300 DVD: 2007 Comic-Con Preview

2007 Comic-Con Preview


Video Business.com


June 26, 2007


by Chris Gennusa



You won’t find gutsy heroes such as Spider-Man and Batman in corporate boardrooms, but the stellar box-office receipts their movies bring in have Hollywood’s suit-and-tie brigade shouting “Wham!,” “Kapow!” and “Shazam!”

Often featuring primal story lines pitting good versus evil, comic books are tried-and-true Hollywood page-turners. But if the written word doesn’t grab you, maybe the numbers—and built-in fan base—will: Spider-Man 3 opened theatrically with a $150 million take earlier this year, while the previous two installments together earned nearly $800 million at the domestic box office. The most recent Batman and X-Men sequels combined for nearly $500 million worth of movie ticket sales in the U.S.

That’s why dozens of studio execs and animation house honchos will be heading down to San Diego for this year’s Comic-Con: There’s always another super-earning superhero lurking in the wings.

“Comic-Con was integral to the early success and awareness of Star Wars,” says John Singh, a spokesman for Lucasfilm. “Since then, comics have been important to us.”

Comic-Con also provides an excellent venue for promoting new DVDs. Here’s a rundown of Hollywood’s top Comic-Con 2007 exhibitors and the DVDs they’ll be promoting at this year’s show, which runs July 26-29 at the San Diego Convention Center.

The value of Comic-Con for DVD marketing: “Comic-Con has historically been a very important venue for launching classic animation and TV product,” says Jeff Brown, WHV senior VP and general manager for TV, family and animation. “For high collection sets in animation, it has been a primary tool.”

Advice for DVD retailers hoping to capitalize on Comic-Con’s popularity: “Use strong in-store support and merchandising for collectable animation, superhero and fantasy, particularly titles that are releasing soon after Comic-Con,” says Brown.

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Warner Home Video Summary Below:

Warner Home Video

DVD titles to be promoted at Comic-Con: 300, Blade Runner 25th Anniversary, TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Superman Doomsday, Popeye the Sailor 1933-1938 Vol. 1, Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, Space Ghost, Believers, Return to the House on Haunted Hill and a Hanna Barbera retrospective. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment: Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal videogame on the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 2; Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck on the Nintendo DS

Marketing techniques: “We have been gravitating toward viral marketing through the Web to cost-effectively reach our target market consumer,” says Jeff Baker, WHV senior VP and general manager of theatrical catalog. “Due to the strong presence of passionate fans at Comic-Con, we usually use sneak peeks and collateral materials to inform attendees.”


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