20th Century Fox Pulling Out Of San Diego Comic-Con 2016 Due To Piracy


Movie studio 20th Century Fox has always enjoyed its warm welcome at Comic-Con once a year when fans all around the world came to see what they have to offer in the arena of comic book movies and entertainment. But after what happened last year following the San Diego Comic-Con, the studio has decided to pull out of the annual event to fight against piracy of their exclusive trailers and footage for projects on their schedule of releases.

Last year was a hot bed of piracy at the SDCC 2015 event. Not only did 20th Century Fox fall victim to piracy at the event, so did other major studios like Disney and Warner Bros., according to the Wrap.

There was a lot of anticipation building last summer when announcements kept coming down the wire saying that DC Comics were about to expand upon their Cinematic Universe with various films, including Warner Bros. Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The pressurized environment of anticipation was about to boil over and fans that were in attendance at SDCC 2015 at Hall H had exclusive access to some early content and trailers from the studios that were meant to stay within the event and not be shared outside or on the internet.

Suffice it to say that not only did all of the films get pirated footage leaked onto the internet, mostly on YouTube, but they did so in droves. Twentieth Century Fox fell victim to that onslaught of pirated content with its movie, Deadpool, which has recently gone on to gross over $760 million across the world.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Deadpool was screened on a Saturday at SDCC 2015 and was up on the internet as early as Monday during the event.

Although 20th Century Fox has historically used the event to build up hype for their films, especially in the comic book world, they have seen the event as just to risky for pirated footage and have thus pulled out of their slot for the event in 2016.

Another movie that got pirated from 20th Century Fox last year was X-Men: Apocalypse. Given the immense popularity of films like that and the upcoming release of their third Wolverine film, it is safe to assume that 20th Century Fox wants to make sure that their films and property will not suffer the same fate as last year.

There had also been some rumors that Disney would be pulling out of the event this year as well as 20th Century Fox. But a spokesperson for Disney denied that news, at least for the moment. Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens got some special video pirated out of the SDCC 2015 event as well. This year, they have a full plate, and with the upcoming release of the Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, they could be going to great lengths to make sure that no one takes any of the wind out of their wings.

It might also be safe to assume that 20th Century Fox and Disney did not suffer too much from the piracy issues. Deadpool has gone on to unprecedented box office returns and that is even with an R rating. Furthermore, Star Wars: The Force Awakens went on to break the domestic all-time box office record and has grossed to date over $900 million in the U.S. and over $2 billion across the world.

David Glanzer, who organizes the San Diego Comic-Con event, has expressed extreme disappointment with his guests at the event for their actions following their exclusive access to movies from studios like 20th Century Fox. He has even gone as far to say that people who pirate footage from the SDCC events are breaking a sacred bond, a trust that has existed between studios and fans for a long time now.

At this time, only 20th Century Fox have announced they would not be attending the SDCC 2016 event.

[Image via 20th Century Fox]

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