Universal dominated last week’s Comic-Con with its ubiquitous campaign for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which covered buildings and took over the courtyard of the Hilton Gaslamp (where stars Brandon Routh and Anna Kendrick posed for fan photos, above), and seemed to penetrate everywhere.
Disney also scored a big win with Tron: Legacy, its remake of the 1983 film Tron. The studio staged days of promo events at a storefront they turned into arcade/night club Flynn’s for the week, rewarding winners of viral marketing contests that have been ongoing for months via clue-ridden scavenger hunts on Twitter, Facebook and the Tron site. One eager participant was one of 27 winners of a special Tron phone and circle ring, prized possessions. Disney says the campaign has yielded some 4 million ardent Tron followers. Not bad. The party set was stunning, complete with robotic babes in high heels striking poses.
The other best party of the Con, per usual, was EW’s heady poolside mix of TV and movie stars; the high point was watching the cast of Glee singing and dancing up a storm, along with Seth Green and Joss Whedon.
While I enjoyed walking around taking photos of the cheery attendees–and extras made up like zombies to promote AMC’s Walking Dead series, which also went over well–most of my time at the Con was spent hunkered down in the dark taking notes on panels in cavernous Hall H, which holds more than 6000 people. Here’s a shot of LAT moderator Geoff Boucher with the hall behind him, as well as Universal chairman Adam Fogelson and co-chairman Donna Langley, all smiles after their panel went well, and Summit topper Patrick Wachsberger, after Summit unveiled spy comedy Red.
I saved the last day for trawling the huge exhibition hall, where much commerce and promotion were under way, from animator Bill Plympton hawking his wares and an appearance by Smallville‘s Tom Welling to the sale of Rob Pattinson posters and venerable comics collectibles.
More of my on-the-fly photos of the Con below.
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