We continue to take you through our experience of San Diego Comic-Con 2016, which took place Wednesday, July 20 through Sunday, July 24 at the San Diego Convention Center. Up next is Thursday, which included panels for Dreamworks Pictures, Snowden, Luke Cage, Overwatch and more! Click here if you missed our SDCC 2016 Wednesday Preview Night coverage.
Thursday was a bit of a later start for us than Friday and Saturday would be. We didn’t have any concrete plans for the day until the Snowden panel, which was scheduled to start at 11:45am. However, Josh was still thinking about that Overwatch backpack, not to mention the Overwatch bag, and he wanted to try to see if we could get to the Exhibit Hall right when it opened at 9:30am, that way maybe the line wouldn’t be as long.
So we got up around 7:30am then went to eat some breakfast at our restaurant’s hotel. It was around 8:30am by the time we got all our stuff ready for the day and headed out, once again parking at Horton Plaza, where we had bought pre-paid parking for the week. We hit a bit of rush hour traffic on the way, it being a weekday and all, but it didn’t delay us too much. We stopped off at Ralph’s on the way to pick up some Ibuprofen (which we had somehow forgotten to pack). It was a little after 9am by the time we made our way to the convention center. Although it wasn’t scheduled to open until 9:30am, we thought it might open a bit early, as that has happened in the past. We arrived at Hall A, where there was a crush of people waiting to get in, but staff was sending us down to Hall E for entrance. We got all the way to Hall D, along with a huge crowd, when suddenly everything came to a standstill. No one was moving. It was 9:15am by this point. We stood there for 15 minutes, realizing that apparently they weren’t going to open early after all.
Right at 9:30am, it seemed just a few feet in front of us, there was some welcoming message being announced, officially declaring the start of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. I think it was the Mayor? I couldn’t really see what was going on. The staff at Hall D ushered us to continue forward to Hall E, where the doors had opened. So we struggle past the crowd, then look behind us to see that the doors to Hall D have been opened and people are pouring in! But at this point, we’re stuck in the middle, and it’s easier for us to continue moving forward than try to go back.
So we make it in and go straight to the Blizzard booth, which is way back at the A section. Along the way, we saw Steven Moffat walking the floor with his son, so that was pretty cool. Anyway, so we find the end of the Blizzard line and it’s capped.
We figured this would be a good time to go pick up the official SDCC shirts that we had pre-ordered. We made our way over to Pacific Ballroom 26 at the Marriott, where the merch was supposed to be. However, when we got there, it said this entrance was closed. We had to backtrack to the area that said Ballroom 18-22 and enter there, where we were directed to a line. It seemed like this area was mostly dedicated to volunteer assignments. After a few minutes of waiting, someone came and got us and brought us down some weird back hallway before we entered the merch area. It only took a few minutes of waiting in line to get our T-shirts (one of which will be included an upcoming giveaway, so be on the lookout for that!), so other than actually getting there, the pickup was quick and painless.
We continued to walk the Exhibit Hall floor for a bit more, then around 10:45am decided to go ahead and go over to Hall H to make sure we were in there in time for the 11:45am Snowden panel. Also, it would at least allow us to sit down and relax in air conditioning. I don’t think I mentioned how hot it was outside, even though it was still early in the morning when we arrived on site!
So we exited the Exhibit Hall and headed over to see how the line looked for Hall H. There was no line. There were some barriers alongside the entrance to Hall H, but you could just walk right in, without having to wait in any sort of holding area first.
Trolls
When we walked in, the Dreamworks Animation Theatrical panel was in session for the Trolls movie, and we were each given a Troll hair wig. Chris Hardwick was moderating the panel made up of Trolls Director Mike Mitchell, Co-Director Walt Dohrn, Producer Gina Shay, and voice talent Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake. Shortly after making it to our seats, they showed a clip from the movie, which featured Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick’s characters singing “True Colors.” Chris Hardwick asked if there were any closing remarks that they wanted to make, and Gina Shay jumped in to talk about body image, saying that they opted to keep the troll shape round, and emphasized that all girls are beautiful. Then they had everyone in the audience put on the Troll hair wigs that we were given upon entry so that Chris Hardwick and the panelists could take a selfie together with the audience in the background. With that, the panel ended.
Boss Baby
It was only a little after 11:00am at this point, which was odd because the panel was scheduled to go until 11:30am. But Chris Hardwick soon revealed that we were getting a surprise panel for Boss Baby, another Dreamworks animated film that will be coming out on March 31, 2017. He welcomed the director Tom McGrath, producer Ramsey Naito, and star Alec Baldwin to the stage. Alec Baldwin confirmed that this was his first appearance at San Diego Comic-Con, about which he commented, “Don’t eat me!” Director Tom McGrath explained that the movie is a metaphor for a baby coming 
into one’s life and becoming the boss. We got to see some never been seen footage from the movie. In the first clip, the baby’s 7 year old brother discovers that the baby (voiced by Adam Baldwin) can actually talk. After the clip, McGrath commented that the idea for the movie came from a children’s book, as well as his own sibling rivalry with his brother. Ramsey Naito revealed that the voice cast also includes Steve Buscemi, who is the villain, and Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow, who play the parents. Chris Hardwick accidentally revealed a spoiler that Patton Oswalt is in the film as well!
Hardwick went on to ask Alec Baldwin about the Baldwin sibling rivalry, to which Baldwin replied, “I’m here, they’re not.” He then went on to tell us that one of his brothers is at the Republican convention supporting Trump, while another brother is there protesting Trump! He joked that while they’re doing that, he’s here, “wearing a diaper and telling people what to do!”
The panel ended with another clip from the movie, in which the older brother gets proof that the baby can talk, by recording it, and chaos ensues as the baby tries to get the tape away from the older brother before he can get it to the parents.
The next panel on the agenda was Snowden. I’ll let Josh tell you all about that one. Click here to continue to our coverage of the Snowden panel!
See below for more pictures from our Thursday morning at SDCC 2016 and the Dreamworks Animation panel, which included “Trolls” and “Boss Baby”!
