San Diego Comic Con Unofficial Blog

Though not as jam packed, Saturday was still a very exciting day at the con! Here are the highlights:

Lost: Lost was one of the best panels of the con for many reasons. Heres my rundown from twitter:
New logo w/ every charaters evr! Marketing for “lost unviersity online”. New trailer w/ old clips. Fan appreciation day. Great montage o Fan videos. Many characters from 1 season will be in new season. Unpredictablily is key to new season! Theme song winner shown, was great. Kates stepfather isn’t dead! Jorge/Hurley was there w/ Emerson. Were really funny! Everythin important answered. Alpert was there and funny. Holloway surprise appearence! Tribute to all dead characters!Dominic/Charlie surprise apperaence. Great, funny panel. Fans love it!

Extract: Extract looks look a quite funny movie from Mike Judge. They showed a couple clips and they got funnier and funnier as the panel went on. The panle had Judge, Kunis, and Jason Bateman and each was really funny. Overall it was a good panel for a good looking comedy!

Sony:
-Zombieland – A big hit at the con, this movie looks really good. A quirky hybrid of horror and comedy it seems like it will be a great movie. The cast was in attendence and Harrelson, thjough wierd, was pretty entertaining! A new trailer and clips were shown and the audience loved it! A big hit at the con!
-2012 – This movie is all about effects. End of story. Though the effects loook great the plot is so stupid and everything is so propesterous the movie just looks really bad. A pretty big dissapointment.

Iron Man 2 – The final panel of the day was a big hit. They showed off an impressive clip/trailer full of great stuff. Though it didnt appear as though they had much done what they did have made the movie look great. They had almost the whole cast an though many of them didnt say much, Downey realy stole the show and it still was a great panel.

Winner: Clearly Iron Man 2

Stay tuned later today for more SDCC wrap-up!

Thursday got the con kicked off to a great start! Heres the details:

Photos: Check out all my photos at http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad225/SDCC_Blog/

Panel Highlights:

1. Disney:

-Tron Legacy – New title revealed, pre-production pics (see them on photo link), cool new test footage, test footage from last year in 3D, 2D scene from movie shown. Daft Punk doing scoring. Test footage was cool and 2D scene was interesting but it’s too early to really tell. Should be huge next year though.

-Alice in Wonderland – Short trailer shown 3 TIMES! IT was worth it though! Great trailer set to time to pretend by MGMT. Johnny Depp showed up to say 3 words and then left. Tim Burton was fun. Not much footage but what was there looked great!

-A Christmas Carol – Robert Zemeckis showed off a clip/tailer thing and it looked really cool! More scarry and creepy then i expected and it had some great 3D. Not as good as the rest of the panel but it still looked good!

(I published this story late thursday night and didnt have time to revise it. Please disregard grammar/spelling mistakes)

So the con kicked off in full and crazy swing tonight with preview night! The first thing I noticed when I arrived at 11 AM, there were already 20 people lined up for twilight! THIS IS CRAZY! The other thing is people were already lining up to get there badges. So at around 2:30 I got my badge. The line was already huge and after waiting for three hours we were finally let in, into the madness!

It was by far the most crowded preview night ever and i would even wager that it is the most packed the exhibit hall will be all of the con. you could barely move around and when you could, you could barely control it. There were huge lines for everything but here are some highlights/lowlights about preview night at Comic-Con 2009:

(View all my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdccblog/ – I will add titles/descriptions later)

1.- Long Lines! Remember that cool zombie shirt? 2 hours to get it! Giant WB Bags? Coulden’t even find the end of the line. There were lines everywhere any sometimes you wouldent even know what they were for. It was a bit insanse but i guess its just part of the con now!

2.-More games! Though video games have been at the con for a while this is the first year it has really been big. i played lost planet 2, lego rock band, and ratchet & clank but there where of 30 different games and they were at many different booths.

3.-Heroes? I believe NBC made a big no no. Though the premiere for the Volume 4 trailer was supposed to be at the panel Saturday it was playing nonstop at the booth. Is this a different trailer or did NBC just spoil the heroes panel? I guess we’ll know on Saturday!

4.-Shopping! There was lots of shopping. Everywhere you went there were tons of stores selling anything you could imagine. There was a lot of money being spent there!

5.-Avatar! The avatar mech was really impressive but i heard a couple people talking about how it was part of a last airbender marketing campeign! Time to get worried fox!

6.-Strollers and kids! Why did every parent have to take little kids and strollers. they would use them to plow through the con and the little kids would sneak between your legs and take the free stuff! those dang kids!

