What If Comic-Con Is Sort of Over?

Here we go again, another July, another parade of movie stars and executives heading south to peddle their wares at Comic-Con. But before we all spend crazy money jetting in talent, booking lavish parties and crafting just the right teaser-trailer package, think for a moment: Is the Comic-Con crowd still the best audience on which to be blowing our marketing budget? A decade after Hall H became Hollywood's must-stop venue on the path to the multiplex, what if Comic-Con is sort of over? After all, many would argue that the people who attend every year would see a genre movie or superhero tentpole no matter what. And the rest of the moviegoing public increasingly doesn't care much whether the fanboys love or hate something. Three words: Cowboys & Aliens. Last year's toast of the Con flatlined at the box office.