• by Larissa Faw , July 10, 2015

More than 130,000 fans are expected to attend San Diego's Comic-Con July 9-12, and many are already discussing the event and related activity online, according to Amobee Brand Intelligence. 

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is generating more than three times the San Diego Comic-Con-related online chatter of any other movie between June 7 and July 7.  "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" was ranked the second movie most associated to the San Diego Comic-Con in the same time period, with "X-Men: Apocalypse" coming in third, "Deadpool" fourth and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2" ranked as the fifth movie most associated to Comic-Con. 

"In all, a huge amount of interest around films with colons," quips Amobee's Ammiel Kamon.  

Yet while "Star Wars" the movie may be attracting online chatter, the film's stars aren't as popular. In fact, "Batman vs. Superman" is generating the most interest at the talent level. Director Zack Snyder has the most Comic-Con related online consumption (among production talent, in front of or behind the camera). By comparison, the new Batman, Ben Affleck, has slightly less Comic-Con related consumption than Snyder. 

Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot had 68% as much Comic Con-related consumption as Snyder, while Lex Luther actor Jesse Eisenberg and Superman portrayer Henry Cavill both had 58% as much Comic-Con related consumption as Snyder. "We're seeing that "Batman v. Superman" is a more star-driven franchise while with "Star Wars" the actual "Star Wars" brand is the main star," says Kamon. 

Comic-Con, of course, is not just movies. AMC's "The Walking Dead," along with its spin-off "Fear The Walking Dead," was the TV show with the most Comic-Con related online consumption. 

As for new shows, "Supergirl" has been the TV show generating the most interest; accounting for 43% more related consumption than Fox's "Scream Queens" or NBC's "Heroes: Reborn."

Starz's romantic time-travel series "Outlanders" may be the event's biggest surprise, per Amobee. The show's two stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe were the TV actors with the most online buzz, beating out more well-known performers such as Heroes' Zachary Levi, Dr Who's Peter Capaldi and Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany. "Its popularity is a great reminder that Comic-Con is a great opportunity for marketers to reach out to female genre fans,” says Kamon.