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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Entertain Me. This is a show where we cover all things entertainment from SoCal to the silver screen. One of the most exciting things happening in Southern California this weekend on Halloween weekend of all weekends is LA Comic-Con. If you're somebody who likes to dress up, there is truly no better place to put on a really cool costume or cosplay outfit and head down to the biggest pop culture event in Southern California. I had the opportunity to sit down with the CEO, Chris DeMoulin, to once again talk about L.A. Comic-Con, what fans can expect to see. There are some big names coming this year from a little Breaking Bad reunion. Nicolas Cage is going to be there. And one thing I am most excited about is the cast of Outlander. It is going to be a packed con weekend, and I've got the scoop just for you. Chris, thank you so much for making time for me today.
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Speaker 2: I always have time for you, Heather, please.
00:00:57
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. I can't believe this is the 15th year, right? Is this the 15th anniversary?
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Speaker 3: It is the 15th anniversary of the first show that was, you know, in what the building euphemistically calls Kentia Hall, which under normal circumstances is a parking garage.
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Speaker 2: But, you know, great things come from small places.
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Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. So, okay. It's the 15th year of LA Comic-Con. What are we doing this year to celebrate? I looked at some of the lineup and I am really excited, not just for you, but for all the fans that are going to be coming. Tell me a little bit about what's on the agenda this year.
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Speaker 3: You know, we're not really doing anything for the 15th per se, because it's, I mean, we're so happy that we're still here and We're growing because the fans keep telling us what they're interested in and we, I guess, do a good enough job of giving that to them that they want to come back and do more.
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Speaker 2: I think what we always try to do.
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Speaker 3: Is have a very eclectic lineup because LA has a very eclectic and broad fan base. And so I think this year we've tried to lean in a little bit into guests that don't come out very often, like a Nicolas Cage, and getting Bob Odenkirk to join our Breaking Bad. I mean, Aaron Paul's never done a convention in the United States and Bob Odenkirk's never done a convention period.
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Speaker 2: So getting the two of them and Dean Norris and Giancarlo together for a Breaking Bad panel is really fun. And the fans have really responded.
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Speaker 3: And doing that and bringing in Outlander, which again is not sort of a, maybe a core Comic-Con thing, but we.
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Speaker 2: Had, it was one of those things.
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Speaker 1: Oh, it is for me.
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Speaker 2: And I'm telling you, I love passionate fans of anything.
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Speaker 3: And I can tell you these Outlander fans are about as passionate as any fans we've ever encountered.
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Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
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Speaker 1: You are definitely tapping into something there for sure. Who is coming for Outlander? And do you have a host for that panel?
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Speaker 2: We do, but I'll find out. We need a little backup host. I can let you know. So Sam Heughan is coming and Graham McTavish, Grant O'Rourke, Duncan LaCroix, and Stephen Walters. So we have five of them. Wow.
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Speaker 3: And, you know, they, because they have this great relationship with their fans, they'll do, you know, they'll do a public panel and that sort of stuff. But they also do all these special things. They're doing whiskey tastings. They're doing, things that are very specific to their fan base. And people are coming from all over the country to experience it.
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Speaker 2: So we get that kind of stuff going on.
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Speaker 3: We were able to get the K-pop Demon Hunters ladies with us, which is wonderful on that end, but also bring back things like The Office and Futurama. And of course, the whole Star Wars thing with Hayden coming back, Rosario Dawson and the Ahsoka cast. So we really try to have a few different anchors across the whole spectrum And then you go over to the West Hall and there's a whole separate anime experience going on with anime voice talent and a second stage and all sorts of main stage panels going on in there. So we really just try to do more and let people come and have fun.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that you brought that up because, you know, Comic-Con used to be thought of as primarily... a comics convention. But now you've got, as you said, anime, there's gaming, there's cosplay, movies, TV, of course, you know, huge fandom communities are all coming together under one roof here. What are you seeing fans gravitate towards more right now? And how has that sort of changed the convention? Is there something that's sort of in the public zeitgeist that makes you go, oh, we need to get them into the con this year?
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Speaker 3: No, that's a great question, Heather. I think there's two things going on. You know, obviously anime is My theory, I was used to say the Avengers made the world safe for nerds as those movies came out and did billions of dollars in box office. There are those of us who maybe loved that kind of stuff our whole lives and it sort of crossed over in the mainstream. And I think interestingly during COVID, Netflix really leaned into anime.
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Speaker 2: They got a lot of anime.
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Speaker 3: They put it on the homepage of Netflix and suddenly, you know, 25 or 30% of Americans are watching anime instead of two or 3%. And so we've, tried to lean into anime as we expanded into the West Hall. We launched Akiba Station last year, which was a whole activation just about anime. That's doubling in size this year. It's going to be almost 60,000 square feet. So when you walk into that part of the show, you're walking through cherry blossoms and under torii
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gates. And it's a whole experience of, you know, we tried to sort of channel Akihabara in Tokyo and have that be a really authentic thing.
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Speaker 2: But the latest thing is training card games.
