San Diego Comic-Con is going virtual once again for their annual July event due to the COVID-19 pandemic but when they announced their virtual endeavor they also revealed plans for a smaller in-person event in November. The dates for that November event were finally revealed days ago and many were surprised to see that it was scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend. This understandably sparked a lot of strong opinions and now a new report suggests that the date is facing some backlash from actors and major studios.
According to "The Hollywood Reporter", they have spoken to several people in the industry who are not too happy with the schedule for the SDCC November event. An anonymous representative from a studio who has hosted Hall H panels, which is some of the biggest panels to be presented during SDCC weekend, says that they "love San Diego Comic-Con and would love to support, but what actor or producer is going to give their first-post-vaccine Thanksgiving holiday with family to travel to San Diego to publicize a project?" Another unnamed insider also had this to say:
"During the pandemic, we’ve had Wonder Woman and The Mandalorian, but what we haven’t had is a hug from our parents and grandparents. Talent are not going to want to give up time with their families at Thanksgiving this year of all years. I have no idea what the organizers are thinking."
Another PR representative with clients who have been featured prominently in Hall H says that actors are "refusing" to attend but will have no choice but to go. It really has put studios, producers, and performers in a very awkward position as San Diego Comic-Con is one of the biggest publicity events of the year but the timing of this event just doesn't seem to really make much sense. After the initial wave of backlash, Comic-Con released a statement that explained why this particular weekend was chosen. According to them, the Thanksgiving weekend was one of the few dates available to even host the event during the last quarter of the year. They're also leaving the decision up to the patrons to determine if they want to attend and even suggested that they can spend the actual Thanksgiving holiday with their families first and then head out to San Diego to spend the rest of the weekend with their "family of choice."
Talent hasn't been the only vocal naysayer of the Thanksgiving weekend event. Fans were the first people to speak up about the decision and pointed out that this scheduling doesn't make sense for several reasons. Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays in the U.S. and people want to spend that time with their families, especially after some being separated from their loved ones during the 2020 holiday due to the pandemic. Fans might be excited that SDCC is trying to get back to normal but doing a smaller scale in-person event but many may skip it and wait until the full-blown event that is set for July 2022.
Do YOU think choosing Thanksgiving weekend was a bad move by SDCC to hold an in-person event?