San Diego Comic-Con has been struggling ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced just about everything to shut down in 2020. Since then, it seems like one thing after another is making it tough for these live events to go on. Many of the big studios we’re used to seeing in San Diego every year will be absent for San Diego Comic-Con 2023, Variety reports.
It’s a long list: Disney’s Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, HBO, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Netflix are all skipping SDCC this year. Warner Bros. hasn’t made an official announcement one way or the other, and NBC is waiting on rumors of an impending actors’ strike, Variety notes. Paramount and Amazon, however, do plan to have some presence.
So what’s going on? Most apparent is the current ongoing writers’ strike and the rumored potential strike by the Screen Actors Guild. While both strikes affect these studios, an actors’ strike would be disastrous–it’s impossible to get actors on stage to talk about their upcoming projects when they’re busy holding a picket line for fair pay. Studios aren’t going to want to make plans for a bunch of actor-filled panels if they think the actors might not be there.
Additionally, many of these studios are choosing to advertise directly to viewers. Netflix just held one of its Tudum events in Brazil, for example, and Star Wars fans can get their fix at the annual Star Wars Celebration events. DC Studios held its Fandome events in 2020 and 2021, but canceled it for 2022. With a new boss and a bunch of new projects in the works, though, Warner Bros. may be looking to bring back the event or something similar.
Before SDCC was the place to go to see all of your favorite genre movie stars in one place, it was just a (really, really big) comic convention. If this continues, the event may be forced to return to its roots. San Diego Comic-Con 2023 is scheduled to take place in just under a month, from July 20 to July 23, 2023.
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