This year’s event could reflect big changes in the industry

Last year’s Hollywood strike didn’t completely shut down San Diego Comic-Con as it did for most film and TV production, but the 2023 event saw a dramatic change of pace as studios (with a few exceptions) either drastically reduced their attendance or walked away entirely, returning the annual gathering to its roots.

That is not the case this year.

Hollywood—with one notable exception—is making a comeback at SDCC 2024. But to be frank, Hollywood faces tough business challenges as it recovers from the massive cultural and financial upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and tough questions about its relationship to the pop culture that San Diego celebrates every year (and the fans who celebrate it).

Ahead of another busy week of the world’s top pop culture celebrations, here are the biggest questions we hope to get answered.

Does superhero fatigue occur?

The 2010s were dominated by superheroes, both at the box office and in pop culture. Buoyed by the historic success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an arms race began in Hollywood, with competing studios like DC Comics owner Warner Bros. and Sony launching their own interconnected franchises of movies and TV series (with a mix of hybrid movies and TV series as a result).

Admittedly, the 2020s are different. Superhero projects now tend to make more headlines for casting changes, unexpected failures, or harsh critical reviews. The most important pop culture phenomenon in Hollywood that decade was Pappenheimer, who had absolutely no connection to any superhero intellectual property.

Many explanations have been proposed — changing movie-consumption habits due to the pandemic, an oversaturated market related to the streaming wars, or just an overall decline in quality — but they tend to be chalked up to the catch-all concept of “superhero fatigue.”

Deadpool vs. Wolverine is set to hit theaters this week and is expected to set box office records for an R-rated movie, while Marvel is making a triumphant return to Hall H at Comic-Con.

But the question remains: Is superhero fatigue real, and has it already seeped into even the fans least willing to succumb to it? We’re going to try to find out.

Will comic book artists on the first floor still thrive?

In 2023, a strike-induced reduction in studio space left Hall H largely half-empty for a week, providing a financial boom for the usually overshadowed artists and creators who make up SDCC’s working class.

The lack of major panels and celebrity appearances has fans returning to the main show floor, where they happily spend thousands of dollars buying art and comics, especially in Artist Alley. One artist, for example, told Jolie Bobine that she made $2,200 in less than 24 hours, enough to break even. Another bluntly told us, “For Artist Alley, nothing is more enjoyable than a walk-in. »

With Hollywood making a comeback this year and Hall H’s lineup expanding, will fans still find time to continue rocking Artists Alley, or will the long lines and the promise of seeing their favorite stars put them off?

How will Marvel develop?

The film company, which dominated the 2010s, has faced a series of setbacks since 2020, including disappointing box office performances, declining critical popularity and the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman.

Then, in late 2023, the studio’s grand plans for the Avengers franchise fell through when actor Jonathan Majors, who played villain Kang the Conqueror, was convicted of assault and harassment in a domestic violence case in New York. After the verdict, Marvel fired him.

The studio needs to make a major shake-up, which appears to be in the works ahead of its return to Hall H this year, starting with a “Deadpool vs. Wolverine” victory panel on Thursday night, followed by the usual hour-long blitz on Saturday with more previews and announcements.

Will the studio reveal Kang the Conqueror’s replacement? Will the Russo brothers officially announce their return to Marvel? Are new Avengers projects in the works? Will fans get to see Harrison Ford’s Red Hulk or the final Fantastic Four? Does Blade still make sense?

Will fans miss the hit Warner Bros. movie Discovery in Hall H?

While Disney subsidiary Marvel plans a (hopefully) triumphant return to Hall H, its main rival, Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of DC Comics, is taking a different direction.

Sure, WBD will be in San Diego with several current and upcoming TV series. But the studio’s traditional Comic-Con highlight is usually the massive Saturday morning panel in Hall H, which features not only DC movies but also blockbusters across multiple genres — highlights in past years have been “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Hobbit” and Zack Snyder’s DC Universe. This year, that panel will not take place.

WBD still has its first Hall H slot on Saturday, but it’s going to have something more subdued: a video presentation and Q&A with the cast of The CW’s “Superman & Lois,” which is entering its final season. Later today, just before Saturday night’s Marvel panel, WBD will highlight Colin Farrell’s upcoming “Penguin” series. There’s also a panel this week on “Harley Quinn” and “Kite Man: Hell Yeah.”

But the studio won’t show Beetlejuice, Joker: Pas de Deux, or the animated film The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, all of which are set to hit theaters this year. It won’t even give us Superman: Legacy, the kickoff of James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe, which has been filming since February.

In fact, WBD does not advocate Any one It’s frankly odd that fans will be invited to attend SDCC this year. Will this matter to fans at Comic-Con? Will it matter when the company tries to build buzz around these movies in other ways later on? That remains to be seen.

What will be the main focus of cosplay this year?

Last year, Oppenheimer was the summer contest, but as far as cosplay was concerned, the big winner was “Barbie,” not “Oppenheimer.” And it wasn’t tight.

Comic-Con is a veritable Barbie world. You can’t walk a few meters without hearing “Hi Barbie!” » and seeing one or more fans dressed as their favorite version of the character.

No movie released this year has had the cultural impact that Barbie has, but Vice-Versa 2 certainly made a splash. conspiracy Money. Will emotions like anxiety and boredom become a choice for cosplay?

Meanwhile, like last year’s “Barbie,” “Deadpool vs. Wolverine” will be released at Comic-Con on Thursday night, which means fans in San Diego may have to wait until they get home to see it. But that didn’t stop “Barbie” fans from creating incredible looks in 2023, and we don’t think it will stop “Deadpool” fans either. The movie is full of possibilities, many of which are revealed in the trailer.

We’ll be documenting all the incredible looks we see and reporting back to you once we know who the 2024 champion will be.