CONFIRMED: Star Trek Sequel Panel ‘Unlikely’ For Comic-Con 2012

A bit of breaking news for Tuesday afternoon. Hopes were that JJ Abrams and Paramount would be showing something from the Star Trek sequel at San Diego Comic Con next month, however a new report (and a confirmation from TrekMovie sources) indicates that there won’t be a Trek sequel panel at SDCC 2012. [UPDATED]

 

Star Trek Sequel unlikely to show at SDCC 2012

On Tuesday afternoon Variety’s Showblitz blog reported that Paramount is "skipping" the traditional big "Hall H" panels for San Diego Comic Con 2012. Other studios are also giving 2012 a miss including 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks and Relativity Media.

Variety notes that the full line up has yet to be officially reported and it is still possible that Paramount could change its mind. However, TrekMovie sources have confirmed that as of now there is no plan for a Star Trek sequel panel and it is "unlikely" the plan will change.

Earlier this year Star Trek sequel co-writer/producer Damon Lindelof had said the team had hoped to show something at SDCC. In his more recent interview with TrekMovie.com, Lindelof had noted that they would show something if they felt it was ready:

Our feeling is, that if we can get something together that is worthy of showing on that timetable, then we will most certainly show it. But, if it is sub-par or not ready or requires more post-production, then nobody at Comic Con is going to want to hear us say "hey this is very temporary, but we wanted to show you something." We need to put our best foot forward. We just wrapped principal photography as you know and Comic Con is in mid July so it is an aggressive timetable. If we are going to go we are going to go big or not go at all.

So apparently they feel that they can’t "go big" yet.


Director JJ Abrams w/ his Spocks (Quinto and Nimoy) at Comic Con 2007 – still the only Paramount/Star Trek panel held at SDCC (Photo: Anthony Pascale/TrekMovie.com)

History repeating itself?

While somewhat disappointing, it is not entirely surprising. As noted by Lindelof, it was "aggressive timetable" to get something ready for SDCC. In a way, this is actually par for the course for Star Trek. JJ Abrams did attend Comic Con 2007 to hold a panel announcing the casting of two Spocks (Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto). However, even though the film had wrapped shooting four months earlier, there was no Star Trek panel held for SDCC 2008 (although Abrams and Orci did talk a little bit of Star Trek at the Fringe panel). Instead, Paramount and Bad Robot chose Wondercon in February 2009 to do a big panel with Abrams and some of the cast. Hopefully, if they indeed don’t hold a SDCC panel this year, there will be one for Wondercon in 2013. 


Wondercon 2009 Star Trek panel (L-R) Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Roberto Orci, Bryan Burk, and JJ Abrams (Photo: Anthony Pascale/TrekMovie.com)

UPDATE: No panel doesn’t mean no Star Trek at SDCC

While there is likely not going to be a panel with new footage, that does not mean that Paramount will not do anything related to the film. There was no panel for SDCC 2008, however Paramount did release the first images from the movie in the form of a series of posters at SDCC (also featured in Entertainment Weekly).


Star Trek posters from SDCC 2008

They also devoted a good section of their SDCC 2008 booth to Star Trek, complete with booth babes in Trek outfits giving out Star Trek bags and card collectibles.


Paramount booth babes handing out Star Trek goodies at SDCC 2008

There is no word yet on if there are any plans for this year, but it is hard to imagine that Paramount wont do something related to Star Trek at SDCC 2008.

TrekMovie will continue to monitor things regarding the Star Trek sequel and Comic Con and will provide any updates as new information comes to light.

 

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These guys kinda suck at this.

This is a disaster!

I kid, but this movie needs better marketing than the first.

^^Internationally, yes. In the U.S. though the marketing was very very good.

The wait is not over.

So, what else is new?

As far as the sequel is concerned, I am still happy with some of the news, I read about, so far.

I look at it this way- they’re doing it right. I’d rather see something in a more developed state than something half-baked.

We can wait.

The promotion for ths sequel stinks. People might start forgetting about it. I think any new fans they got from the first one will start to loose interest in the sequel. You don’t really want to overpromote but this is getting rediculous. I wonder when the Superman reboot promotion starts since that is also out in 2013. Could it be they are overextending themselves again?

Oh well. There goes the potential teaser trailer in July. Something tells me that at this rate, we won’t see our first teaser/poster until the fall. Maybe a teaser attached to a big tentpole like James Bond?

I know we’re going to get a big treat next year and all of this patience will pay off in a big way.

So, little presence at Comic Con for the first film because it was pushed, bypassing *any* presence there whatsoever in the year leading up to its release, and now again for the sequel?

