Comic-Con 2023: Hollywood Strikes Won’t Deter Big Crowds
Marvel Studios and DC’s film studios, along with several actors, will be sitting out of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. But the fans are not.
While it’s still early down here in America’s Finest City, attendees are already lining up, not simply for Hall H but for their Wednesday night or Thursday entrance to the trade-show floor. The outdoor tents and rails for queues are set up and remain in place outside the San Diego Convention Center’s Hall H lawn.
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Despite the ratcheting down of several TV networks panels to mere screenings (like AMC’s The Walking Dead Watch Party and FX’s What We Do in Shadows, among several others), one on-the-ground CSC Security staffer at the confab says the convention is preparing for enormous crowds “like any other Comic-Con.” The walkways along the Hilton side of Hall H that are fenced off to control crowds are still very much in place.
Last year’s first return to an in-person event after a two-year Covid hiatus drew a reported 135,000 attendees, which was on par with attendance in pre-Covid years. Realize that those who flock here from all over the country purchase tickets and book hotels and condos months in advance, without ever knowing what the lineup will be; the schedule is announced roughly two weeks before the start of the convention.
Comic-Con is used as a platform for studios to bang a gong about superhero projects; it’s the place where The Avengers cast first assembled onstage. It’s where the Guardians of the Galaxy gang of Zoe Saldaña, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, etc., first debuted to the world to great screams as though they were the Beatles as they strutted from the Hilton Indigo hotel to Hall H; where Gal Gadot first swooned fans months before she ever hit the big screen as Wonder Woman; and where Tom Cruise crashed the Terminator: Dark Fate panel to announce the production of Top Gun: Maverick in San Diego.
How do fans feel about the SAG-AFTRA strike that has actors sitting out and limiting the electricity in the humid, beachy air?
“I don’t mind it — they’re fighting for their rights,” said Levi Hirsch from San Francisco, who was waiting in line to get into tonight’s trade show preview. “This is a fan event for us, and for them this is their jobs and their livelihood. If they don’t fight for it now, they’re not going to get it.”
Added Danny Gomez, also down from the Bay Area, “I don’t go for the panels, but I do feel bad for those who do love going to the panels and seeing all the stars come through.”
‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Paramount.
Among the highlights of this year’s edition which kicks off in full Thursday are Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, with director Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears, in Hall H. There’s also Collider’s Directors on Directing panel with Gareth Edwards (upcoming The Creator) and Haunted Mansion‘s Justin Simien; the same Hall H panel last year featured a surprise appearance by Keanu Reeves with a trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4. Also, Scream Queens star and Comic-Con fave Jamie Lee Curtis will be talking about her new graphic novel, Mother Nature. Kevin Smith, who never skips SDCC, is here to chat about Masters of the Universe on Netflix and the docu Chasing Chasing Amy. EP and director Albert Hughes and EP Marshall Persinger are showing off new footage behind Peacock’s new John Wick series, The Continental. Peter Jackson’s WETA has a Lord of the Rings 20th anniversary panel on Friday, and A24 is firing up fans before the July 28 release of its Sundance horror acquisition Talk to Me, with a panel and 10 p.m. screening Thursday.
FX has typically held big Hall H panels for its shows on Sunday mornings. This year, however, the last day of the confab won’t have any crowds in the 6,500-capacity auditorium: zero big events are booked.
Despite a lack of star power, the majority of the Hollywood studios didn’t feel the urge to sneak preview any of their genre wares for the massive fanboy audience this weekend — the opposite tack of the networks showing off episodes (re: ABC’s Abbott Elementary). However, streamers are on the ball and meeting eyeballs: They dominate the entire Gaslamp Quarter here with wraparound building ads from the likes of AMC+, Paramount+, Prime Video, Hulu and Netflix.
Yellowjackets, for example, has taken over the inside and attached restaurant at the Hard Rock Cafe hotel.
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The streamers are also out giving fans a good time. Paramount+ has taken over the now-defunct Strip Club steak restaurant and nearby building for their Lodge, which features experiences from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Yellowjackets, Star Trek, Pet Sematary and Good Burger 2 among many other projects. AMC also has a live stunt from Anne Rice’s Immortal universe that allows attendees to tour “The Street of Immortality,” a New Orleans-inspired immersive experience with several photo and video opportunities along the route. Attendees will recognize iconic locations from Interview with the Vampire (like Hotel Iberville and Nawlins Records) and Mayfair Witches.
And while there’s not as much Hollywood noise in San Diego, Comic-Con sort of goes back to being what it’s always been about: the comics.
“It’s unfortunate that they don’t have Disney and Marvel in there — they’re staples,” said die-hard comic book fan Hugo Gomez, who also came for the SDCCC trade floor. “But for the purposes of us — it doesn’t matter.”
Source: Deadline
