Comic-Con got underway yesterday, and kicking off the festivities in Hall H was Fox as the studio trotted out the cast of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, including Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, and Halle Berry, who won over the crowd when she chugged an oversized glass of bourbon. (Channing Tatum has the best reaction.)
Kingsman was the only movie Fox showed off. They brought no X-Men or Deadpool, which feels anti-climactic—and weird, because two X-movies and Deadpool 2 are due next year. Kingsman looks good, and they put together a solid hour with a new trailer (below), an animated introduction featuring Sterling Archer—I love how Egerton pronounces “twat”—and a few (unreleased) clips from the movie, but I don’t think Kingsman is popular enough to placate the nerds who were hoping for some Deadpool stunting or X-Men first looks. If it weren’t for Berry downing that glass of probably-bourbon-but-she-seemed-set-up-for-the-joke-so-I’m-a-little-suspicious, the panel wouldn’t have had any real standout moment.
But that’s been the feeling going into Comic-Con this year that it’s a subdued on the film side and studios are less and less willing to spend on it. It’s not just the cost of trailers and exclusive footage—though that stuff can easily run into seven figures—it’s the travel and talent support, too, that makes Comic-Con so expensive (not to mention potential production delays as you ship everyone out to San Diego for the weekend).
Maybe Fox thinks their other movies don’t need the help, and thus didn’t feel a trip was necessary. Deadpool 2 definitely doesn’t, but they’re overestimating people’s memory of X-Men: Apocalypse. They should be reassuring fans that the success they’ve found with stand-alones like Logan will translate to a fresh approach to the team-up movies, too. But they didn’t. So thank god for Halle Berry, who made something happen and provided a memorable moment. This is the weakest start to Hall H in recent memory.
