Marvel, Sony, Lucasfilm, Netflix and Universal all announce they will not be attending next month’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Poor Comic-Con. After a couple of years in which the global pandemic laud waste to the popular annual event, the San Diego-based fixture got back up and running only for the ongoing labour dispute in Hollywood to cause more problems. Whilst this year’s event hasn’t been cancelled, the anticipation for it just took a huge dip considering that some of Hollywood’s biggest players have all pulled their presence from the show.
Marvel, Sony, Lucasfilm, Netflix and Universal have all declined to attend over fears that the ongoing labour dispute in Hollywood could cause major problems, not least of which is the possibility that there will be no actors on hand to publicise the films.
We won’t know whether an actors’ strike is happening until the negotiations between the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA and the producers’ alliance (AMPTP) end on June 30th. Should things not have reached an amicable conclusion, that would leave studios three weeks out from Comic-Con with no stars to promote their projects.
Directors would be able to appear as the Directors Guild of America finally ratified its deal with the AMPTP this week, although any writer/directors shouldn’t be publicising their films as the Writers Guild of America continues to strike.
How this will impact things going forward for both Comic-Con and the studios who benefit from it remains to be seen. Comic Con is one of the biggest marketing opportunities of the year and with lots of tentpole movies failing to hit profitability at the moment, this is yet another blow to the blockbuster model (although this year has undoubtedly seen some major successes for franchise cinema t00). Still, we can see how this might really be a problem for franchises like The Marvels, which are already looking like they might struggle given the current landscape of blockbuster cinema in 2023.
In an effort to head off a crippling strike action, we imagine the AMPTP will be bending over backwards to accommodate the demands of the actors’ guild but as soon as we hear which way the wind is blowing in that ongoing dispute, you can be sure we’ll let you know.
