Back in 2012, Comic-Con Internation had turned a few heads when it moved its second biggest convention from San Francisco, where it had traditionally called home for over 25 years, to Anaheim, California. Once there, it was officially rebranded WonderCon Anaheim. The move was due in part to the Moscone Center in San Francisco being in the process of remodeling. The Anaheim Convention Center was chosen to host the event. For four years, the laid back and arguably more comic book oriented convention had actually seen a spike in turnout, solidifying it as actually being more successful in its new location.
Sunday, April 5th, was the last day of WonderCon 2015. During the Talk-Back panel featured at the event's closing, officials confirmed that WonderCon would not be returning to Anaheim next year. Instead, the Los Angeles Convention Center will host the event for 2016. The reason given for this dealt with dissatisfaction with scheduling. For the past two years...Anaheim only had room to book WonderCon on Easter weekend, which in theory would limit the number of people interested in attending. Officials with Comic-Con International promised that this didn't necessarily mean that WonderCon couldn't come back to Anaheim in 2017.
What was even more interesting was the discussion concerning San Diego Comic-Con International, or SDCC. Overcrowding has long been an issue that Comic-Con has sought to fix. Back in 2013, a $520 million proposed expansion of the San Diego Convention Center was put forth by the city in a bid to keep Comic-Con International from moving away. Well, it would appear that local near-by hotels have not taken a liking to this--complaining of potential profit loss from prolonged construction. Officials with Comic-Con International have now revealed that while they would still very much prefer to stay in San Diego, if these businesses were to somehow succeed in hindering these construction plans, they may entertain the idea of relocating their event somewhere else.
Comic-Con's current contract with San Diego is extended to last until the year 2016.
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