The Weigh In #61

Too much time off makes Dana’s brain lose oxygen…

This fourth of July weekend I really have done a lot of creative thinking. So this week I put together something to look forward in the next few weeks. Pardon the four day brain fart. It won’t happen again. Well probably not.

With the release of Superman Returns came an unexpected surprise to pretty much everyone. Marvel released a Spiderman 3 teaser trailer, a little over a year before its release date. Although it seems a little early, it does kind of make sense that Marvel would use the biggest superhero movie of the year to build anticipation for next year’s most anticipated superhero film. I can live with that. The head scratcher came a few days later when Michael Bay and company released a teaser trailer for Transformers: The Movie; release date: 7/4/2007. This seems completely random to me. There are two main points in the year when major studios traditionally start releasing news and teasers to build anticipation for the next year’s films. The first: Comic-con-International-San Diego, with the second being the Superbowl. While the latter is eight months away, the former is actually just around the corner.

Comic Con International, San Diego and the onset of convention season:

While there is really no official starting date to convention season, it is generally considered from mid-March to September with a few stragglers in October and November. The biggest conventions are sponsored by Wizard and are held in Chicago, Philadelphia, L.A., and Dallas. While all of these shows are hotly anticipated for their preview news, none of them compare in scope and size to Comic Con International, San Diego. Considered the grand master of all conventions, this one is held this year on July 20-23rd. San Diego is the Mecca for comic book fans and internet reporters. If you don’t have hotel reservations and tickets to the show by now you might as well hang tight and check back for our site’s coverage of this event.

Enough of the comic book talk, this is supposed to be a movie article, what in the world does this have to do with movie articles? If I wanted to read about comic books, I’d read another article. Don’t make me abandon you right in the middle of what could eventually be a point.

Ahem, for quite a while now major movie studios have been using these conventions to talk to fan boys about their latest sci-fi or action hero film. Over the last few years though, movie studios have taken note of the built in audience and are now using these conventions (especially San Diego) to push and promote films released at the end of the summer and into the New Year. It is not uncommon to see Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie talking about their latest picture next to a 20-foot tall comic book villain. This is the place where George Lucas first showed the first pieces of the last Star Wars film and Brian Singer flew in from Australia just to get fans excited about the Superman movie. Major and minor studios will spend large amounts of money to get out bits of information about their next summer blockbuster. Normally when comic book conventions come and go I don’t get too excited about them and if I really have nothing else to talk about, I may mention them in my article. This year though, as a writer of film and television (I have a pillow from my mom that says so) I am going to bring you all the news and rumors I can dig up in my article following the convention. Lord help me, that means I have to actually plan one of these things.

Anyways, till next time…

This weekend at your local multiplex (7/7/2006):

Pirates of the Caribbean-Dead Man’s Chest: Action/Adventure
Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skaarsgard, Jonathon Pryce, Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy
Plot: Jack Sparrow (Depp) made a blood oath with the legendary Davey Jones, and must enlist the help of Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) to pay back the debt, all while trying to keep from ruining their wedding.
Buzz: With the success of the original, Dead Man’s Chest is the most anticipated movie of the year and is expected to end up at the top of the box office.

This week on DVD (7/4/2006):

The Matador
The Libertine
Doctor Who (season 1)
Stoned (unrated)
Charlie’s Angels (season 3)
My Tutor

As always, send all of your hate mail and loving adoration to DPlace76@yahoo.com. You can check out my random musings at www.livejournal.com/bigdpimpin. To learn about all of the new adventures of the Stumblebum crew go to www.myspace.com/stumblebumstudios.