Comic-Con 2015 is here - but where did half the movies go?

SAN DIEGO — It's a strangely lean year for movies at Comic-Con.
Heavyweight superhero tentpole film franchises will dominate Hall H on Saturday, which is exactly as it should be. But instead of the usual Disney/Marvel Avengers bash, we'll get Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in the morning and The Fantastic Four and X-Men: Apocalypse at night. All are certainly worthy of the big stage ... but they're just not the Robert Downey Jr.-led love-in to which we've grown accustomed.
SEE ALSO: A handy guide to TV shows going to Comic Con in 2015
That's because Disney/Marvel isn't even coming to Hall H this year. In fact, about half the usual number of studios are.
In the past, one or two of the six major Hollywood studios would skip the annual geek confab for various reasons (usually because they didn't have a film to promote). Comic-Con was once the industry's one-stop shop for building buzz and dropping news-bombs, but as the marketing of summer movies becomes a year-round venture, studios are quickly learning that concentrating everything in mid-July is an outdated strategy.
The result: With four of the six majors no-showing this year, the Hall H schedule is especially thin. That means participating studios Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Legendary Pictures, Lucasfilm — and even indies Open Road and The Weinstein Co. — get to shine a little brighter here in San Diego this year.
Here's what to expect (and what not to expect) here at Comic-Con 2015:

Who's actually coming?

Warner Bros.: Batman and Superman are here to rescue Comic-Con. With nothing but a short teaser and a very brief stage appearance to show at last year's Hall H panel, you can bet Warner Bros. is pulling out all the stops this time around. The studio that installs larger-than-life surround screens in Hall H for maximum wow factor is bringing Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot for an actual panel presentation with director Zack Snyder. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be this year's marquee moment, which Warner Bros. teased out by putting its big heroes on display out on the convention floor.

Fans check out Batman's heavy armor and Wonder Woman's costume on the floor of San Diego Comic Con on Wednesday night.

Warner Bros. also has yet to roll out major assets on the still-shooting Suicide Squad, as well as other big surprises in store. The Warner Bros. panel starts Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

20th Century Fox: Just because Disney/Marvel isn't taking place doesn't mean the House of Ideas won't be represented. In fact, Fox gets the old Saturday night slot that Disney/Marvel has occupied for five years — and has a real shot at stealing the show here. They've got three major Marvel-based movies to promote: Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse and The Fantastic Four. And there's still more on the horizon that haven't been finalized or announced. Deadpool is a major fan favorite, Ryan Reynolds is here, and they have footage — heck, we may even get a full-blown trailer out of the deal. No one wants to follow Warner Bros. at Comic-Con, but Fox has the goods to pull it off. The Fox panel starts Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

A kid gets his picture taken on Rey's speeder from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" on the convention floor at Comic-Con on Wednesday night.

Image: Mashable/Josh Dickey

Lucasfilm: Star Wars is here! Kind of! The word around San Diego is that executive producer Kathleen Kennedy is bringing guests and the like, but that there won't be any new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Do we believe it? Not for a second. The Lucasfilm panel starts Friday at 5:30.

Lionsgate: Summit Entertainment, now a part of Lionsgate, was a Comic-Con movie-event pioneer with the Twilight series, which had a major impact on how studios approach this event. Now they're sunsetting another juggernaut YA franchise with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. The Lionsgate panel starts Thursday at noon.

Legendary Pictures: See: Universal Pictures (below) under "Who's not coming." The Legendary panel begins at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Open Road Films: The small distributor owned by AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group couldn't keep it a secret: Bill Murray is here in San Diego for his first Comic-Con. He'll be promoting Rock the Kasbah, the October release in which he plays a former rock tour manager who finds himself in Afghanistan. Open Road also has Max Steel, Spotlight and Snowden. The Open Road panel starts at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

The Weinstein Co.: Only one reason for this one: Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Tarantino has been to Comic-Con before, and this time is bringing his bloody Western, which comes out in January. The question is, who among that stellar cast will join him? The Weinstein Co. panel starts Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

Who's not coming — and why

Robert Downey Jr. won't be throwing roses in Hall H this year.

Disney/Marvel: Marvel has owned the Saturday night slot in Hall H going back to 2010, when it first assembled all of the Avengers onstage (and announced Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk). In that five year span, Marvel has used the big stage to announce Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron and various other major projects — not to mention whipping the crowd into a rock-concert like frenzy year after year. But Disney has its biennial D23 conference coming up later this summer, and learned in October (when it unveiled plans for Black Panther, Captain Marvel and other projects) that it can make these big "announcement" events pop on their own. It won't be the same here without Marvel in the Hall.

Sony Pictures Entertainment: Really, big Sony? Not a single thing in support of Pixels, a sneak peek at Ghostbusters or at least a chance to meet Tom Holland, the new Spider-Man? That seems like reason enough to make the trip, but we'll give Sony a break here — the studio has had a tough year since The Interview hack and is going through major leadership changes. Studios don't like to expend the enormous energy to come here unless they have something really cool to show off, and with Pixels so close (July 24), Ghostbusters just getting into production and the next Spider-Man so far away, this may have been the right call.

Universal Studios: Universal is here in spirit, kind of. Legendary Pictures, which partnered with Uni last summer after a long co-financing relationship with Warner Bros., is present this year — but then, CEO Thomas Tull is a huge fan of Comic-Con, and his studio has Crimson Peak and Warcraft coming up before the next 'Con. And subsidiary Focus Features is here with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. But Universal could easily put on a panel all by itself — this crowd is brainy enough to appreciate some Steve Jobs footage, '90s-nostalgic enough for Jem and the Holograms and family-friendly enough for the animated The Secret Life of Pets. Even a little Furious 8 love would go over well here in the Hall.

Paramount Pictures: Paramount seems to come down here about every other year, and without rhyme or reason. In 2014 it had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Interstellar to peddle, and made a good show of them. This year the studio could've come with the Mark Wahlberg/Will Ferrell comedy Daddy's Home, the animated Monster Trucks, a sneak peek at the Amazon-exploration thriller The Lost City of Z, Ben-Hur and oh yeah — Star Trek Beyond, which has yet to start production but needs no assets to get this crowd in a froth. At least it seems like Paramount is making movies again.