Are Comic Con Spoilers Really A Problem?
Fox certainly seem to think so.
It looks like Fox have decided that enough is enough and that the leaks that seem to annually spring out of Comic Con are better dealt with by turning the water supply off entirely.
Last year, we saw Suicide Squad, X-Men Apocalypse and Deadpool trailers leak (mostly just grainy hand-held versions that were taken down as quickly as they appeared). Warner Bros felt the pain of the Suicide Squad particularly harshly, deciding to release a real version of the trailer to supersede the pirated version so fans got to see the footage as it was intended to be seen.
That hardly hurt their marketing campaign for the upcoming villain-led ensemble, did it? Likewise for Deadpool, the hype built on the back of those trailers gave fans more cause to be excited and more to talk about. Usually, the Comic Con experience is a tightly controlled exclusive environment, with rewards like footage at such a premium that even getting to see them is restricted to a small fraction of the people who even get access to the event in the first place.
In that respect, it's somewhat inevitable that leaks happen. Wouldn't it simply be better for the major studios to show their footage at Comic Con and then release it online a day or so later? Fans shouldn't be split between those who manage to wrestle their way into Hall H and the rest of the world who have to wait months for any of that footage to appear legitimately online. It's just not healthy for fandom.
Fox's issues clearly stem from a strange starting point: the idea that any trailer ought to be considered secret, despite their fundamental job being to sell to an expectant audience. They might claim that they won't miss the sales boosts for Wolverine 3, Assassin's Creed and the new Maze Runner (which is now on hold), but their missing out on a hugely valuable conversation.
Film studios don't go to comic cons only to reward those in attendance: they go because the fans on the ground are among the most valuable to escalating the conversation about their films. There might be a small element who film the trailers and release them to their fellows on Youtube, but for every one of those is someone who blogs, or takes to Reddit to describe the trailer and help build hype.
If that experience isn't more valuable for the film than the cost of any leak, then there's something wrong with what you're showing as your Comic Con tease.
If other studios follow Fox in pulling out of Comic Con entirely, they will be undermining a very key demographic (particularly for comic book films), and it seems like another case of studios and PR companies trying desperately to focus the flow of conversation about their films in a way they can manage at the right time. Ultimately, that will harm them more than any leak - which does nothing more than build hype for anyone motivated enough to watch shaky handheld footage.
Because anyone who cares that much probably deserves the chance to share in that experience.
And aren't we all missing the point that to be so tight on footage at one point in a marketing campaign is now entirelyridiculous to the point of spitefulness when almost every tentpole release has multiple trailers, teasers and TVspots that don't seem tohave any concern for the sanctity of story and preserving twists?
What do you think? Should studios be concerned that leaks from comic cons will damage their films or derail their planned marketing campaigns? Or should we move towards a new solution where comic con footage is released officially after the exclusive screenings at the events?
Does there really need to be a cloak and daggers/secret handshake air about comic cons and their exclusive content? When the Internet is as valuable a marketing tool as it is for films, cutting off the source in a way that feels suspiciously like Fox taking their ball home because they can't get their own way is preposterous, isn't it?
And so too, surely, is the idea that the cost of preparing a trailer to be screened to a comparatively tiny amount of people shouldn't be offset by pushing it out to the wider community to use it as a genuine advertising tool. Or am I missing something about the magic of San Diego?
Share your thoughts on comic con trailer and footage leaks below.