It’s that time of the year again, where all things cool and nerdy descend upon San Diego for the annual San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). This year is especially interesting, with DC Universe really making its move to shake up the popular Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU); it follows up the recent success of Wonder Woman with the upcoming Justice League movie and Aquaman. Meanwhile, MCU shows no signs of slowing down, with Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther and more heading our way. Our Catchplay editors will be heading up to the 2017 SDCC to give a special report, so look out for their updates on 21 and 24 July. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at four highlights to look forward to at the Con.
What will the Marvel Cinematic Universe reveal?
The MCU is practically a mainstay at the SDCC now, with Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige leading the news announcements at the panel everyone wants a part of. This year, the Marvel Studios panel will be 90 glorious minutes long, and likely to feature the cast from an upcoming Marvel movie. As to what, we’re still not sure. What we’re pretty confident though, are more on upcoming releases like Thor: Ragnarok (opening in November) and Black Panther, slated for Feb 2018. With the recent Spider-Man: Homecoming promising us the web-slinger’s return in the future, will Feige disclose more on that? We’re also hoping for more on the Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Infinity War movie. Finally, it’ll be Marvel’s 10th Anniversary next year, will they reveal something major?
Date: 22 July 2017, Saturday
Time: 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Where: Hall H
Warner Bros releases its Blockbusters
While MCU is tight-lipped about its releases, Warner Brothers does the opposite. We can expect two DCEU instalments, Aquaman and Justice League, and two major releases, Blade Runner 2049 and Ready Player One, at the Warner Bros/ DC panel. Joss Whedon, who’s taking over directing Justice League from Zack Snyder, will not make an appearance at SDCC, but we’re definitely excited to see more of Jason Momoa in Aquaman. With Wonder Woman performing to great box office success, we’re hoping the studio will update on more of her in the new Justice League movie. Steven Spielberg will make an appearance at the panel as well, disclosing more about his new movie, Ready Player One. He will be joined by the movie’s main cast of Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, and T.J. Miller and screenwriters, Cline and Zak Penn. Another exciting movie on the panel is Blade Runner 2049. Harrison Ford will grace the panel alongside Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks and Robin Wright.
Date: 22 July 2017, Saturday
Time: 11:00am to 12:00pm
Where: Hall H
Deadpool 2, and more X-Men for 20th Century Fox?
While we don’t exactly know what Fox is bringing to the panel, we can make some educated guesses. Deadpool 2 seems like a pretty good bet, with a summer 2018 release. Hopefully, the cast will make an appearance. With the New Mutants cast reveal not too long ago and filming just underway, details of the movie have been skimp. It’ll be great if Fox can share more on it, as well as the other X-men movies in the pipeline. Beyond all things mutant, we are looking forward to see more of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, releasing in September. Fox also has Shane Black’s Predator and the latest instalment of the Maze Runner, which are on our wish list of films to see at the panel.
Date: 20 July 2017, Thursday
Time: 11:30am to 12:30pm
Where: Hall H
Reinventing Horror: What’s Next in Film and Comics
Horror is a genre that’s increasingly popular, and we’re not just talking about the gory Friday the 13th or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre types. When Saw first came out, it delivers a combination of horror, mystery and thriller that redefined the horror genre. This year will see the Saw series’ eighth instalment- Jigsaw, on the silver screen in October. Jigsaw directors Peter and Michael Spierig will be at the Reinventing Horror Panel, along with Jigsaw, Tobin Bell, himself. Other panellists here include writer-directors Justin Benson & Aaron Moorehead (The Endless and Spring), director-writer Roxanne Benjamin (XX, Southbound), Matteo Pizzolo (CalExit writer and Black Mask Studios publisher) and more. We could expect these folks to share more about the evolution of horror movies and what kind of “horror” awaits us in the near future.
Date: 21 July 2017, Friday
Time: 5:00pm to 6:00pm
Where: Room 23ABC