I can understand why, but its a massive kick in the gut for us fans who perhaps can’t go to comic con, but aggressively stalk the net waiting for all the gossip and hype from it.

Sure, a teaser trailer will still set the web on fire, but you just can’t buy the kind of buzz and excitement an initial shaky cam trailer that someone records in the panel builds among us geeks. Especially if it has 500 other cell phones in the bottom of the screen. Look at what that did for Tron: Legacy, it literally got that film made. Sure, not everything at Comic Con = a guaranteed moneymaker, but you know Star Trek will be. And having nothing there and playing it close to the chest can, in my opinion hurt a film when everyone else is giving bits away and your not. I keep thinking that what Peter Jackson is doing with the Hobbit video blogs is the right way to keep you interested in a movie, while showing just enough without showing anything at all.

“I look at it this way- they’re doing it right. I’d rather see something in a more developed state than something half-baked.”
_________

Absolutely.

How can you promote a film a year in advance? Won’t it just confuse people. Relax, Craiger — it’ll be plenty promoted.

I keep repeatIng myself, but when I hear a lot of news about a movie long before it’s released, well, I start to worry — like Man of Steel. It feels like they’ve been talking about the thing for well over a year now.

Lindelof: nobody at Comic Con is going to want to hear us say “hey this is very temporary, but we wanted to show you something.”

I ilke how Lindelof just automatically assumes that we’ll be disappointed in seeing something that nobody outside of the studio has seen. I mean, why not? Nicholas Meyer showed us some behind the scenes material for Star Trek VI. If it’s not much or in rough shape, who cares? That’s something we’ll more than likely never see again even in the finished movie. As Nicholas Meyer said after the video…

“We didn’t show you much. We don’t want to show you much.”

See? Your excuse not to come was his very reason why he showed it! I guess this is Lindelof’s way of admitting that comic con doesn’t work ever. After all, the buzz that Cowboys vs Aliens generated didn’t help matters when the film was released at the box office.

Now, do we dare tell him that half a billion miles is still within our own solar system and that nobody uses regular miles when discussing distance in space? I think he’ll need to know that for the potential reshoots for the new Star Trek movie since he’s now officially penning the darn thing. If his writing is as good as it was in Prometheus, we’re in for one heck of a lobotomy.

I’m disappointed that there won’t be anything at SDCC because we were told there would be something “super soon”. Still, I’d rather they take the time to do it right than be quick and sloppy (twss).

11. Star Trek VI also had to repair the damage from Trek V. Nobody was clamoring for a sequel, so a little advance buzz was good.

Speaking of seeing bits if things before they’re complete and not jumping to conclusions — was that Outer Light comic canned because we complained so damned much about it.

I think this sequel may get more *organic* promotion this time round than with the first film, internationally. I recall seeing a short interview with Karl Urban on TV just after he had been cast for the part of Dr McCoy but not much more. About a month before the movie was released, I read an article in the local TV Guide – in the form of short interviews with Leonard Nimoy and Chris Pine – Pine was totally unknown to me then. A week before the film’s release, the advertisement trailers were screened on TV. I did not know, however, until some time later that there had been a premier showing of Star Trek at the Skytower in Auckland and that actors Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho and Karl Urban had been here in Auckland (8 April 2009). Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto did a 20 minute interview with our Kate Rodger as well as a shorter interview with John Cho and Karl Urban. They can be found on Youtube.

Star Trek (2009) has screened at least twice on NZ television already. TV3 have started showing a series of recent movies (made within the last five years) on Mondays – 8.30-10.30pm and Star Trek is again among those to be shown at some point in the series (not sure when). This will be the second time it will have been on free-to-air NZ television. I suspect viewers may get yet another screening not long before this sequel is released…Also this time round, people like myself will be more aware and will look out and expect to see more advertising closer to release date.

Of course to Chris Pine (and co.) – there is at least one kiwi who would be only too happy to welcome you to our wee shores to do some Trek/Mantivities(?) promotion, say Hi and give a hug…

They could show a teaser of a teaser trailer>Starts with a sea of stars, then you hear somebody say PUNCH IT! and a BIG BANG as the Screen goes to warp followed by the Delta logo saying coming summer 2013!

I’m beginning to lose interest in this movie.. :(

Sorry – my writing skills seem wobbly at the moment –

Correction 1: Kate Rodger did a separate, shorter interview with John Cho and Karl Urban.

Correction 2: I don’t think Chris Pine needs me to promote Star Trek or Mantivities or anything else. I meant that he could do some of his own promotional work while here in NZ. Hopefully he’ll not only have a finished and worthy Star Trek to promote, but also have a Jack Ryan movie in post-production and possibly his own film, Mantivities, on its way to being finished, if not already done, as well. Meanwhile I could get to meet him, say Hi and give him a big hug… I hope this makes more sense.

