You can take your Miyazaki and your Peter Jackson and your Green Lantern. There is nothing bigger at Comic-Con than Twilight. It’s the queen of the castle — because when male nerds like something, it’s one thing, but it takes teenaged girls to really take it on beyond to the next level, with hypersonic shrieking.
Thus, there was some perturbation among old school nerds when it was announced that the AVATAR panel with James Cameron would precede the Twilight panel in Hall H. Or as /film put it: Will Twilight Ruin This Year’s Comic-Con?. Because the Twilighters are so eager to get a glimpse of Robert Pattinson’s pale white English ass, they will probably camp out for as long as the law will allow, and RUIN the Avatar presentation!
Hall H fits 6,000-6,500 people, yet many people were shut out of the opening 20th Century Fox panel, and when the Summit panel began you couldn’t even hear yourself think as four or five thousand Twilight fans screamed in unison. It was a bit sad seeing a 50-year-old Twilight Mom asking a 22-year old Robert Pattinson if he wears boxers or briefs, but Im not writing today to talk about that. When the Summit panel ended, Hall H rapidly emptied, as more than 80% of the people exited the building. The rest of the day/weekend became a lot less stressful. But a lot of the people that wanted to attend the early morning panel missed out.
It does unfair that Avatar watchers will be squeezed out by little girls who don’t give a crap about 3D (although they might have their eyes opened a bit by Cameron’s strong track record for truly empowered and kickass heroines, a tradition that Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana seemed poised to carry on). But the Con gods have listened!
In an act of pure genius, the con has moved around some of there thursday schedule to help us avatar fans. Summit just confirmed to the website Cinematical that their panel has been moved up to 1:45-2:45. Also, the Avatar panel has been moved after the Summit panel to 3pm. This simple switch means that the new moon fanatics can clear out of hall h and not disrupt the avatar panel.
Given that they’re allowing people to stay in the room between events, it seems like it would be obvious to take whatever they anticipate being most popular, most likely to have long lines and people camping out (possibly literally), and put it as early in the day as possible. No matter what demographic is going to make up the audience.
Thanks for the alert, Heidi.
There seems to be a scheduling conflict with Sigourney Weaver.
I’ve sent SDCC the following message: I’ve noticed the AVATAR panel has been moved to a new time of 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. The description says “James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and cast members” will be on the panel. Will Sigourney Weaver, who stars in AVATAR, be on this panel?
I ask because the AVATAR panel overlaps with the Entertainment Weekly: Wonder Women: Female Power Icons in Pop Culture panel set for 3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Weaver is scheduled for this panel as well.
Is she going to be able to do both?
Hmmm…
Another way to handle this? Issue event tickets to each event in Hall H. If you have a ticket to the next event, an usher validates your ticket, and you get to stay in the hall. Otherwise you leave, and either get in line for an event later in the day, or come back later.
Ushers validate tickets for those standing in line outside Hall H 15-30 minutes before the event occurs. If tickets for an event are not handed out in advance, ushers can distribute them at the Hall H entrance.
Hand out tickets at a special outdoor kiosk starting at 6 AM the morning of. Limit of two tickets per event, limit of two events per person in line. (Event limitations can be suspended (but not the number of tickets per person) after ticket line is empty so that all tickets can be distributed. People who were in line can join the stand-by line.)
This system can be made easier (and cooler) by issuing colored rubber wristbands of the “Livestrong” variety. Exhibitors can brand each, preferably in stripes or printed designs (or glow in the dark!) to avoid counterfeits and offense with pre-established color/causes. Ushers need only glance at the wristband to determine validity. Cost per event… $2000. Of course, the more wristbands a geek wears, the more hardcore he or she is.
Oh sweet Jesus, help us. Cripes. Disney has more money then God can’t they fix this?!?!?
My family and I are hoping to attend the Disney panel which we thought was going to be hard to get into before reading this…
Move the Twilight panel OUT of Hall H and somewhere far across town.
Another idea-
Clear the hall out before Twilight. Let the girls get in a separate Twilight line. Clear the hall out before panel starts and let the screaming girls in.