7.-Big Bags! though i didnt get one it seemed like everyone there had a giant bag. I guess because there the hot con swag item but it seems like now theyre being overproduced by every company there! We need less giant bags! They are conveinint but they take up so much space!

8.-Better Red Shirts! The security people (known for there red shirts) actually seemed pretty competent this year. They knew where to send you and when. They knew what to control and they actually helped out. This is a nice improvement and i hope it continues!

9.-Good booths- It seems like companys are really getting good at this booth stuff and now almost every major company has a great booth! My highlights:

- Miramax puts you inside the Extract Trailer

- Warner Bros. has a Where the Wild Things Are authentic wooden hut

- Sony has lots of giveaways all 360 degrees of their booth

- Lego has exclusives, lots of sets, building stations, and huge lego statues which are really cool!

10.-Fun! It was still a great time and it loks to be a great con!

Tomorrow is a crazy day for movies. Stay tuned to SDCC Blog for all the coverage you want!

This fall’s top anticipated horror-comedy film, Zombieland, will hit theatres on October 9th, but attendees to the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con Conference will get an early taste of what’s to come. Once on the convention floor, watch out for groups of sexy scandalously clad zombies who come baring free gifts. Check out these Zombieland Comic-Con 2009 Memorabilia shirts, that you can only get from the Zombie Hotties at SDCC:

Zombieland Comic-Con 2009 Shirt:

Additionally, Columbia Pictures has teamed up with Zombiewalk: San Diego to take over the streets of Downtown San Diego on the evening of Thursday, July 23rd. Comic-Con attendees will be invited to get “Zombified” for free with

the help of a team of professional special effects makeup artists at the Sony Pictures Entertainment Booth (#4313) inside the San Diego Convention Center all day Thursday, July 23rd beginning at 10am. SDCC’s Zombie population will take to the streets at 7:30pm. Participants in the Zombieland Zombiewalk will have the opportunity to score VIP Tickets to a Zombieland screening in their hometown, plus additional Zombieland merchandise. For more details on the Zombieland Zombiewalk, please visit www.sdzombiewalk.com.

Check out the trailer for Zombieland at www.zombieland.com. In theatres October 9th.

Via San Diego News Network

Los Angeles, Anaheim and Las Vegas are trading punches with San Diego in the fight for Comic-Con, the mega-entertainment event that currently calls San Diego home.

Managers from the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau (LACVB), Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau (AOCVCB) and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) all confirmed they have been actively pursuing Comic-Con organizers to possibly relocate to their cities.

“There’s no question that we have pursued that business,” said Michael Krouse, senior vice president sales at LACVB. “We would just be foolish not to. It’s a perfect piece of business for us.”

“We continue to be in talks with the Comic-Con staff,” said Elaine Cali, a spokesperson for Anaheim/Orange County Visitors Bureau.

“We have had conversations with management of Comic-Con,” said Jeremy Handel, a spokesperson for LVCVA.

But all three said nothing concrete had come of talks with Comic-Con.

San Diego continues to win this year’s round. Comic-Con takes place at the San Diego Convention Center this year from July 23-26, with a sold-out crowd of 126,000 participants. But space is limited and the City is pushing to expand.

By contract, the San Diego Convention Center has the homegrown event locked in through 2012. After that, it’s anyone’s game.

That’s why other cities have been wooing the lucrative event since at least 2007, and continue to maintain contact each year.

Convention managers at Los Angeles and Las Vegas boast a mixed bag of advantages over San Diego:
— larger convention facilities
— more seating halls
— greater parking capacity
— more hotel selection
— competitive prices.

The Packed San Diego Convention Center

Los Angeles

Los Angeles managers hosted Comic-Con organizers for a tour of the facilities in late 2007, said Krouse. Since then, LACVB has had a dedicated manager for the account and staff members who visit the San Diego event each year.

“We have never stopped pursuing them,” Krouse said.

Krouse said Los Angeles’ main advantage is space, allowing Comic-Con to grow far beyond its current limits in San Diego.

Los Angeles’ larger capacity

The area surrounding the convention center, called L.A. Live, spans 27 acres. The one-block radius of the convention center also creates a “campus” for convention-goers. Krouse said the total capacity would enable Comic-Con to add up to 20,000 more attendees than at the San Diego Convention Center.

