San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) was last weekend, and if you are in the same circles of social media as I am, you’ll notice that strangely, there were no major announcements from the hugely popular, massive multimedia event.
For obvious, anti-vax, Delta related reasons, SDCC once again skipped over the Live and In Person aspect of the convention, and held what they called Comic-Con @ Home 2021. However, while the 130,000+ attendees is certainly a major part of the event, so too were the various studios, film and television, that would use the weekend as a time to drop trailer, release posters, and introduce cast and crew to major upcoming projects.
There were a few announcements, which we’ll get to shortly, but the lack of announcements is not solely due to the lack of live audiences.
2021 Announcements
Trailer for Doctor Who Season 13.
Blade Runner will have an tweenquel (not a sequel, not a prequel, it’s in between), called Blade Runner: Black Lotus.
The Walking Dead‘s season 11 will be it’s last.
Bob’s Burgers: The Movie will be a “musical, comedy, mystery, adventure, and kind of coming-of-age story.”
Teaser Trailer for Legends of Tomorrow Season 6.
Trailer for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2.
Another Star Trek show, Prodigy.
Army of the Dead, the Zack Snyder zombie bank heist movie, will have a prequel, Army of Thieves.
Trailer for final season of Lucifer.
There is a Dexter Revival called Dexter: New Blood.
New poster for Wheel of Time.
Pre-Covid, that would have been the entire article, because there were so many trailers, posters, and cast announced. So what’s going on?
Studio Custom Events
Well, the first thing is that studios are beginning to host their own events.
Disney, for instance, has had a biannual event called D23, which was originally more for investors or superfans, as they would discuss upcoming movies, and have a little museum that would change themes. When Marvel and Star Wars were still being shown at SDCC, D23 was where you would hear about the upcoming Tangled or the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean. Riveting stuff. However, they realized they could bring it all under one roof, and expand their event, which is why in 2019 I needed three different articles talking about all of the announcements.
Warner Bros. and DC last year, in light of SDCC’s first attempt at online, created the DC FanDome, an online experience, where they would promote all of their own projects, and it was a hit! Between various trailers and announcements, people were talking about the future of DC entertainment for weeks. It was so big, they’ve announced they are going to do it again this year, on October 16.
SDCC Leaks
The most unfortunate part of the pre-Covid trend at SDCC, was the fact that their big announcements were available, regardless of your attendance. In the early 2010s, San Diego’s Hall H was the place to be to see the new trailers and hear news first. However, not only did studios start releasing these exclusive bits online at the exact same time, but they did that because people were recording these exclusive moments and live streaming them online.
Future
So the question becomes, next year(ish) when we can finally go back to having live an in person conventions, what will become of San Diego Comic Con? They will no longer be the go to annual event for nerdy announcements. Hall H seems to have lost it’s luster, as the nerdiest of IPs have their own conventions. In the same way that Netflix was once the home for all streaming, and now is one of dozens of streaming services, will SDCC be one of dozens of major events that have studios announcing their upcoming lineups?
Personally, I hope so. SDCC has had such a monopoly on comic conventions, that the others can’t even call themselves Comic-Con, and it feels like if you don’t go to San Diego, you’re missing out. Instead, if we could have dozens of major events all across the country, and everyone can get a slice of that “exclusive” experience, I think everyone will be happier.
The Nerdd 
I mean there were announcements about Disney shows and Dragon Ball. That’s pretty big
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I didn’t see the Dragon Ball Super movie news until now, so that’s fair, but a couple of Gravity Falls-esque Disney shows, I’m not sure I would consider that big to be honest.
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Speak for yourself. That was the best panel I saw at Comic Con
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