What DC Needs To Do To Win Comic-Con 2018

San Diego Comic Con 2018 is DC's chance to shine. This year's SDCC will be a strangely muted affair, with two of the biggest studios choosing to skip their usual Hall H presentations. Marvel's next film isn't due out until March 2019, and the studio doesn't want to risk spoiling Avengers 4 by announcing their forthcoming slate. Meanwhile, Lucasfilm's next movie won't actually release until next December, and so they'd always planned to have a "pause" in their marketing. Given the controversy Star Wars has generated so far this year, the fans may need a pause year, too.

But that leaves DC Films a unique and unprecedented chance. The nascent DCEU has had a serious PR problem for years, with the studio struggling to establish a positive narrative for their films. But the last year seems to have seen the DCEU turn the corner on that, finally generating some positive buzz, as hype builds for Aquaman, Shazam!, and Wonder Woman 1984. A strong performance at SDCC could further cement the excitement, and build up considerable momentum for Aquaman's December release.

Related: Why The MCU Is Skipping SDCC

So just what do DC Films need to do in order to "win" at SDCC this year? It's not good enough to be the "last studio standing." Rather, they need to take this opportunity to show the world just what the DCEU has to offer.

This Page: Footage for Aquaman, Shazam!, and Wonder Woman 2
Page 2: Lay Out The Future of the DCEU

Footage for Aquaman, Shazam!, and Wonder Woman 2

Warner Bros. is already doing a good job pushing Aquaman. In June, director James Wan confirmed that the film's first trailer would drop at SDCC. In the immediate run-up to that trailer drop, Warner Bros. has treated excited fans to a veritable flood of Aquaman news. The studio dropped the first poster at the same time as they lifted an embargo on set visits from last year. That's ensured viewers have been given an idea of just what to expect from the film, including first accounts of the movie's plot and a sense of the character arcs for stars like Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Amber Heard's Mera. That's already ensured the film is catching the public eye. A good trailer, supported by a star-studded Aquaman panel and hopefully even some additional footage, would turn this into a tremendous success for Warner Bros..

Warner Bros. is also choosing to use Comic-Con to drop the trailer for Shazam! as well. Although this film isn't due out until April next year, the studio clearly believes the Hall H panel - with all the hype and excitement surrounding it - is the perfect place to launch Shazam!'s marketing campaign. It seems reasonable to assume Shazam! will have less of a presence a than Aquaman, given the film won't release till next year, but there should surely still be a few panel guests. It would also be a perfect opportunity to drop some more footage.

We're not going to get a trailer from Wonder Woman: 1984, as director Patty Jenkins only began shooting the film in June. But it wouldn't be a surprise to see some early footage, and the panel could always include some special guests - Gal Gadot has already been rumored.

For best effect, all the footage shown at the panel should really be released online. Some studios choose not to do this, preferring to make Comic-Con a unique experience for the fans. There are also concerns that unfinished scenes may look good on a screen at SDCC, but won't bear up to frequent rewatching of high-resolution versions on YouTube. In this specific case, though, Warner Bros. would be wise to make the footage available to everyone. The studio doesn't just want to sell these films to the 130,000+ attendees of Comic-Con. They want the whole world to sit up and take note, to be won over by DC Films' plans, and to believe that some truly tremendous superhero movies are coming out. Meanwhile, the hype around these movies is already so positive that most viewers will overlook any flaws in unfinished footage.

Page 2 of 2: Lay Out The Future of the DCEU

Charting the Future of the DCEU

Moving on from the three films that are already in the works, Warner Bros. should take this opportunity to present a new DCEU slate. Even the most attentive audiences are getting confused over the studio's upcoming plans. Far too many movies are supposedly due to start production next year, including not one but three films featuring Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. At this stage, it's very difficult to work out just what the future has in store for the DCEU, and this would be a perfect chance for Warner Bros. to clear the air and give audiences a sense of the direction they aim to take with the superhero franchise.

Bizarrely, the first DCEU slate was revealed in a strange, offhand manner, when Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara announced the plans offhandedly on an investors' call. Contrast that with Marvel's Phase 3 announcement, which was touted as an event in itself. It probably wouldn't be wise for Warner Bros. to make a similar four-year announcement, as it would lead to their every business decision being analysed relentlessly. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios actually found that viewers got distracted by films that were years away, rather than focusing on the next handful of films to hit the big screen. Instead, a better approach would be for Warner Bros. to clarify perhaps the next year or two's worth of films, to give audiences a sense of just what's coming next.

There are hopeful signs that Warner Bros. may do this. It's surely no coincidence that, just a couple weeks before SDCC 2018, we've been treated to news about both Birds of Prey and the various Joker films. It really does look as though the studio could be lining up its future films in order to commit to some sort of future slate.

Plenty of Surprises

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn With Birds of Prey Comic Background

In addition, of course, part of the magic of Comic-Con is that audiences go expecting to be treated to some unexpected surprises. With so many DC movies about to enter production, surely we'll get a tease of more than just the current slate of 3. While it seems logical that would be Birds of Prey or The Joker, given those are the next films to begin production, a number of other long-in-development projects, like Matt Reeves' The Batman, are also due for some official news.

Looking back to 2017, Warner Bros. actually had a lot of major announcements. They revealed a full slate, ranging from Shazam! to Green Lantern Corps, but the panel itself felt quite passive, and as a result all the big news was lost amid the general excitement over SDCC. In fact, Warner Bros. actually had to re-announce it in the aftermath of Justice League's release, purely because the slate hadn't made an impact with audiences and viewers at all. That was disappointing, and it's clear Warner Bros. needs to learn major lessons from that experience. The studio needs to ensure that their biggest news isn't buried, that their announcements catch the eye of audiences and general viewers alike, and that they create a powerful buzz for their future films.

Ultimately, the absence of Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm has given DC Films a tremendous opportunity. The nascent DCEU was sadly marred by controversy, and the studio struggled to generate goodwill among casual viewers. This is DC Films's biggest and best chance to put the past behind them, and to win people over to the future of the DCEU. If the studio can pull it off, with strong and entertaining trailers, star-studded panels, and a sense of the franchise's forthcoming direction, then the future will look very bright indeed for the DCEU.