For weeks, officials in charge of San Diego Comic-Con had been waiting to make a decision regarding the continuation of their late-July event. After countless other events have been cancelled in the wake of the virus, Comic-Con has officially bitten the bullet and announced its cancellation too.
NEWS
Comic-Con has officially announced that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no San Diego Comic-Con this year and that they will return next year in 2021.
For the first time in its 50-year history San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the organizers behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced today with deep regret that there will be no Comic-Con in 2020. The event will instead return to the San Diego Convention Center from July 22-25, 2021.
They explain their internal reasoning for cancelling and ultimately delaying the event for a year.
Recognizing that countless attendees save and plan for its conventions each year, and how many exhibitors and stakeholders rely upon its events for a major portion of their livelihood, they had hoped to delay this decision in anticipation that COVID-19 concerns might lessen by summer. Continuous monitoring of health advisories and recent statements by the Governor of California have made it clear that it would not be safe to move forward with plans for this year.
An announcement has yet to be made regarding a possible virtual Hall-H presentation for Marvel Studios and other studios.
WHAT THIS MEANS
Every year at Comic-Con, there is a Marvel Studios panel that either announces new projects or updates on current productions. These can vary in the amount of information given with sometimes being just minor updates on productions or multiple projects and titles announced one after the other.
However, due to Comic-Con being cancelled and delayed for an entire year, fans won't get that this year. Unless, Disney and Marvel Studios sees the benefit of holding this panel at a different convention, considering every other convention has been cancelled, that option is unlikely. Another alternative is holding such a panel online themselves through a streaming service either free to the public or pay-per-view.
One must consider the likelihood that San Diego Comic-Con 2021 will be cancelled too, as a vaccine for COVID-19 may not be complete by this time - allowing over 100,000 people to gather in one place would be dangerous without a vaccine.
