DC FanDome, the annual online event for DC Comics and various film, television, and video game projects, will not be happening this year. Doubts about the event have circulated for months. Still, Popverse has shared an official announcement from DC and Warner Bros. Discovery saying the virtual celebration of superheroes and beyond is canceled. The statement about the cancelation of DC FanDome 2022 reads as follows:
“With the return of in person events, Warner Bros. Discovery is excited to be able to engage with our fans live at numerous comic-cons around the world and will not be scheduling DC FanDome for 2022.”
While the statement points to events like San Diego Comic-Con, C2E2, and Emerald City Comic Con as the studio’s opportunity to reach fans across the globe, the tea leaves tell a different tale. Traditionally, DC FanDome 2022 is the studio’s chance to share upcoming projects, events, and activations with fans. However, with David Zaslav and other executives slashing products left and right, DC has almost nothing to share. While Zaslav claims that DC is a “top of the list” priority for the company, that’s hard to believe when budget constraints have led to near-finished films getting canned and promising projects placed on the auction block for other outlets to gobble up. With cash being a priority for the studio, it’s believed that WBD only has enough scratch to market two films for the remainder of the year (Black Adam and Don’t Worry Darling). This circumstance makes it difficult to justify hosting a virtual event revolving around projects that may or may not exist.
What do you think about Warner Bros. Discovery canceling DC FanDome 2022? Are you surprised by this news, or did you see the writing on the wall? I’m genuinely a fan of DC FanDome. I think it’s one of the better virtual events of recent years (though it could use some scheduling tweaks), and I am sad to hear it isn’t happening. Still, I think this development is more a reflection of the broken state of Warner Bros. Discovery than anything else. Hopefully, the event will return bigger and better than ever next year.