And talking of sense, I am not sure that it may not be a bit early right now to start advertising a movie before much of the post-production is done and 11 months before its actual release. Unless you are a bit of a fan, all it’ll be is (hopefully), “Cool. Moving along now. Next” and the film people will enthuse about is the one they know they’ll get to see within the next few days/weeks.

Paramount is sitting with a high-end layer of management which must be absolutely incompetent.

1. ST08 becomes ST09
2. ST2012 becomes ST2013
3. GI Joe, which is repositioned to take over ST2012’s slot, is moved back for re-writes and re-shoots, to undo the major plot point (“retaliation”). Massive ad spend since January goes into the toilet.
4. ‘World War Z,’ which thrilled the 4-year old Paramount execs during dailies to the point they were ready to order a trilogy, tanked after it was wrapped, and now needs Damon to come in and fix it, plus enough re-shoots are in order to make a brand new film.

‘GI Joe’ will be shit, as will ‘World War Z.’ Damon Lindelof dedicates himself to WB TV officially, and then gets called like roto-rooter to un-clog a drain for Paramount. It’s pathetic. Nice, coin, though, I’d expect.

The studio that can now trumpet “Transformers” as a 3 billion dollar franchise has got to be ready to continue to do so, because everything else they have right now is either delayed with massive sunk costs or just sucks.

I understand the secrecy to a point but this is getting kinda rediculous, especially after the delays in releasing.

The smartest thing paramount has done lately was to distribute Marvel Studios Movies.

I think JJ once said that a 2 hour movie is the max to hold ones interest!

Well that may be true, only if they are in the theater!

Well… would be great something… but I understand the time is short…

………………………………….so… waiting for… ;-) :-)

I remain unimpressed, and quite distressed that the only Trek we’re getting is once every 4-5 years by a bunch of (while very talented) guys who are not 100% committed to Trek.

It’s not enough.

To be clear, as much as I enjoyed what JJ and the boys did for 2009, what this franchise needs is a team that is devoted to it to the exclusion of all else. We don’t need the films delayed because person A or person C has another project in the works.

We need Trek back on the “small” screen. We don’t need more movies.

Sorry if repeated (scrolled down to avoid spoilers). This panel would be PERFECT for Calgary Expo, just one month before the release. It’s the only way they could top having the entire TNG principal cast this past April.

Boy, where did this whiny, entitled, Veruca Salt “I-want-it -NOW!” attitude that some people seem to have come from?

Let’s look at some facts, shall we? The first teaser trailer for ST09 came out in January 2008, when Star Trek’s release date was still Christmas 2008. So that was less than a year before the original release date. . . there was NO Star Trek panel at SDCC 2008 (See article above), so we didn’t really see or hear anything about Star Trek until NOVEMBER 2008, when the first trailer came out with Quantum of Solace and the first commercials came out about a week later . . . according to an article written at the time: “For its first 2009 tentpole, the studio has taken the UNPRECEDENTED step of rolling out a full-scale promotional tour for “Star Trek” nearly six months before its May 8 release” (see: http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/11/21/us-startrek-idUSTRE4AK0LG20081121 for the entire article). . . Then we had to wait until the Super Bowl in February for an extended commercial, and until March for the second trailer. . .after which there were 14 (maybe 16?) different TV spots until the movie came out on May 8. . . They rolled out the advertising early for ST09 (unprecedented, remember) because they were trying to reach a generation for whom TOS was not something they actually grew up watching and to build excitement overseas. . . since they don’t have to do that this time around (BTW, ST09 is the fifth most popular category on Fanfiction.net — sort of an unofficial mark of where it stands in pop culture these days) we probably won’t be getting anything substantial trailer-wise until absolutely necessary. . . so all of this “I’m losing interest in the movie” “They aren’t doing it the way I want them to,” and “I want a trailer NOW or I will take my toys and go home” whining isn’t going to make Christmas or the Super Bowl come any faster. . .

I’m sorry for all of you impatient people. . . but really, what would you have done in the 1970s when all there was of Trek were rumors, ‘zines and bad books? what would you have done in the 1980s when there were only movies every 3 to 4 years until 1987, and the TNG wasn’t all that good, and was lucky that it was in syndication those first 2 seasons and allowed to build an audience. . . because if it were on regular TV it definitelyt would have been cancelled.

~FS

Well, I told you this wasn’t going to happen! I am right once again.

#13.

“The Outer Light” comic strip got cancelled because it was crap!

