50 Years of Comic-Con
Special feature from HighRises.com
A tiny event called the “Golden State Comic-Minicon” took place in the basement of the U.S. Grant Hotel and hosted about 145 fans total.
Now, 50 years later, Comic-Con International is an absolute powerhouse of pop culture, courting big names in Hollywood and drawing in more than 130,000 fans from around the globe to downtown San Diego.
Comic-Con has come pretty far, blooming to a small community of about 5,000 yearly visitors in the 1980s, exploding to tens of thousands of fans in the 1990s, and nearly doubling in size between 2000 and 2005 alone! Now, celebrities, experts, writers, creators, and film directors all make Comic-Con an important part of their media circuit, and considering that the con has added fire to the flame of numerous franchises from Star Wars to Hellboy, it’s no wonder why. (That’s right! Star Wars had its big advertising push at San Diego Comic-Con in 1976, with genius marketer Charles Lippincott handing out posters that are now worth thousands today.)
Star Wars isn’t alone. By the time the con hit 100,000 regular attendees, Hollywood actors were chaotically flocking to San Diego to promote everything from Twilight to Avatar to The Avengers to The Hobbit. And it’s not just important for big-named blockbusters; films that are now cult classics have had special roots at the event. For example, the cast and director of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World came out in person to thank their fans in 2010.
The con has had an unique history, with a few scary bumps along the way. For instance, there was a scare when Marvel, Disney, and HBO pulled out from the event in 2018, and over the years there’s been many talks of moving the con to LA or Las Vegas. Luckily, however, Comic-Con will now be a permanent part of San Diego in the form of a museum in Balboa Park, and is slated to stay at least until 2024.
Learn more about San Diego Comic Con’s history and San Diego itself with this graphic from HighRises.com!
Check out the original article here - https://www.highrises.com/50-years-of-san-diego-comic-con.php
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