Comics Fans Live a Film Fantasy

First-time attendees at the San Diego Comic-Con International-the world’s largest gathering of comics, science-fiction and fantasy buffs-could be excused for wondering on which planet they had just landed.

Inside the city’s cavernous convention center, exhibitors in Hawaiian shirts (the Con’s unofficial uniform) rubbed elbows with fans decked out as Klingons, Hobbits and “Star Wars” Storm Troopers, while mutton-chopped wannabe Wolverines and black-lipped goths co-mingled with T-shirted tourists and nuclear families from all over the world.

Despite their outward differences, however, the estimated 70,000 attendees of the 32nd annual convention, which ran from Thursday through Sunday, had one thing in common: They all buy movie tickets. For that reason, Hollywood has increasingly come to view the event as a one-stop marketing venue for films with a fantasy or sci-fi bent.

“These are definitely the hard-core fans,” notes Valerie Pappas, director of national promotions for New Line Cinema, which was touting its upcoming epic adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” “These are the moviegoers, that’s the bottom line, and it’s grass-roots marketing. These are loyal ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans who are also 13-to-24 [year-old] moviegoers, who we can hit with other films as well, not specifically those in the comic-book or sci-fi genre.”

New Line--which was also promoting “Rush Hour 2” and Snoop Dogg’s hip-hop horror flick “Bones”--was only one of several major studios offering world premiere sneaks in one fashion or another.

The slate of new films on display included DreamWorks’ “The Time Machine”; Fox’s “Planet of the Apes” and “From Hell,” a Jack the Ripper thriller adapted from a graphic novel; Warner Bros.’ remake of “Thirteen Ghosts,” the animated “The Powerpuff Girls: The Movie” and the live action-animation mix “Osmosis Jones”; and Sony’s rap-infused “Ghosts of Mars” and martial arts “The One.”

The real fan draws, however, were the first extended sequences to be seen anywhere of Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” Sony’s “Spider-Man” and a hint of Fox’s “Star Wars Episode II.”

Though film promotion has long been a part of the Comic-Con, until recently it had largely stayed within the traditional realm of giveaway buttons and posters. Over the last few years, however, the studios began to realize that they could entice audiences by giving sneak peeks through trailers or specially prepared behind-the-scenes videos.

Film promotion at the convention took another leap in 2000 through the appearance of Ian McKellen, who showed up to promote “X-Men,” greeting fans and signing autographs from the floor of the convention center. (This year McKellen greeted Comic-Con attendees via video, along with his “Rings” co-stars Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood and Sean Astin.)

Now the chance to brave long lines to squeeze into packed screening rooms and be the first audience anywhere to see footage from upcoming features has become a main draw for the event. That is what brought Celina Brassard, a tax accountant from St. Paul, Minn., to San Diego.

“I’ve been waiting for this, that’s why I’m here,” Brassard says, naming “The Lord of the Rings,” “Harry Potter,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Spider-Man” and the TV series “Farscape,” “Invisible Man” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” as her specific Con targets.

The single biggest Hollywood film studio presence at this year’s Comic-Con, though, was not in a screening room but on the convention floor. DreamWorks purchased a large booth for “The Time Machine”; it’s the first time a major studio has taken such a step to promote a single film. Visitors to the circular booth were able to watch a “making of” video and see conceptual artwork and props, including the picture’s signature prop, the million-dollar, 7,000-pound time machine itself. At designated times, fans were able to chat with members of the filmmaking team, including creature creator Stan Winston, production designer Oliver Scholl and the film’s director, Simon Wells.

“We feel that giving one-on-one interaction with the fans is incredibly important in today’s marketplace,” said an on-site DreamWorks spokesman. “It can be so crowded, and one of the great ways to break through is grass-roots marketing, and this is where a buzz like that is born. We looked at Comic-Con and realized that, over the years, it has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, until now it has almost become like a ShoWest for the sci-fi-fantasy world.” ShoWest is a convention for movie theater operators.

Facing the public eye to eye and fielding questions, without even the separation of a dais or microphone, is not your typical press junket. But that is exactly what director Wells liked about the experience.

“It’s not as intimidating as being thrown into a swarm of journalists,” Wells said with a laugh. “Sitting up at that table with 300 or 400 journalists looking at you, that’s scary! This is kind of nice. The people who have stopped to listen to what we’re talking about here in the booth, they’re genuinely interested and excited by what they’ve seen and they’re kind of turning into fans of the movie.”

But even given the special treatment, it would be a mistake for any studio to assume that this is a pushover audience. These people show little hesitance in expressing their opinions, both good and bad.

For instance, in the enormous screening room (actually four joined meeting rooms) on Saturday, actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa won cheers for his demonstration of the simian run he employed in “Planet of the Apes.” But the trailer for the upcoming installment in the never-ending “Friday the 13th” franchise, “Jason X,” was greeted with as much derisive hooting and laughter as cheering.