Since when did something have to be big, grandiose, and well done to be shown at Comic Con? Especially these days. It’s really just the fact that they show up that people care about. Lotta sub par stuff that makes a splash there now.

# 24
I agree Trek needs a devoted torch bearer! Trek is at it’s best on TV.
But There is still room for motion pictures. From the start of TNG to the end of Enterprise(624 episodes) there were 6 Trek movies!

Or maybe they’ll show four million clips of the movie, as seems to be the trend these days. Uh, when did that start by the way?

# 29
Yeah just show up because you care about the fans! Let the fans know how things are going hand out some T-shirts or something.

Crying because crying! UGH! The teaser should blow our minds for waiting. I mean it.

@BobOrci Is there a time Table where we get some News on the Movie that gives us more then we have now sometime in late 2012?

Okay, so they’re not ready for Comic Con…no biggie. I’m still hoping there will be a teaser to accompany The Dark Knight Rises (July 20). I don’t think there will be anything ready in time for The Amazing Spider Man (July 3). That’s kind of sad, but hopefully the same crowd will be found in The Dark Knight Rises theater, probably with less kids though. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, from a marketing standpoint.

I really want to see something come out this summer though. That’s still another 2 months or so? My patience is running out (for a stinking teaser!) but as #5 & #12 posters say above, best not to “rush” it. I’d be ticked if they slapped something together and it sucked more than not knowing anything.

Pathetic.

Red Dead Ryan was right again. He predicted this!

There’s a new The Outer Light on his site.

Man up or leave OUR franchise alone already!!!

As one of the fans outside of the States who will never get anywhere near this event, it matters not one whit to me if it appears there or not. It also doesn’t make much sense to waste time actively promoting something that’s still a year away. In fact I can see the ways in which it would be wholly counterproductive.

I’m sure a large majority of those who saw the last film will still remember four years later that they enjoyed it and will want to see the next one as a consequence.

I guess I can wait!

We all know how big SDCC is. With Star Trek being delayed unitl 2013, the lack of new Star Trek stories except for a comic or two, I am concerned about the publicity for the new movie.

I hope the new game comes out early in 2013. More importantly, let’s hope for a great game.

Based on this, I am really considering attending this convention in November in SF, which is Creations biggest Trek convention of the year:

http://www.creationent.com/cal/st_sanfrancisco.html

This smells like the right time-frame for JJ to finally make a public appearance, and perhaps preview the first full trailer.

Hey folks, this is the give and take once the Abrams crew took over our Trek. We traded underperforming B+B drivel for a big budget action packed side project of a Star Wars fan (and if you don’t think Trek09 was Star Wars with a coating of Trek you’re blind or Liz… And that’s coming from someone who loved the film). As much as we’d like to see Manny Coto be given free reign and an hour every week on television, it’s not gonna happen. I’ve learned to not only accept but expect delays, secrecy, rehashes and all the negatives that come along with Bad Robot. But I consider it a worthwhile trade since at least we have a big movie to gnash our teeth about. Let’s not forget just how close this franchise was to going away for good just a few short years ago.

Not even remotely surprised at this news…

@41
If Paramount have any sense whatsoever they will release this game no more than a week before the film hits the streets. It’s free marketing for God’s sake, there’s no way they won’t take advantage of it.
Unless, they are complete idiots that is….

No Panel? No doubt because the movie won’t come before 2014 now either. At least it gained an official title now: “Vapor Trek” ;)

“They went to the stars and never trekked back”

Do we need a big promotion machine this early on, theres still 11 months till the films release and the way some people act they want teasers not only in the cinema but on TV as well.

Teaser TV spots for The Dark Knight Rises have only just started appearing over here in the UK this week, and that is just quick shots of the bat emblem during ad breaks (viral marketing works as it had people who didnt know wondering what it was).

End of the day panels at cons will only promote it to fans who will be reading websites like this, the movie goers and new fans who were brought in from the last film wont be interested this early on and only will be when they see the main promotion train fire up in the months leading up to release.

@ 48 mynameschris

“End of the day panels at cons will only promote it to fans who will be reading websites like this,…”

And Star Trek fans, who read those news, will speak with other scifi fans and movie fans in general. This way you create a buzz. No news -> nothing to speak about -> no buzz.

Fans are a good promotion tool, but you have to give them something. Otherwise a lot of them will just give their attention to other movies/series/franchises.

Wow, lots of impatient people hangin out here. Do you run out of the house without your pants on just cos you’re in a rush to get to that sale at Walmart?
If the Court doesn’t feel ready to release anything, then they shouldn’t rush to release anything.
A bad buzz is worse than no buzz.