SDCC 2017 Recap
As my third year at San Diego Comic Con attending as press concluded, I couldn’t help but think of the saying “third time’s a charm” because this year seemed to really hit its mark. While I didn’t get to spend much time on the exhibit floor, I was grateful for the opportunities I had in elsewhere, specifically Hall H, which I’ve never experienced before. Because I know everyone reading this has already seen exclusives and read about everything that happened, making this just a bit self-indulgent, but I’m going to go through my highlights of the con day by day.
Wednesday: Preview Night
For me, preview night was about hitting the exhibit floor. Although the MTV booth was replaced with Netflix in one of the year’s biggest changes, I have to admit that it was pretty kick ass. The Netflix booth was decked with swag and a really outstanding experience. Plus, Wednesday was the shortest the line ever was.
As usual, the Marvel booth was packed and stacked, but I still managed to get quite a bit of good posters and swag from them.
Thursday:
My Thursday was split in two; I spent half of my time in Hall H and half of my time in a press room. Hall H started out with an AMAZING sneak peek at Kingsman: The Golden Circle. I still have yet to see the first film, but after seeing the footage shown in Hall H, I’m running to the closest Redbox to watch the first one.
After the Kingsman panel, there was a panel from Kyle Mooney on his new movie Brigsby Bear. The movie looked…. interesting. The panelists, including Beck Bennett, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, spent most of their time trying not to reveal a huge spoiler that happens soon into the movie, which of course convinced me to want to see the movie ASAP.
After that was the Teen Wolf panel. I only had enough time to see if Tyler Posey and Dylan O’Brien sat next to each other (spoiler alert: they did). Then, I rushed over to the press rooms to do interviews with the Shadowhunters and Stitchers cast. All of them can be seen below.
Friday:
Friday was full of press for me. I conducted Teen Wolf interviews, which can be seen below. I also covered the Psych movie and Preacher; the full pieces for those will be up soon! Otherwise, it just a bunch of waiting in line for the next day.
Saturday:
Saturday was something I’ve always wanted to do: HALL H. After finally getting in (after much waiting), the day started with a bang. The WB presentation was pretty off the wall, or should I say on the wall. Not only did they utilize the the big screen at the front of the hall, but they also had screens expand to the left and right of the room which gave their presentations a completely full dimensional look. The panel began with a look at Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.
Then, there was Blade Runner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HyVpieVgTQ
And finally, the DC block concluded by showing a little bit of Aquaman, featuring Jason Mamoa running through the crowd with a trident, and a new trailer for Justice League.
Overall, DC’s presentation was amazing. But I wanted a little more out of the trailers to prove that the movies are going to be great. At this point, we all know they can make a good trailer, but after Batman v Superman, even with Wonderwoman’s success, I find it hard to trust them. However, that won’t stop me from being at the theater when every single movie comes out.
Next, there was an awesome panel with Charlize Theron called Women Who Kick Ass. She talked about, well, how much she kicks ass and every moment was glorious. She was also promoting her new movie Atomic Blonde.
Then came the Stranger Things panel, where they introduced two new cast members, Dacre Montgomery and Sadie Sink, whose characters have not yet been revealed. The kids were absolutely adorable. Then, they knocked everyone out of the water with a new trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgS2L7WPIO4
Then, there was the Westworld block. I’ll be completely honest: I wasn’t entirely paying attention just because I want to start watching the show and I wanted to avoid spoilers. Also, I was mainly hyping myself up for the Marvel panel.
FINALLY, it was Marvel time. All of the Thor footage that was shown looked absolutely amazing, but what really caught my eye was the Black Panther footage and panel. As I sat there with tears in my eyes, I realized I had never seen so many black people on stage for a superhero movie before in my entire life. Growing up black, to me this was very important moment.
Aside from those tears, the tears continued to flow as they decided to show the Infinity War trailer, which I don’t want to say too much about. Although it was already leaked, I can’t wait to re-watch the HD version soon (hopefully please Marvel).
Sunday:
Sunday, as usual, was pretty calm. I was in Hall H for the BBC panels and although I’m not really a fan of the shows, I really enjoyed it. I did a few of the offsite events on this day as well, including the Adult Swim and Wrecked one (which gave out a free beer so that was pretty awesome). I left soon after, though, to beat traffic, but all in all it was a pretty calm day.
As I sit here reflecting a week after SDCC 2017, I’m thinking about how fortunate I was to be able to go. It’s usually stressful leading up to it, but afterward there’s always a big payoff and I’m feeling that now.
Enjoy all of our video coverage here! Hope to see some of you at the next con!