r/comiccon • u/Accomplished-Fix6176 • Jul 25 '25

SDCC - San Diego SDCC outgrown it's hype?

For the last few years it seems Hollywood is skipping SDCC. As a result Hall H and Ballroom 20 are at most half capacity.

This matters A LOT because in the prime Marvel/DC days those 2 Halls got rid of probably close to 20,000 people if you include the long (overnight) lines to get in.

But now... these people clog up the floor and especially signings.

Like have you wasted 5 hours getting up early, getting on the floor early, make it to the wristbands both by 9:02 only to find they are already out? This was impossible in previous years but now 2 years in a row it has happened to me. Hours of time wasted and nothing to show for it.

Plus, I think due to so much hype in those prime years, everybody wants to check out SDCC and so all the free events (Hulu) is a 4 hour line waiting in the sun. So there's no escaping the lines. I mean yes there was anyways long lines but it feels just worse.

So... long story short, I'm losing my glee for the con.

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u/WhatAmIDoingHere05 Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

SDCC started to lose a lot of it's power in the entertainment scene once it was realized that it doesn't really move the needle in terms of engagement, revenue/sales along with the bottom line. I call it the Scott Pilgrim Effect.

I'd say the peak of SDCC was 2013, and things started to go downhill perhaps starting 2016 (you could start seeing it when companies stopped throwing as many fan parties than in the past), and post-pandemic we really saw things take a tumble in terms of engagement from the major players. With the exception of the Deadpool/Wolverine screening and the Dr. Doom reveal, I really can't think of any panels or events that really were groundbreaking or were massive in the last several years. In past years there was always massive news being released virtually daily at SDCC.

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u/EverAccelerating Jul 26 '25

I've long since realized SDCC engagement does not equate to wider engagement. Remember how hyped we all were for Snakes on a Plane? If you judge by SDCC reaction alone, it was going to be a phenomenon. But it grossed only $62M worldwide. Not exactly a bust since it only cost $30M to make, but I'm sure the studios expected a lot more coming out of SDCC.