The age of jaw-dropping Hall H surprises at San Diego Comic-Con is fading away. Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros./DC Studios, Legendary, Sony, Lionsgate, and Paramount are skipping this year’s event, leaving the famed Hall H with less spectacle, and wild exciting chaos than we’ve come to expect.
According to a new report from The Wrap, all these studios have all opted out of film panels this year, and it mostly comes down to two things: timing and cost.
“I think it’s expensive to go and hard for movies to really pop there now and move the needle,” one top marketing executive told the outlet. “It used to feel like a must.”
Theatrical releases are trickling instead of pouring, and even the few major titles like Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps will already be in theaters by the time Comic-Con rolls around. Neither Marvel nor DC has a significant film release on the calendar until well into 2026, making it hard to justify spending six figures on a splashy event without a tangible return.
When studios do go big, it really adds up. One insider revealed that even a standard Hall H presentation with exclusive footage and cast appearances can cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” That’s before you factor in things like talent fees, hotel accommodations, airfare, and the full glam squad.
“For the bigger stars, it gets really, really expensive,” another marketing exec said. “Hair, makeup, styling and first-class accommodations can add hundreds of thousands of dollars more to the bill.”
Last year, DC Studios skipped the convention entirely, with only Creature Commandos in active production. That left the door wide open for Marvel Studios, who delivered a barn-burner panel capped off by the bombshell that Robert Downey Jr. would return to the MCU as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
But this year, both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* underwhelmed, and studios are now rethinking whether Comic-Con panels still offer the kind of impact they used to.
DC isn’t totally absent as they’re bringing Peacemaker Season 2 to the con, but fans hoping for a deep dive into James Gunn’s rebooted DCU will have to wait. According to the report, Supergirl is expected to get the spotlight at a fall convention, likely New York Comic Con in October.
It’s not a complete ghost town, though. Universal Pictures is bringing two movies to Hall H, while Amazon MGM Studios is prepping a panel for Project Hail Mary. Disney and 20th Century Studios will show up with TRON: Ares and Predator: Badlands, so there’s still going to be plenty to see, just not with the usual MCU and DCU chaos.
As for the folks running Comic-Con? They’re not sweating it. “While we hope every studio or network could attend every year, we know that can’t always be the case,” said David Glanzer, Chief Communications and Strategy Officer for San Diego Comic Convention. “And if there are some who can’t make it this year, we’ll be here in 2026 and eagerly await their return.”
So yes, this year be a chill year that will feel quieter. But, that just means the next big Hall H moment is being saved for something even bigger down the line.
