Warner Bros. has just announced their big Comic-Con 2014 lineup and it looks like they’re leaving Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at home.
The studio’s heavy-hitters in Hall H this year have been officially revealed to be Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies and Jupiter Ascending, which was supposed to be released before Comic-Con this summer but was pushed back to a February 6, 2015 release date at the last minute.
Warner Bros. will kick off their panel at 10am PST on Saturday, July 26th. The Hobbit director Peter Jackson is scheduled to appear on stage, as is Mad Max director George Miller, who will be presenting a “First Look” at the long-awaited fourth film in his post-apocalyptic franchise. Acting talent will be announced at a future date, but as is typical of a Hall H presentation from a major studio, we anticipate a few surprises. Remember when they announced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice last year? Nobody saw that coming.
Related: First Look: Henry Cavill in Batman v Superman
Which makes us wonder, of course, whether the conspicuous absence of Batman v Superman on Warner Bros. official press release (via Coming Soon) is just another smoke-screen, so that any sort of Hall H appearance from the film’s director and/or cast members – or any amount of footage whatsoever – will make headlines.
Then again, Warner Bros. completely snubbed Comic-Con several years ago, when Hall H failed to yield any appearances or footage from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Pundits assumed then that the lack of promotion was because Warner Bros. was keeping their plans a secret, when the truth of the matter was, they had no plans whatsoever.
The same could hold true this year, since the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is still almost two years away, and the studio may not want to build up too much buzz too early and risk wearing out the fans’ enthusiasm. Besides, it would only detract from the major releases Warner Bros. has coming up in the interim, and with Jupiter Ascending looking increasingly like a gamble, and Mad Max: Fury Road jumpstarting a franchise that hasn’t had a new installment in decades, they could very well want to give them the spotlight instead.
This Week in Film News – Week Ending 04/11/14
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
This Week in Film News – Week Ending 07/11/14
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