San Diego Comic Con Unofficial Blog

Another comic-con has passed and though it’s only been a day, i’m taking a look back at 5 ways this years con was better than others and 5 ways it could improve. Here we go:

How Comic-Con was better:
1. Better security: For the first year it seemed like security actually knew what was going on. Sure there were some idiots but it was a lot better than previous years.
2. Food: Breakfast Boxes saved my con! The Hilton Bayfront sold $8 Breakfast boxes which were pretty good but saved me an hour each morning. Sure the last one I got didn’t have utensils but they were still a great timesaver!
3. Staffing: The con seemed to have a lot more volunteers this year that were everywhere and helped with everything from crowd control to giving out directions. They were really helpful!
4. Variety: Sure the con has a big variety every year but this year it really started to show! There was music. video games, big TV shows, small Tv Shows, Million dollar hits, and small indies. The con was an amazing hodgepodge this year!
5. Stars: Every year the con gets more star power and this year was no different. Great job with the stars!

How Comic-Con was worse:
1. Strollers: It seemed every parent in San Diego had come out to con with the biggest stroller they could get! They pushed people aside throughout the exhibit hall and used them as their free passes to anywhere. SDCC needs to make a no stroller rule!
2. Timing: They seemed to have a big problem with keeping things on time. Usually H would be 15-30 minutes behind schedule and people outside would have no idea what’s going on. It could also mean missed panels so SDCC really needs to get it together with times!
3. Crowds: There are too many people. I love San Diego but a lot of times this week i felt like i wouldn’t mind vegas that much! 2 hour lines. Complete shut outs. Mass hysteria. All occurred but could have been fixed by more space. Time to solve the problem.
4. Hall H: Hall H was great but they really need to get people in and out faster. The transitions are scheduled for 15 minutes but usually end up at 30. Causing people to get into the panels late! They need to find a way to hurry these lines up!
5. Food: Can we get one real resturant in the convention center? Take away some cookie stands and get in a real place! That’s all i’m asking foor!

Overall it was a great year and I can’t wait till next year but lets make it even better!

Friday was another great day at the con. Though not as busy as other days there was still a lot of fun stuff. Check out the details here:

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

1. Warner Brothers Pictures

-Where the Wild Things Are – This was really a great panel. The kid who plays max was there and great. They showed some clips and a recut of the trailer to wondrous applause. IT looks great and really different and was visually amazing! This was a big hit!

-Book of Eli – First they showed a boring clip to the motion comic and then they showed a pretty bad trailer for the movie but then they had the entire cast. This included Denzel, Gary Oldman, and Mila Kunis! They were great together and the Q&A was way better than the footage. Too bad the movie looks so bad! Gary Oldman also announced that Batman 3 would start shooting next year!

-Nightmare on Elm Street – A pretty scary trailer was shown but there wasn’t much of Haley in the trailer. He was at the panel though and though there were many watchmen questions it was still a decent q&a.

-The Box – A 4 minute trailer was shown that made it look ok. It was hard to judge since it was mostly random weird clips but both Diaz and James Marsden was at the panel and it was a decent q&a.

-Jonah Hex – Trailer was shown. Looked pretty good considering they had such a small budget. It had a very big scale. Brolin and Fox were there and they had a really funny q&a.

-Sherlock Holmes – Extended trailer shown and it looks really cool. Downey was great for the entire panel and drove people insane! People loved the footage and Downey charmed his way through the entire Q&A!

2. Disney Animation

-Toy Story 1 & 2 3D trailer was shown. Sure we’ve seen both movies before but not in 3D!!! (I’m not impressed)

-Beauty and the Beast is coming in 3D!!!! (Big Whoop)

-Ponyo was shown. Looked good but much more mainstream then Miyazaki’s movies. He was there and was given a huge standing ovation!

3. 9

-Missed most of the panel but saw the final trailer that was very impressive and cool!

-They had a lot of star power like Tim Burton and Elijah Wood but that made most of the Q&A questions “I’m your biggest fan”.

-Not as good a panel but still looks like a good movie!

4. District 9/Legion

- Legion – Looks horribly bad. There are angels with machine guns, evil ice cream men, and old killer grandmas. And it’s a completely serious movie. It was just sad!

-District 9 – They showed a 7-minute trailer and it looked really great! Was super intense and looked way better than earlier trailers. Peter Jackson also had his first appearance and made it a good one. He also said that the Hobbit script would be done in 4 weeks and casting would start in 2 months. Overall D-9 looked really good!

Winners: Tie between District 9, Sherlock Holmes, and Where the Wild Things Are!

Flynn’s Arcade:

-This was some of the best marketing I’ve ever seen! You stood outside a discreet building only labeled Flynn’s, you get inside and there are about 20 vintage 80’s arcade games, and you freak out. For about 20 minutes you can play the games while listening to some 80’s tunes and then the Tron Machine opens up and there’s a passage behind it. In the secret hallway there’s production art leading up to the big reveal, a full size light bike! It was awesome and you got to take pics. The score by Daft Punk was also playing and you got a shirt as you left! It was crazy cool and I hope they do it again tomorrow!

Overall it was a very good day!

Follow me on twitter @SD_Comic_con for more updates

And stay tuned tomorrow for another great day!

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!

(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!