San Diego Comic Con only gets bigger and bigger each year. It’s progressed from being simply about comics and superheroes into a more corporate event where different studios can announce their upcoming projects to fans. The upside of this is that things that wouldn’t have been present at Comic Con in the past, like Jigsaw, have their own panels, teasers, announcements and experiences. In fact, the tides might be beginning to turn. Studios like Fox, WB and Marvel have said that if fans kept continuing to leak exclusive footage from their highly anticipated superhero features, they would just stop bringing them.
Fox was true to their word on that this year, bringing a new trailer for Kingsman: The Golden Circle and nothing from their intensive upcoming X-Men slate. Both Deadpool and New Mutants have begun filming, with X-Men: Dark Phoenix about to roll into production. The fact that this Comic Con gave us a trailer for Jigsaw but nothing from the upcoming X-Men movies definitely speaks to the ways in which the course of this event may be changing.
Horror was ever-present at Comic Con this year. There were a few announcements that I’m sure everyone saw coming, things people probably expected to be there, but also one or two that completely took me by surprise. So, without further ado, here are the most exciting horror announcements from SDCC 2017.
New Ghostbusters Movie in 2019
After the reboot underperformed at the box office, I think everyone pretty much assumed that Sony’s attempted Ghostbusters universe was dead in the water. But at Comic Con, producer Ivan Reitman—who also directed both the original and its sequel—said that the plan is to expect a sequel to the reboot in 2019, and even teased the possibility of combining together the casts of the old and new franchises. Considering the fact that the original cast returned as all-new characters, as well as the fact that Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis spent years trying to reunite the cast with no avail, that seems next to impossible. But we’ll see what happens.
Lionsgate dropped the trailer for Jigsaw and, man, it sure looks like a return to form for the series. In fact, the energy of that trailer makes it feel as though Saw never even left. As soon as it starts, we know the drill and we’re along for the investigation, and we’re right back in the thick of “If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.” It’s amazing that after such a gap, it’s so easy to get drawn back into all of it. Little too much CGI, but hearing Tobin Bell’s voice again is pretty cool.
Netflix Presents a New Clip for Adam Wingard’s Death Note
People seem split about Death Note. Netflix dropped a clip for the upcoming film, which gives us our first glimpse of Willem Dafoe’s Death God Ryuk. While the movie might be taking heat for recasting a Japanese film with a white lead, the scene is impressively intense and Dafoe’s performance is already strong and appropriately menacing.
New IT Trailer and Poster
While the Comic Con audience got to see new footage from the film, the rest of us at least got a new poster. It’s not much, but it proves just how excited everyone is for the film. When we do see something from It, it’s hard not to get excited. These characters have lived in people’s heads for decades, whether through reading the book or watching the original miniseries. I’m so excited to see what Andres Muschietti does with it.
Freddy Krueger Makes an Appearance in Spielberg’s Ready Player One
Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One basically looks like Pop Culture: The Movie. That’s something audiences are either going to totally be into or have zero interest in. In addition to all of the other insane elements of the trailer, there’s a moment where Freddy Krueger pops up and even if it’s just a two second appearance, that’s Freddy in a Spielberg films. And that’s certainly not something I ever expected to see.
Blumhouse is Producing the Spawn Reboot
We’ve been hearing a lot of non-news about a new Spawn for years now. Todd McFarlane finished a script after years of thinking about it. It’s a small-scale indie horror movie, going for a hard R rating… all of that sounds like Blumhouse is the most obvious home for a project like this, so I’m glad that the news broke during Comic Con that it’s officially happening. As long as McFarlane’s been talking about this project, this is the first time it’s actually been picked up and Blumhouse has a tendency to get things done. Anything can happen, but it’s looking promising.
Stranger Things 2 Trailer
As big as Comic Con was, as many huge presentations as fans got to see, one of the biggest things people are talking about has to be the trailer for Netflix’s second season of Stranger Things, titled Stranger Things 2 in pure ‘80s tradition. Brilliantly set to the Vincent Price narration from “Thriller,” the trailer gives us just enough to get an idea of where things might be headed without spoiling too much about the plot. With the first season being such a hit, Netflix could have gotten away with a brief glimpse, so a full season this early on is a nice surprise.
