It’s February, so you know what that means: it's time to start making preparations for this summer’s Comic-Con. Public badges for SDCC 2013 went on sale this morning and, quite amazingly, completely sold out in an hour and a half. Indeed, demand for Comic-Con only seems to be growing as time goes on, and it appears that thousands of fans will be descending on San Diego this coming July to catch a sneak peek of upcoming film and TV fare and to peruse the ginormous convention floor for some geek-friendly finds.
Last year was my second time to attend SDCC, but I found that the lines and overall madness descending on Hall H had grown exponentially since the previous year. My more experienced colleagues confirmed that demand for the 6500 seater was higher and crazier than ever before. If these badge sales are any indication, the nuttiness is likely to continue this year. Hit the jump as we wildly speculate about which films and TV shows might be making hosting panels at Comic-Con 2013.
No official programming has yet to be announced for SDCC 2013, but as we move closer towards July it feels like a good opportunity to start speculating as to which films and TV shows might be offering sneak peaks in Hall H this year. Again, absolutely none of this is confirmed or even rumored.
Last year was the first Comic-Con that held TV panels in Hall H on days other than Sunday, and it proved to be a pretty enormous success. I imagine we’ll see the return of Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory, and Doctor Who to Hall H this year. As for new shows, I’m not sure there are any monster successes to make the leap straight to Hall H, but I expect NBC’s hit genre series Revolution will have a presence at the convention in some capacity.
As for films, I’d be shocked if Marvel didn’t host a panel for November’s Thor: The Dark World. At last year’s Comic-Con they only had footage from Iron Man 3 that was available to show off, so they used the rest of the panel to announce their Phase Two lineup. I would hope that Marvel would at least give us a brief look at Captain America: The Winter Soldier this year, since that film comes out in April 2014. They’ll likely save most of Guardians of the Galaxy for 2014’s Comic-Con since that film opens in August of next year, but it’s possible we could get a small look at that movie as well.
Another safe bet is a preview of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Summit/Lionsgate will want to fill that Twilight void, and Catching Fire’s November release date provides them with the perfect opportunity to kick the pic’s marketing campaign into high gear. Summit would also do well to bring the adaptation of the beloved Ender’s Game, which opens in November, and Lionsgate could bring their graphic novel adaptation I, Frankenstein which opens in September. I wouldn’t be surprised if Robert Rodriguez pulled double-duty with Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, since both of those films come out later this year. I also expect that Screen Gems will bring the remake of Carrie to tease horror fans in anticipation of the film’s October release.
Warner Bros. has plenty of material to choose from for their panel, and you can probably go ahead and pencil in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for one of the spots. I’m sincerely hoping we’re granted a peek at Alfonso Cuaron’s highly anticipated sci-fi film Gravity, and I’d be surprised if they didn’t offer a look at the fantasy pic The Seventh Son. The Tom Cruise-fronted March sci-fi actioner All You Need Is Kill is also a possibility, as is the untitled Godzilla reboot which opens in May. My fingers are also crossed for the animated comedy Lego, opening in February.
Universal could be bringing the September release Riddick, but a safer bet is the Keanu Reeves samurai pic 47 Ronin, which opens in December. There’s also Jurassic Park 4 which is slated for release in June of 2014, but that film still has no director so I’m not sure that release date is going to stay firm much longer.
Fox has some biggies on tap for 2014, including X-Men: Days of Future Past and the sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. There will likely be an uprising if Bryan Singer doesn’t show up for X-Men, and given that the project starts filming in April he should have something to preview from the movie. At the very least, it’d be cool to see a lineup of X-Men castmembers new and old on the Hall H stage.
Sony’s early 2014 releases include the RoboCop remake and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I expect at least Spider-Man will be making a Comic-Con appearance. Then Paramount has Darren Aronofsky's Noah, Transformers 4, and 2013’s Jack Ryan and the Anchorman sequel to choose from (this is San Diego, after all), so hopefully they pop up as well.
Again, no official announcements for Comic-Con panels have been made, but the above is a preview of some of the biggest material the studios have coming up from the second half of 2013 and the first half of 2014. Look for more than a few of these films to have a presence at SDCC, and as always stay tuned to Collider in late July for all of our extensive convention coverage.
