The Hollywood sheets were abuzz with word of Fox canceling their planned San Diego presentation:
The studio pulled out of Comic-Con on Wednesday, just a week shy of the massive movie fan convention in San Diego, canceling its star- and filmmaker-studded panel, saying clips from its slate of effects-heavy films just aren’t ready.
The panel was to spotlight Jumper, directed by Doug Liman (ALWAYS A RED ALERT) the latest in the Aliens vs. Predator franchise; Vin Diesel’s Babylon A.D., and Hitman. THE DARK IS RISING from Fox-Walden was also scheduled to be previewed.
Amidst the chaos, one doughty division soldiered on!
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.”
Yeah, baby. We never say die. Death march to Bataan Diego? Bring it on.
UPDATE: According to CHUD the con didn’t want Fox to show R-rated materials after they showed Borat’s naked hotel fight last year.
UPDATE: I have received a couple of emails from Fox insiders who have explained to me what happened with Fox at Comic Con this year. What I’ve been told is that after last year’s Borat presentation, which had that scene of Borat and friend fighting in the nude, relations between San Diego Comic Con and Fox were strained. Says one of my scoopers:
They told Fox that there was absolutely to be no R rated materials during the presentations. The trouble with that is that all of the film’s on Fox’s slate are R rated, with Aliens Vs. Predator finishing up a red band trailer. (I’m not sure about Jumper’s rating, but in typical Liman fashion that film has a long way to go before the editors can make sense of it.) Anyway they said the cost of a couple hundred grand just wasn’t worth it when they could just release all the stuff on the internet
Any question, Death Sentence comic?! he would be wonderful.
Please stop making light of the Death March to Bataan. This is the second time I have read you reference such a horrible event with a flippant remark. As the family member of a survivor of the march, it makes me a little angry.