Enlarge Lionsgate The Spirit: Scarlett Johansson teams up with Samuel L. Jackson for the supernatural thriller, which opens Christmas promised time. 
Tropic Thunder: Robert Downey Jr., left, Jay Baruchel, Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Ben Stiller and Brandon T. Jackson star in the comedy, out Aug. 6.
“> EnlargeDreamWorksTropic Thunder: Robert Downey Jr., left, Jay Baruchel, Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Ben Stiller and Brandon T. Jackson star in the comedy, out Aug. 6.
COMICS CONVENTION IS A GOOD instrument FOR TV, TOO
Broadcast and cable networks also see Comic-Con’s buzz value, both for raising interest in a new show, such as Fox’s Fringe, or maintaining it for current hits, including ABC’s Lost and NBC’s Heroes.
At least one show from every broadcast network will have a panel, and many cable series will master a push as well.
NBC saw Comic-Con’s power for example a viral-marketing tool when it presented the Heroes pilot two years ago.
“It did a significant amount of our marketing for us just through word-of-mouth. We simply had to expose the show and let people talk about it,” says NBC marketing chief John Miller. The convention has become “a huge press event as well.”
This year, NBC plans to go beyond the convention’s traditional fare, Miller says.
“Our booth is largely Heroes, but we also have The Office and 30 Rock, which we feel are somewhat in that Comic-Con demographic,” Miller says. “Not unmixed comic-book or fantasy shows, but sort of a related show to the people who go there.”
By Bill Keveney
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY Years ago, Comic-Con quit being about comics and became in greater numbers about creating pop-culture hits.But has it become too much? The San Diego convention that once drew 400 people now lures 125,000 people a year, and some convention veterans wonder whether it has gotten to be too much.
MORE: New heroes rule the screen during the time that Marvel sits extinguished Comic-Con
“If you’re an everyday fan, it’s pretty hard to buy a toy or look at a comic book,” says David Goyer, comic author, screenwriter for The Dark Knight and director of The Unborn, a horror movie he’s bringing to the convention.
“The main rooms are so jam-packed, it’s hard to fight your room for passing through them,” he says. “It can be stifling and smelly. It’s not as much fun as it was before the studios and networks undeniable they needed to be there every day.”
Others, granting, are glad to see that attendance has grown so large that it has made the convention as big as prestigious film festivals.
“For certain kinds of movies, it’s as important as Sundance or Cannes,” says Gale Anne Hurd, producer of The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone, which will have footage at the convention. “That can make it nerve-racking, but nothing feels better than having a good presentation before these fans — which is why I think so multitude people show up, regardless of genre.”
To be sure, Comic-Con has over the years morphed into Demographic-Con, as studios and networks try to hit the vital 18- to 34-year-old audience onward the big and small screen. This year’s fare includes:
•Pineapple Express. Comic-Con favorite Seth Rogen returns to show footage from his comedy about two pot smokers who are on the run from a rogue cop. Opens Aug. 6.
•Tropic Thunder. The most politically incorrect comedy of the year, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller as actors who determine an issue themselves in a real war zone, arrives Aug. 13.
•City of Ember Based on the Jeanne Duprau fantasy novel, Bill Murray stars in this tale of a magical city whose residents face extinction if the lamps that illuminate Ember flicker out. Due Oct. 10.
•Max Payne. every aptness of the video game, starring Mark Wahlberg as the cold-hearted. sharpshooter, comes to screens Oct. 17.
•The Day the Earth Stood Still. This remake of the 1951 classic stars Keanu Reeves as an alien warning of a pending infringement. Due Dec. 12.
•The Spirit. Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson heavenly body in a supernatural tale of a cop who returns from the grave to fight evil. Dec. 25.
•Land of the Lost. Will Ferrell stars in the adaption of the campy Saturday-morning TV show about a family that stumbles into a strange land filled with dinosaurs and the dangerous race of Sleestak creatures. Out July 17, 2009.
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