Has Comic-Con lost some of its sparkle? Well, we weren’t there, so we can’t say with any certainty. But the annual Nerdemburg Rally, which ended in San Diego on Sunday, is no longer attracting the headlines that it used to.

A few years back, commentators were arguing that the event – at which comic publishers and studios tease fans with their upcoming wares – was set to become more important than any major international film festival. Now, it seems to have settled down into catering for (an admittedly very large) niche audience.

Marvel Studios convened a panel to discuss the way forward after The Avengers. Hold on to your hats. Lucky attendees got to hear the titles of two upcoming sequels: Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It looks as if Edgar Wright is on board to direct a version of Ant-Man. Are you still with us? Peter Jackson revealed that – oh come on! – the second part of The Hobbit may be split into two sections.

There was some buzz around Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, a homage to Japanese monster movies, and Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, a futuristic romp featuring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. But I’m still not seeing any news. Well, the lengthy clip from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained features hip dialogue, knowing anachronisms and a great deal of violence. Tell us something we don’t know.