‘Big surprise’ – Geeks swarm unique event

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LOS ANGELES, Nov 2, (RTRS): Thousands of geeks from Italy and abroad poured into the medieval Tuscan town of Lucca over the weekend for the Lucca Comics & Games fest/convention which served as a platform to promote several hot upcoming US titles, including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “The Peanuts Movie,” “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2,” and “The Hateful Eight.” This unique event dedicated to fandom, cosplay, role-playing games and the entire crossmedia universe of comics is increasingly becoming an integral part of the Hollywood studios’ promotional push in Europe, ever since its “Area Cinema” section started five years ago. Ticket sales totalled at least 180,000 for the four day meet, though figures are not final.

Disney disappointed legions of “Star Wars” fans who had been promised a “big unexpected surprise.” They waited in line for hours at dusk Saturday merely to be shown Kylo Ren’s new crossguard lightsaber, more-than-sixteen feet tall, being unveiled with plenty of fanfare and nothing else to follow in the garden of Lucca’s palatial Villa Bottini. This letdown sparked some negative Italian press and social media rumblings. Still, reflecting the meet’s mellow atmosphere, fans mostly took it in stride.

Engaged

Earlier in the day hundreds of “Star Wars” cosplayers engaged in a massive flash mob lightsaber battle organised by Murdoch-owned Sky paybox’s Sky Cinema unit to launch a dedicated “Star Wars” event channel they will beam Nov 7-15 in the run up to the release of “The Force Awakens,” out in Italy on Dec 16. Fans who on Saturday had lined up for hours to celebrate “Doctor Who” were rewarded with a live presentation by showrunner Steven Moffat and scribe Jamie Mathieson of the Italo launch of “The Magician’s Apprentice” episode that opens the ninth series of the BBC flagship show.

Japanese anime and manga director Mamoru Oshii made the trek to Lucca to screen his live action/CG effects hybrid “Garm Wars: The Last Druid,” hold a master class, and get a prize, with his producer and longtime collaborator Mitsuhisa Ishikawa in tow. Ishikawa is co-founder and CEO of Tokyo-based anime production powerhouse Production I.G., which, like Lucca Comics, is also involved in television series, video games and music. Universal promoted the latest “Hunger Games” instalment with a packed presentation comprising a never shown before fifty-second scene featuring Katniss, Liam and fellow fighters running from a toxic oil wave. Something that in shorter form has already been revealed in the pic’s trailer.

Presented

To celebrate Halloween, Italian horror fans got the bow of the fourth episode of series six of “The Walking Dead,” thirty-six hours before its being aired in the US on AMC. Robert Kirkman’s upcoming paranormal drama “Outcast,” based on the eponymous comic book title, was presented by its co-creator Paul Azaceta. Italy’s 01 Distribuzione stoked buzz on Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” with eight minutes of footage previously shown only at Comic-Con in San Diego. Warner Bros. tubthumped “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice”; David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad”; “Spectre”; “The Angry Birds Movie” based on the popular mobile game app; and also Ron Howard’s “In The Heart of the Sea,” about the mammoth whale that inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick. Italian distributor Koch Media bowed Japanese anime auteur Isao Takahata’s 1988 classic “Grave of the Fireflies,” which is getting an Italian reissue release on Nov 10.

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Those who can’t wait for “The Good Dinosaur” — the Thanksgiving weekend offering from Pixar Animation Studios — could get an unusually-early look Nov 3 with the release of a Disney Infinity toy/video game set based on the film. Fans will be able to buy a figure of tiny hero Spot with “The Good Dinosaur” power disc pack, which also features caveboy Spot’s newfound pal, Arlo the apatosaurus, along with a trio of T-Rexes — Nash, Butch and Ramsey. The merchandise will be available at major retailers.

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