Next week, thousands of fans from all over the world will converge on San Diego for the annualComic-Conconvention, which runs from Wednesday, July 20 through Sunday, July 24. The convention unveiled its full schedule last week, with four full days of panels and special events, along with Preview Night screenings of new pilot episodes. Over the past few years, despite various efforts to curb piracy of the exclusive footage shown at the event, trailers and footage from the panels themselves inevitably leak online, but it seems that SDCC will be cracking down more than ever this year, according toGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2directorJames Gunn.
WhileSDCChasn’t made any official announcement as far as we know, it seems the convention will be implementing new technology in an effort to curb the rampant piracy from these panels. Over the weekend,Guardians of the Galaxy 2directorJames Gunnwas asked onFacebookwhen fans will be able to see the first footage ofGuardians of the Galaxy 2, with the director responding that the footage will be “less likely” to leak from Comic-Con because of this new technology. Here’s what he had to say below.
“Well, you might see something if you’re inHall Hon July 23 with me and the Marvel panel. Or if someone secretly films that - which is less likely to happen because of new technology, but I still know sometimes happens - then you’ll see it right after. If not then, it will be a short while.”
Interestingly enough, we reported in May that 20th Century Fox pulled out of Comic-Con this year due topiracy concerns, since they couldn’t guarantee that footage from their movies would be leaked online shortly after their presentation. Still, the studio will have a minor presence in Hall H on Thursday with a Hall H panel forTrolls, which the studio is producing, but that event has been billed as a DreamWorks Animation panel. Still, it’s not surprising that 20th Century Fox is pulling out over piracy issues, or that SDCC is trying to eliminate these leaks.
Last year, footage from 20th Century Fox’sDeadpoolandX-Men: Apocalypsewas leaked shortly after their Hall H presentation, along with the first full trailer from Warner Bros.Suicide Squad. Warner Bros. ended up releasing an official version of theSuicide Squadtrailer shortly after the leak rapidly spread online. As for this year, it remains to be seen how much footage will end up getting out from Hall H and other venues at the San Diego Convention Center, or what these new anti-piracy measures may be.
There has been speculation that the convention could use new technology from Apple, which was recently granted a new patent that would allow the company to remotely disable iPhone cameras that are being used to record illegal footage from movie theaters or concerts. Still, even if this is the technology being used at Comic-Con 2016, it wouldn’t prevent any Android users from recording footage from the presentations illegally. While we wait for more updates, here’s whatJames Gunnhad to say on Twitter earlier today about why footage shown at SDCC isn’t always made available to the public right away.
