Another one bites the dust. In a year that has already seen so many events and festivals cancel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, San Diego Comic-Con has joined their ranks as yet another summer film/TV staple is skipping 2020. According to the organizers of San Diego Comic-Con (via THR), the annual event is being canceled for the first time in the convention’s 50-year history, as a spokesperson describes it as an “extraordinary measure.”
“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and while we are saddened to take this action, we know it is the right decision,” said Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer. “We eagerly look forward to the time when we can all meet again and share in the community we all love and enjoy.”
For those with the coveted passes to this year’s SDCC, they’ll be happy to know that refunds are available, as is the option to transfer the badge to next year’s event, which is currently scheduled to begin on July 22, 2021.
Obviously, this is not only a huge blow for the comic book publishing community, which has been affected in a catastrophic way due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as SDCC is the year’s biggest event in that industry, but it also means that film and TV studio won’t have Comic-Con to push their latest, greatest genre offerings. Of course, considering most of the major 2020 films have been rescheduled for late-2020 or 2021 and most studios are currently experiencing massive production stoppages (with no real end in sight), it’s unclear if any of the marquee studios would have presented much at SDCC in 2020 anyway.
SDCC joins various other major cultural events and film festivals with 2020 cancellations due to the global pandemic. As of now, most folks have their eyes on the late-summer/early-fall events, such as the Venice Film Festival and TIFF, to see which might emerge as the first big post-coronavirus industry event.