The Los Angeles facilities include:

— L.A. Convention Center, with 1 million square feet

— Staples Center, a 20,000-seat hall where the Michael Jackson memorial was held

— Nokia Theater, a 7100-seat hall where American Idol finals take place

— Nokia Plaza, an outdoor area which holds up to 40,000 people, for events such as the Grammy and Emmy award ceremonies

Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center is maxed out at 126,000 attendees. (Photo courtesy San Diego Convention Center)
— Parking capacity of 20,000 within an eight-minute walk

— A large dining district

— A chain of 14 cinema halls

— Hotels with 5,000 rooms within eight blocks

— Hotels with about 94,000 rooms in Los Angeles County

— An underground subway linking to outlying areas

“We would allow them the ability to expand,” Krouse said. “Being the entertainment capital of the world, that’s a big selling benefit to an organization like Comic-Con.”

Los Angeles lower price

The price for all this?

“$1,000 for the entire length of the stay,” Krouse said.

Huh?

“The convention center discount policy allows us to provide the convention center for $1,000,” he said.

The caveat: “They have to produce sleeping rooms,” Krouse said. The city allows the convention center to sell at a deep discount for events that promise a large number of hotel guests.

“It’s all about tax revenue,” Krouse said. “It presents a great business opportunity for us from a tax point of view.”

Hotel room tax in Los Angeles is 14 percent — compared to San Diego’s 10.5 percent. Consumer sales tax is 9.75 percent — 1.50 percent more than the State sales tax, and 2 percent higher than San Diego’s 7.75 percent.

Krouse noted that Comic-Con pays “significantly more” rent at the San Diego Convention Center.

Los Angeles related events

As more Hollywood producers launch movies at Comic-Con, the event has grown in importance to the entertainment industry as a whole. This makes Los Angeles an ideal location, said Krouse.

In addition, Los Angeles also has the advantage of hosting other synergistic events, said Krouse. These include:

— Anime Expo, a convention that draws 50,000 attendees, produced by the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation

If you were Comic-Con, which city would you choose? (Graphic by Steven Bartholow)
— E3 Expo, an event attracting 50,000 participants, for the entertainment and gaming software industry.

“They all have crossover because they do gaming related to anime, gaming related to software,” said Krouse. “That’s why the entertainment connection is so important to these shows.”

Las Vegas

Comic-Con has also considered Las Vegas as a possible new location, said Handel, an LACVA spokesperson. Comic-Con organizers contacted LACVA to find out about possibilities in summer 2008, and LACVA sent a manager to visit the San Diego event that year.

LACVA also has a sales manager assigned to the account, with some discussion continuing in winter 2008, said Handel. But so far, “there has been no formal development,” he said.

Las Vegas has the capacity and experience for Comic-Con to grow, said Handel.

Las Vegas facilities

The City’s facilities include:

— Las Vegas Convention Center, with 2 million square feet

— Sands Expo and Convention Center, with 1.5 million square feet

— Mandalay Bay Convention Center, with 1.5 million square feet

— Four-mile hotel corridor with numerous ballrooms, meetings and theater space.

— Citywide exhibition and meeting space of 10 million square feet

— Hotel rooms with 140,000 units citywide

Tax rates in Las Vegas are lower than Los Angeles, though still higher than San Diego. The hotel tax is 12 percent; sales tax is 8.1 percent.

The convention center is also more expensive. At 29 cents per square foot, it costs $580,000 per day to rent out the entire two-million-square-foot center. That’s $2.32 million for four days.

“We’re a public facility, so we don’t have the opportunity to negotiate the rates,” said Handel. But private convention centers can negotiate, he added.

Las Vegas trade show experience

Las Vegas also has experience in hosting trade shows, said Handel. The city ranks number one in number of trade shows per year in the U.S., including many broadcast and magic industry shows, he said.

“We’re the trade show capital of the world,” Handel said.

The Las Vegas visitors’ bureau has maintained contact with Comic-Con.

“It would be a great experience for Las Vegas, as well as Comic-Con to bring in a show of that size and that nature,” Handel said.

Anaheim

The Anaheim Convention Center in Orange County has been discussion with Comic-Con for more than a decade, said Elaine Cali, a spokesperson for AOCVCB.

“It’s been an ongoing conversation,” she said.

Although the convention square footage is large — 1.6 million square feet — the number of attendees is limited to 90,000 over four days, smaller than the San Diego Convention Center. The number of hotel rooms in the county is also comparable to San Diego — 55,000.

One of the advantages of Anaheim is the variety of hotel price points for visitors – ranging from family-affordable to deluxe accommodations, said Cali.

L.A. also had this advantage. In contrast, San Diego visitors tend to have fewer options for affordable hotel rooms, Krouse said.

Graphic by Steven Bartholow

By: Helen Kaiao Chang