\”This writer went into Saturday’s panel for Universal‘s “Snow White & The Huntsman” with next to no interest in it and damn if it didn’t end up winning him over, along with the rest of the packed crowd inside Hall H.\”

I literally would not have attended the panel had I not been assigned to cover it but I have to admit that it did pique my interest.

It was apparent that Roth was just doing this for the money, even going as far as to explain why he hired the cast members (Hemsworth was \”hot\” from the success of \”Thor,\” Stewart would hopefully bring her \”Twilight\” fans, etc.) He proceeded to joke that by the time Comic-Con rolled around next year he hoped they would already be at $700 million in worldwide grosses which is pretty transparently gross behavior.

BUT, the promo reel was pretty cool and I left thinking I\’d be interested to see some footage after they get around to filming some of it. Sure it got the greenlight because fairy tales are \”hot\” right now but that doesn\’t mean it\’s impossible for the director to make something worthwhile out of it. Tried to explain here:

\”As transparent as the marketing and pandering can get, especially during the panels where all cast and crew have been coached on exactly which topics to hit and which to avoid in order to stay on the good side of fanboys and girls, the whole thing still kind of works.\”

It was my first Comic-Con so I was able to see the hype machine first hand. It\’s completely transparent they\’re shilling their wares, but it still kinda works.

We\’re not huge fans of it, if that\’s not entirely apparent.

How is there use of 3D actually different from all the other movies that have the \”inherent\” problems?

Yes, Edward, I am aware Comic Con is \”one big hawk and sell of our wares from the studios.\”

But in the case of some of these movies, like \”Snow white\” or \”Prometheus\” they aren\’t showing any of those wares – they are just getting their marketing spin written up and copied by film bloggers.

right now there are a 1000 blogposts linking \”LOTR\” to \”Snow White\” – the details don\’t matter of who said what, they got that out there. All the \”Promethus\” stuff and is about how it makes so much use of the 3D and all of the other bs.

Again, your Snow White post said –

\”This writer went into Saturday’s panel for Universal‘s “Snow White & The Huntsman” with next to no interest in it and damn if it didn’t end up winning him over, along with the rest of the packed crowd inside Hall H.

So basically, a movie that hasn\’t even started shooting yet, with no footage, won over an entire packed crowd. Just saying, if this can happen with some nice personalities and no footage, there isn\’t going to be any reason for any studio to go to one of these and risk showing anything

of course, this is Comic-Con in a nutshell, it\’s one big hawk and sell of our wares from the studios. So you\’re aware of this, great. Consider yourself discerning. Congrats?

We gave our thoughts on Immortals footage for example and the writer said it was both \”insane\” and potentially a huge \”mess.\”

Does he have Weta Digital? (no) Peter Jackson? (no, first time director) Great source material? (no) Great cast? (no)

…..

Which, well, every move pretty goes into production with the idea or hope that it will be good and successful.

Again, totally get the need to cover the comic con stuff and what was said – no problem there, didn\’t mean to come across like I was knocking that, I\’m not.

But seriously, I mean we\’re now giving positive reports on \”Snow White\” which literally hasn\’t started shooting yet based on a 2 minute demo reel of its director?

Honestly I read the Playlist and a lot of other movie sites, enjoy the coverage. But it\’s becoming really, really clear the studios are totally playing the internet/blogging community. They know exactly what to do to get positive word out there.

The only thing out of comic con with bad buzz is \”Cowboys vs. Aliens\” the one movie that you know, showed the movie. That says something.

We thought it was interesting that he said both in the same breath. A guy who is SALES PITCHING does not say that. Duh.

Yep

Pretty bizarre when the usually cynical Playlist starts taking the sales pitches at face value.

Spider-Man saved Andrew Garfield\’s life? 3-D is going to enhance the story telling? Please. These are all just sales points dictated by a studio.

With 3D being rejected by audiences, all the studios that have already invested in 3D for movies coming out now have to do damage control and try to market the 3D as \”unique\” since it\’s no longer something that audiences get excited about. Sony\’s Spider-man reboot was made solely so they didn\’t lose the rights, \”Immortals\” was made solely to be \”300 in 3D\” – nothing more.