By Stone Martindale Jul 19, 2007, 18:06 GMT
Twentieth Century Fox has yanked some of its film projects out of Comic-Con Wednesday, a week prior to the gi-normous fan convention in San Diego.
Kevin Bacon - © Glenn Harris / Photorazzi
The studio previously announced plans to promote its movies in mixed panels that included "Jumper," directed by Doug Liman and starring Hayden Christensen; directors Colin and Greg Strause's update to the popular "Aliens vs. Predator" franchise; Vin Diesel's action film "Babylon A.D."; and "Hitman," starring Timothy Olyphant.
"The material wasn't ready and we only want to go out when we can put our best foot forward," Sean Dudas, the studio's vice president of national publicity, said on Wednesday,reports the Los Angeles Times.
The news was a surprise for attendees who have made Comic-Con a major event to launch anticipated films and television shows, such as "300," and "The Chronicles of Narnia" directly to fans and the press.
The Times claims an estimated 123,000 will be attending the convention.
Major studios Paramount, DreamWorks, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., New Line, Lionsgate, along with cable and regular Networks have announced all star and key crew panels, screenings and major promotional events.
Despite the mothership Fox pull out, Fox Atomic still plans to hold raffles and giveaways around the Kevin Bacon film "Death Sentence" and the Rainn Wilson picture "The Rocker."
Fox Atomic is also showing a line of graphic novels based on "28 Days Later," "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Nightmare Factory."
David Glanzer, Comic-Con's director of marketing and public relations, told the Los Angeles Times the Fox cancellation "was surprising."
"Every major studio usually has a presence at Comic-Con so for Fox to pull out a week before is very unusual," Glanzer said to the LAT, adding that organizers were still trying to figure out how to fill the studio's time slot. "We're still going back and forth. We have in excess of 350 hours of programming so scheduling is like a giant Rubik's Cube. Otherwise, this year every major studio has committed to show up and participate."
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