comic-Con fans can avoid (or show off) for them.

* Vulture argues the case for shelving “The Dark Knight” and “Batman: Year One” by Hollywood screenwriters, as there are many other stories to use.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Miller’s twin Batman epics. But there is something creatively bankrupt about studios focusing on them so monomaniacally. As Miller himself once said, “There are 50 different ways to do Batman and they all work.” Our fate is sealed for Batman v. Superman, but we have to imagine a better future. If an ambitious filmmaker wants to make a truly innovative Batman movie, he or she needs to put Frank’s hard-boiled sagas back on the shelf. Luckily, there are more than enough other Bat-tales to devour.
[Holy cliche, Batman!]
 
* PBS interviews noted creators on Batman’s legacy during National Batman Day.
 
* The Kiwis are coming!  New Zealand talent visits CCI.
 
 
* The SD City Beat does special coverage inspired by the Bechdel test!
 
 
Comic-book artists discuss perpetuating an anatomical archetype some consider offensive

* Meanwhile…

CBS reports on the surge of female fans.

*And finally…
 
Janelle Asselin shares the results of her survey of convention harassment here. She received 3600 responses to the survey itself, as well as numerous harrassing replies.
 
 

To put these percentages into perspective, if 13 percent of San Diego Comic-Con attendees have unwanted comments of a sexual nature made about them this week, that would be around 17,000 people. And if eight percent of SDCC attendees are groped, assaulted, or raped, that’s over 10,000 attendees suffering harassment.

It’s good that the data was released right before Comic-Con opened to hit the news cycle. I’m hopeful it won’t get marginalized among the many distractions this weekend.

4 COMMENTS

  1. “Wow… a year until Ant-Man. Doesn’t look good, although the con movie poster does.”

    Has Fantastic Four started filming? I’ve seen the recent quotes from the actors, but haven’t seen anything about actual work being done. It’s due before Ant-Man.

  2. I think it’s great that SHAZAM may actually get his due with superb special effects; and hopefully, a top caliber actor like Dwayne Johnson The Rock!!

    On a side note to CBS’s report……I am a manager at two Marriott Hotels in the Columbus, OH area and have noticed for years more and more Women staying with us who were attending Comic-Con, Anime, & Gaming conventions….even my LCS has a decent amount of Women shoppers/buyers, generally you can’t go there at any time without a least one woman in the LCS, which is great!

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