Twentieth Century Fox has abruptly cancelled its appearance at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, less than a week before the opening of the annual gathering of fanboys from across the world, The Los Angeles Times reports.
The official explanation from studio, which had planned to unveil footage from a variety of upcoming films, including Alien vs. Predator 2, Jumper, Hitman, The Dark is Rising, Babylon A.D. and City of Ember, is that "the clips simply weren't ready." What an odd coincidence, that ALL of the above films would hit such a snag at the same time. Either Fox has some really flaky editors working at its Century City headquarters, or something else is afoot.
Conspiracy theories abound. One of which, courtesy of CHUD, posits that relations between Fox and the Comic-Con folks have been prickly since last year's event, when the studio unspooled some R-rated clips from Borat, violating the convention's strict moratorium on displaying naughty footage. Unable to repair the strained relationship in time for this year’s event, Fox decided to pull the plug rather than risk further controversy.
Fox is supposedly planning some sort of "surprise" for Comic-Con attendees. We'll keep you posted as developments arise.