Better yet, rent out Petco. Sell tickets. Seriously. They’ve shown films there before. It’s San Diego in the summer, it won’t rain. Let ’em go there.
Here’s SDCC’s response to my question re the Sigourney Weaver scheduling conflict:
“Hello,
She will probably not be able to do both panels. Just the one she is listed to attend.”
Good to know this.
SDCC realizes how dumb it is to exclude Sigourney Weaver from the AVATAR panel.
The Entertainment Weekly panel has just been moved to an earlier time. Now she can be at both panels.
Good move, organizers!
Apparently, those TWILIGHT fans last year didn’t see that ‘No Gurls Alowwed’ sign in front of Hall H last year… and are again returning this year for NEW MOON?
It’s funny to read about a guy whose focus in attending SDCC is going to the ‘most anticipated film of the year’s presentation (in 3-D!!!) is bemoaning the possibilty that “normal people” would be unable to get one of those Hall H seats because of all those “Twilighters” — ie, fans of a COMPETING Film property also there at the Con.
It’s always fascinating to see Nerd territoriality in action like this.
First they came for the Twilight fans, but I did not care because I had not read the books. Then they came for furries, but I said nothing because they seemed a bit weird…
Sound familiar?
Gripe all you want because a certain group is “ruining” Comic-Con. Complain about Hollywood usurping comics, even though films have been part of SDCC for decades. Complain about “the others/them/those people” who threaten your little fantasy worlds.
But before you do, reach back into your private memory. Recall how others made you feel because you were “different”, because you found escape and enjoyment in other worlds. Remember how it felt to discover that there were other individuals who shared your interests, and that maybe you weren’t so strange after all.
Think about that before you complain about too many girls or mundanes or events you’re not interested in.
(Don’t they see? We won. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, girls and women reading comics, comics in libraries… It’s freakin’ V-E Day and New Years and November Fourth! Let our Geek Flag fly !!)
I officially could care less about Hollywood at comic-con. These schmucks need to find their own festival to market their latest product to.
The Twilight crowd last year is being exaggerated.
Yes, there were a lot of them, they were down front, and they did swoon and scream a bit. But I also recall that the hall was not completely full during that panel.
In fact, there was nothing too unusual about the whole thing — except, of course, that most of the Twilighters were girls and young women.
This is nothing new. Any event which has a large fan following creates these problems. People camped out at least 2 hours before the Hugh Jackman panel a few years ago and there was still a long line trying to get in. A fistfight broke out when people tried to sneak around a line and get into a side door see Halle Barry a few years ago. About 3 years ago I went to see the panel with Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen. I also wanted to see the Stargate panel afterwards anyway. Very few people were there to see the two Rays. After their panel ended the room filled to capacity for Stargate. Getting there at least 2 hours early to see a very popular presentation is now commonplace and not limited to Twilight by any means. This year with Twilight, James Cameron, Star Wars, Dr. Who and more, there will be a lot of that.
“First they came for the Twilight fans, but I did not care because I had not read the books. Then they came for furries, but I said nothing because they seemed a bit weird…
“Sound familiar?
“Gripe all you want because a certain group is ‘ruining’ Comic-Con. Complain about Hollywood usurping comics, even though films have been part of SDCC for decades. Complain about ‘the others/them/those people’ who threaten your little fantasy worlds.
“But before you do, reach back into your private memory. Recall how others made you feel because you were ‘different’, because you found escape and enjoyment in other worlds. Remember how it felt to discover that there were other individuals who shared your interests, and that maybe you weren’t so strange after all.
“Think about that before you complain about too many girls or mundanes or events you’re not interested in.
“(Don’t they see? We won. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, girls and women reading comics, comics in libraries… It’s freakin’ V-E Day and New Years and November Fourth! Let our Geek Flag fly !!)”
Bravo! :D
Amen, Torsten Adair! Let the fan without any actual fan obsession cast the first stone, ne? Otherwise, let their be peace and tolerance among the fandoms — especialy since there’s a lot of overlap! Those Twilighters may very well be interested in Avatar as well — I’m a Twilighter, and *I* am!
Bookmarked your blog and will be checking back in abit for new stuff! Tata!
@trav nope, not like that