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Fox Pulls Out of COMIC CON
By: Jarrod Sarafin, News EditorDate: Thursday, July 19, 2007
Source: The La Times
Strange things are going on with Fox lately. First, earlier in the week, the Chicago Film Critics Association began a boycott on all Fox movies due to what they call "unfair" treatment. You can read that right here.
Now, Fox Studios is pulling out of Comic Con 2007 just a week before the show opens. What's the reasoning behind the Fox pullout? They're saying they don't have the "material" to support their panel exhibits.
From the LA TIMES:
Fox movies pulled from the schedule are "Jumper," directed by Doug Liman and starring Hayden Christensen; directors Colin and Greg Strause's update to the popular "Aliens vs. Predator" franchise; the Vin Diesel action film "Babylon A.D."; and "Hitman," starring Timothy Olyphant, based on the wildly popular video game of the same name.
"Fox is not going to be able to participate in Comic-Con this year," said Sean Dudas, the studio's vice president of national publicity on Wednesday. "The material wasn't ready and we only want to go out when we can put our best foot forward."
The last-minute cancellation is something of a upset as the major Hollywood film studios and their requisite genre divisions have increasingly made the annual trek to Comic-Con to launch and tease eagerly anticipated films and franchises, such as "Spider-Man," "300," and "The Chronicles of Narnia" directly to fans and media. An estimated 123,000 will be attending the convention.
This year Paramount and DreamWorks, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., New Line, Lionsgate and others have announced star-filled panels, screenings, sneak peeks and major promotional events.
"Obviously, we will have to find other ways to get materials out to the fans and hopefully those will be ready soon," Dudas added.
In addition to debuting clips from "Jumper," "Aliens vs. Predator 2," "Hitman," "Babylon A.D.," the studio had planned to tease Fox-Walden's "The Dark Is Rising," and "City of Ember." Fox-Walden did not return calls seeking comment.
Fox Atomic, the studio's youth-oriented genre division, still plans to hold raffles and giveaways around the Kevin Bacon film "Death Sentence" and the Rainn Wilson picture "The Rocker." The boutique division is also showing a line of graphic novels based on "28 Days Later," "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Nightmare Factory."
David Glanzer, Comic-Con's director of marketing and public relations, said the cancellation was surprising.
"Every major studio usually has a presence at Comic-Con so for Fox to pull out a week before is very unusual," Glanzer said, adding that organizers were still trying to figure out how to fill the studio's time slot. "We're still going back and forth. We have in excess of 350 hours of programming so scheduling is like a giant Rubik's Cube. Otherwise, this year every major studio has committed to show up and participate."
What do you think, Maniacs? Not enough material to show for ALIENS vs PREDATOR, DARK IS RISING, etc? Didn't Vin Diesel's own website show plenty of material for BABYLON A.D last month?
