Yet another year of San Diego Comic-Con is in the books, and between all of the cosplay, long lines, and special edition Funko Pops—there is a long line of new trailers that have been rolled out. The coverage of Comic-Con has stretched far and wide among the media’s scope, expanding to television, video games, and movies. Movie studios, especially, have used the weekend to show off the best and brightest of their sci-fi and action movie line-ups, and this year was no different. Marvel (who didn’t release any of their footage publicly) and DC/Warner Brothers were the big draws, as they continue to print money with their superhero movie offerings on TV and the big screen. However, this year they were nearly overshadowed by the return of a horror legend that’s been 16 years in the making. In all, Comic-Con has become the origin of new experiences that captivate both the convention goers and the audience who wait patiently for any type of information to leak. Here are the best trailers of San Diego Comic Con 2016:
Wonder Woman
Before Comic-Con, the Patty Jenkins-directed Wonder Woman was probably the biggest wildcard going into Warner Brothers’ highly anticipated panel. This worked to the movie’s favor, and it quickly became the most talked about trailer of the weekend. Carried by the magnetic presence of its star, Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman has a fierce and stylized trailer worthy of the legendary heroine (who celebrates her 75th Anniversary this year). After stealing the show in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we finally get the backstory to the backbone of the Justice League. Taking place in a war-torn WWI-era Europe, audiences can finally see why she’s a beloved character—and it’s about damn time.
Blair Witch
This was perhaps the biggest surprise of Comic-Con, and the year. The movie, formerly known as The Woods was shrouded in secrecy for months prior to this weekend, and a few lucky attendees (including me!) at the convention this year got to see the actual movie. The devilishly cool sleight of hand with the name notwithstanding, director Adam Winegard’s take on Blair Witch is a slick, and frightening movie that will haunt you for days—and the trailer is a mesmerizing preview of the horrors to come. The Blair Witch is back, and she’s ready to terrorize a new generation of people.
Kong: Skull Island
Who says Godzilla gets to have all the fun? King Kong returns in Kong: Skull Island, and its trailer shows its bevy of stars (Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston) going up against the REAL King of The Jungle. The trailer builds to an awesome reveal of Kong, and shows glimpses the crazy world that he inhabits. And with the knowledge that this movie directly connects to 2014’s Godzilla, it makes me extremely excited to see how it matches up.
King Arthur
A King Arthur movie directed by Guy Ritchie doesn’t seem like something we would want, but after seeing this trailer—I’m all in. The Charlie Hunnam starred movie looks extremely cool, utilizing Ritchie’s quick cuts and hilarious dialogue. The scale of the movie is also extremely massive, mixing sword and sorcery with the measured badassness that you’d expect from a Guy Ritchie movie.
The LEGO Batman Movie
It’s always good to have balance—so to balance out the murdering, brooding Batman from BvS, it’s only right that we get the… brooding, self-centered Batman in The LEGO Batman Movie. All jokes aside, the trailer for this movie perfectly captures the feel of The LEGO Movie in terms of humor and respect to the source material. As with that movie, the sheer technical marvel of seeing the animation in this movie is worth the price of admission, and with a team of hilarious voice actors (including Will Arnett and Michael Cera) to carry the movie—The LEGO Batman Movie looks like another surefire hit.
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Honorable Mentions:
American Gods:
STARZ’ television division has been looking to grasp a stronger hold on the sci-fi demographic—with shows like last year’s Ash vs Evil Dead doing extremely well (and having a huge presence at Comic-Con this year as a result). They’ve pulled out the big guns for American Gods, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name. Brian Fuller and Michael Green are tasked with adapting the book for serialized television, and bringing the war between old Gods and new ones to the small screen. The trailer looks slick and stylized, but doesn’t reveal a whole lot about the show itself. We’ll have to wait and see, but from the trailer, it looks like American Gods could be another home run from STARZ.
(Editor’s note: American Gods is Bobby Hundreds’ Death Sentences Reading Club pick of the month. The book club is open to all, follow us at @deathsentencesreadingclub on Instagram)
Snowden:
The panel for the Oliver Stone directed Snowden starring Joseph Gordon Levitt was one of the most talked about events of the weekend—mostly because of the fact that Edward Snowden himself showed up via satellite to answer questions. The trailer itself is a visual treat, capturing the paranoia, and the danger that surrounds the man who is an enemy of the state. The trailer does its best to promote Snowden as a human, not the monster that he’s been portrayed as—asking the audience to come up with their own answers as to who the man truly is. The movie looks great, but there are still a few questions about how they can handle the biographical aspect of it.
Justice League:
Warner Brothers had a lot to prove this year after the tepid reaction to this year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and in their huge panel they unveiled a short sizzle reel for the movie. The footage is extremely promising, highlighting the relationships between the characters—as Batman/Bruce Wayne works to put the team together—instead of any semblance of plot. The short two minutes shows a movie that is light on its feet, and noticeably less dour, and it seems it was deliberately cut to show director Zack Snyder’s new approach to naysayers instead of trying to sell the actual story of the movie—which ultimately means it’s less of a trailer and more of an apology. The biggest story is if Snyder can win back the people who were turned off by BvS—so we’ll have to wait and see for Justice League.
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