Theatrical Releases Still Hold Advantage Over Streaming at San Diego Comic-Con

From a comic book industry showcase to one of the entertainment industry’s biggest events, Comic-Con has outgrown its initial premise to now include much of the film and TV world within it. And given the importance of comic book-based storytelling to today’s entertainment empires, it’s no surprise that all eyes were on San Diego this weekend to see what Marvel, DC and others would be unveiling.

After two years away, Marvel (at least) did not disappoint. But in the process, the Disney-owned movie studio’s presentation also seemed to showcase why theatrical releases still trump streaming shows in terms of owning the zeitgeist — even if Marvel would insist they’re of equal importance.

For instance, Marvel released trailers for both the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law show and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever movie over the weekend. The trailer for the streaming show, which arrives in a matter of weeks, has 6.6 million views on Twitter according to data from Tubular Labs. The trailer for the movie, which is out in November has 36.3 million views on Twitter alone and was the centerpiece of Marvel’s presentation from Hall H at Comic-Con.

Now the comparison isn’t necessarily fair since the first Black Panther movie was a global phenomenon back in 2018 and the tragic passing of titular star Chadwick Boseman since its release has only served to fuel further interest in the franchise. Meanwhile, She-Hulk is a brand new character with some loose ties to established Marvel characters (including Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, of the Avengers films).

But… there’s a reason that Wakanda Forever will be a theatrical release instead of a streaming show. For Marvel — despite the emphasis on streaming as the long game for all of its content — movies are still the lifeblood of what makes the studio important. The streaming shows are a way to keep fans in the ecosystem between films.

I say this as a fan of Marvel myself, but the Disney+ shows have been hit-or-miss since debuting with WandaVision in early 2021 (after COVID-related delays). Weekly serialization, lesser-known characters and a glut of Marvel content simply cuts down on the “event” nature of these properties in a way that could concern Disney long-term. But as long as the theatrical products remain commercially successful (even as questions have popped up about the quality of the most recent batch of films (save for Spider-Man: No Way Home), Marvel looks to be steering in the right direction for fans and industry observers.

It was movies that got them this far, of course. And it was movies that saved what could have been a questionable presentation otherwise on Saturday.

Marvel’s vaunted timeline view of the road ahead was exciting enough for fans when it first popped up behind studio brass (like president and Marvel Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige), but the “phase 5” rollout also seemed to lack some of the gravitas that has been typical of these unveilings. Part of it was the fact that we knew about most of these projects already. The rest? The show-heavy slate didn’t spark much imagination, especially when fans were still chomping at the bit for any news about projects like Fantastic Four, X-Men and of course, the next Avengers film.

And then, Feige moved the presentation into some of the dates for “phase 6” — including Fantastic Four (Nov. 8, 2024), Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (May 2, 2025) and Avengers: Secret Wars (Nov. 7, 2025). By then, Hall H and most social media feeds were going ballistic. Fans were getting what they wanted, and suddenly, the lingering concerns about recent projects disappeared.

Now, none of these projects are guaranteed to be critical or commercial successes whatsoever. But movies surrounding some of Marvel’s biggest properties are what gave the studio the vote of confidence it was looking for over the weekend. No streaming show could have pulled that off. The same goes for the other studios in attendance, which also have various shows and movies in the works.

As one of many examples, DC’s biggest reveals were also around movies: A trailer dropped for Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson was in full costume to show off new footage and also announce free IMAX tickets to the film for those in attendance. Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will be a theatrical release, despite the studio’s desires to be just like its competitors and continue to build its streaming platform.

There was plenty of news around streaming shows at Comic-Con, too. But for all of the money (billions of dollars) Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery will put into Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones IP on streaming, it was still the big superhero films that grabbed the biggest headlines at Comic-Con.

While Comic-Con is admittedly a small, one-weekend sample size, it does seem notable just how much more excitement movies can create among paying fans than most shows. Perhaps it’s just the genre. But perhaps it’s something studios start paying attention to and making adjustments for.