This week marks the return of Comic-Con to San Diego, where the new "Lord of the Rings" and "Game of Thrones" TV shows will face off in front of tens of thousands of cosplaying geeks and nerds at the largest pop culture convention.
During the massive convention, which hasn't been held in its whole for three years owing to the pandemic, Disney and its Marvel superheroes will also give excited fans sneak peeks at their upcoming movies and television shows.
Even though attendees will be obliged to wear face masks, whether they are dressed as hobbits, dragons, or princesses, the event's communications director David Glanzer predicted that it will resemble Comic-Con in 2019.
"We survived it. And now that we're returning, perhaps we'll shed some happy tears "He informed AFP.
The comic book, science fiction, and fantasy spectacle attracts 135,000 screaming fans in addition to Hollywood's largest studios and their A-list stars to showcase upcoming projects, beginning this year with Paramount's "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves."
The film, which debuts in March and stars Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, and erstwhile "Bridgerton" heartthrob Rege-Jean Page, is the first big-budget adaptation of the world's most well-known role-playing game.
But two massive fantasy television series, "Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" on Amazon Prime and "House of the Dragon" on HBO, are expected to dominate the news this week.
The events of Peter Jackson's Oscar-winning trilogy of films are far removed from those in "The Rings of Power," Amazon's tremendously ambitious narrative based in the realm of J.R.R. Tolkien's books.
The five-season series, the first of which premieres on September 2, is rumoured to have cost Amazon well over $1 billion and to be founder Jeff Bezos' personal preoccupation.
Thrones vs. Rings
The first "Game of Thrones" spin-off, "House of the Dragon," which is based in George RR Martin's imaginary Westeros and debuts on August 21, will be revealed by HBO the following day.
Martin has denied rumours that the two mega-franchises are in competition, stating that "Both programmes should find a receptive audience and provide excellent television. fantastic fantasy"
He stated in a blog post that "the more fantasy hits we have, the more excellent fantasy we are likely to get."
HBO, however, is hoping that its prequel will be as successful as the original "Thrones," which over the course of eight seasons became appointment viewing, inspired innumerable imitators, and won 59 Emmys, a record number for a drama at the television version of the Academy Awards.
