TE24 Entertainment Desk:
SAN DIEGO – Comic-Con finally returns to San Diego this week, where the new “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones” TV series will compete in front of thousands of cosplaying geeks and nerds in the world’s most famous pop culture gathering.
Disney and its Marvel superheroes will preview their upcoming films and show to fans at the sprawling convention, which has not been completed for three years due to the pandemic.
“I think it’s going to look like Comic-Con from 2019,” said event communications chief David Glanzer, adding that even guests — dressed as hobbits, dragons or princesses — must wear masks.
Along with 135,000 screaming fans, the comic book, science fiction and fantasy extravaganza draws Hollywood’s biggest studios and their A-list stars to showcase upcoming titles — starting this year with Paramount’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”
Marking the first time the world’s most popular role-playing game has received a mega-budget silver-screen adaptation, the movie will star Chris Pine, Hugh Grant and former “Bridgerton” heartthrob Rage-Jean Page next March.
However, this week’s headlines will be dominated by two massive fantasy series, Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Dragons: The Rings of Power and HBO’s House of the Dragons, which will soon hit TV screens.
The Ring of Power is J.R.R. Very ambitious story set in the world of Amazon. Tolkien’s book is set long before the events of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning film trilogy.
The series spans five seasons, with the first season starting on September 2, but Amazon is worth more than $1 billion and is said to have had a personal attachment to founder Jeff Bezos.
Much of this spending went towards buying the rights to the Tolkien universe and lavish production costs, with a lot of money earmarked for “revivals” or immersive fan experiences at Comic Con.
Amazon will transport the Hobbit, Elf and Dwarf casts to Hall H on Friday, where the venue’s cave is located. Fans in line there for hours or even days can expect their first detailed look at the series.
-Ring vs. Sloan-
The next day, HBO announced “House of the Dragon.” It is the first Game of Thrones spin-off set in George RR Martin’s fictional world of Westeros.
Martin played down the rivalry story between the two mega franchises and insisted that “both shows find audiences and deliver great television.” Great fantasy.
“The more fantasy hits you have, the more likely you are to have a great fantasy,” he wrote in his blog post.
However, HBO hopes its prequel will compete with the adulthood of the original Thrones. It was an eight-season run on Dating Night, spawning countless imitators and winning 59 Emmy Awards.
The House of Dragons, starring Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans and Emma D’Arcy, tells the story of House Targaryen, who bred dragons to kill almost 300 years before the events of Thrones.
The star will appear in Hall H shortly after presenting a film from HBO’s sister company Warner Bros. Pictures. In this presentation, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will promote the next superhero movie, Black Adam.
Elsewhere, Disney kept its own Hall H presentation vague, but rumors abound that the long-awaited sequel to Black Panther 2 will finally be released.
This week features AMC’s The Walking Dead farewell Jaguar Notes concludes the final season of the zombie TV series and launches a new spin-off anthology similar to The Tales of the Walking Dead.
But for Glanzer, the blockbuster studio showcase is second only to Comic-Con’s mission for fans.
“Seeing people having fun and enjoying their cartoons and popular art is a gift I’m looking forward to. I really, really … we do. You’re allowed to go home,” he said.
“There’s no better way to do it—and share it with friends.”
