Sony and Paramount Are Also Skipping Comic-Con 2015

We already knew that Marvel was sitting out this year's San Diego Comic-Con, but now Variety reports that Sony and Paramount are skipping the giant geek event as well.

Rumor has it that DC and Warner Bros. are going all-out this year with their panel to promote Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, and since we already know who the members of the Justice League cast will be, it's a good bet that you'll see them all unite on stage similar to the way Marvel brought all of the Avengers together for the first time a few years ago. With that and The Hunger Games panels looming, it would take a lot for studios to be able to compete, and since the cost of putting on a panel is increasing each year due to the showmanship required to make an impact on the Hall H crowd, Sony and Paramount apparently thought it didn't make sense to try to throw their hats into the ring.

Besides, we've seen countless examples of movies paraded out before the Comic-Con crowds only to perform terribly at the box office, so it's not surprising that studios are becoming more and more gunshy about bringing their projects there. TV seems to be where most of the focus is right now anyway (aside from WB/Marvel), so even though it'll be cool to see the cast of X-Men: Apocalypse likely show up during the Fox panel, I'm guessing that's not what people will walk away remembering.

Sony and Paramount say the reason they're skipping this year is because the timing isn't right for them to trot out new footage, but Sony could easily pimp the new Bond film Spectre and Paramount could bring Tom Cruise out to pump up the crowd for Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation if they really wanted to. I guess they just decided it's not worth the money, and you have to wonder if decisions like these are ultimately going to contribute to a drop in major content at Comic-Con and eventually return the focus more toward smaller entertainment properties and — God forbid — actual comics again.