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Speaker 3: And so we made a little space we thought was going to be in the back of West Hall for trading card gates and exploded so fast that it's now going to be almost a quarter of the hall. It's going to be the whole sort of upper left quadrant. And we see that growing by leaps and bounds. And so I think You know, our job is to just ask the fans what they're interested in and listen.
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Speaker 2: And then try to make space for that.
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Speaker 3: And I think, you know, if you were to have come to the show three years ago, there was no training card games at all and a very little bit of anime. And now you come and almost the entire West Hall is going to be anime, you know, video games and training card games.
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Speaker 2: So, you know, hopefully that's our job, right? Our job is to respond to the fans and bring in the stuff that they're interested in seeing.
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Speaker 1: You know, my daughter is sort of just relatively recently started getting into anime. She's been playing some of these anime games with her friends. And so it's been really fun watching her over the years, every year that we go and we take her discover something new in this pop culture and Comic-Con, you know, kind of world that she's a fan of and enjoys. And so this year I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time in that in that area, in the anime area. How many people are you expecting to attend this year?
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Speaker 3: You know, I try never to make guesses. We had 131,000 last year. And certainly what we're seeing right now is that it will be a little bit.
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Speaker 2: More than that.
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Speaker 3: You know, we're all living through a very challenging economy, so you're never quite sure what people are going to decide to spend money on. But I think because we've tried to be affordably priced. I don't know if you noticed, but we made the tickets for all kids free this year, 12 and under. So in the past, we've charged for 7- to 12-year-olds, and we just thought with all the other things going on in the world right now, we said kids up through 12 are free, and we've seen a nice response to that in terms of parents buying tickets for their whole families to come. But I think the indications are it will be big like that, but the nice thing is when you have over a million square feet of space over three days, Hopefully it feels full and has great energy, but never.
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Speaker 2: Gets too crowded.
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Speaker 3: And, you know, it's always there's an opportunity to turn the next corner and discover something you've never seen before.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is sort of probably one of the challenges is when you have something where there's potentially 130 to 150,000 people, how do you still make it feel like an event that's made just for fans and give it sort of that intimate feeling like instead of just a giant trade show? You know, that's a challenge, I'm sure.
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Speaker 3: You know, I think one of the things that we do that I think helps with that is unlike most other conventions, we put our main stage on the show floor.
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Speaker 2: We don't make you leave and go wait in line someplace.
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Speaker 3: And go to another hall because we don't think it's fair to the fan. We think the fans should, they've paid, they've decided to come spend their time and their money having this fun experience. Four hours of that experience should not be waiting in a hallway hoping you can get into something. it makes it a little more chaotic, but I love the energy of having that stage in the middle of the show floor. If you remember the Hobbit panel a couple of years ago, we had 12,000 people who came and watched that panel and then went back to what they were doing. And they didn't have to sacrifice two or three hours to wait in line. They just came and they had this amazing experience, which is a collective experience with all those people was so cool. And then they just went back to what they were doing. So I think that's how we We keep it from feeling like keeping the fan at the center of all of it. I think it keeps from feeling corporate. We don't have these giant, you know, 10,000 square foot, two story booths with all that stuff, because I don't think I don't think the fans need that to have a great experience and to have an activation and interact with the things they love.
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Speaker 1: So let's talk for a second about, and we briefly touched on this last year, some of the changes that will be coming to the L.A. Convention Center. This is one of the biggest events that's held at the L.A. Convention Center every year. So this is going to have a major impact on your event moving forward. Where are they at in the process now? How far ahead? How involved is the LA Comic-Con team with that transition and some of the renovations?
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Speaker 2: I mean, we meet with them all the time.
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Speaker 3: We were and are 100% supportive of what they're doing because by adding the third hall in between South Hall and West Hall, we'll have one giant 750,000 square foot hall all under one roof, which opens up all sorts of possibilities for what we can do for the fans in the future. Um, it was always sort of a four year process to get them from breaking ground through to when they hand the building off to the Olympics for five or six months, um, in, uh, summer of 28. And then they'll finish up, I think early in 29 on the other side of that. Um, And it's just been a little bit of zigging and zagging. You know, you lose 10% of this hall, but you still have that. And you'll get that back and you lose something else. So we've just tried to flow around it. You'll see a different layout to the hall this year from what you've seen in the
past. The badge pickup, which has been in West Hall, is moving back to South Hall because of some of the construction. We've moved where the main stage will be in the South Hall instead of being sort of straight ahead. kind of on the north center, if you will, it's going to be pivoted 90 degrees over to the other side. So, but it's, it hasn't impinged our ability. We'll have the same amount of booths, the same amount of talent, the same amount of panels, the same amount of, you know, way fun.
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Speaker 2: Stuff, the same number of artists in Artist Alley.
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Speaker 3: But if you, you know, last year we added Kentia Hall downstairs because we needed the extra space given the ebb and flow.
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Speaker 2: But, you know, they've been, they're great partners.
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Speaker 3: The people that run the convention center, they're real professionals and, They do a good job of communicating to us in advance.
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Speaker 2: And so we just sort of, you know, move around it. It's just part of what we do. It's not a big deal.
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Speaker 1: Well, one of my things that I really enjoyed last year, and I have to give you guys, you know, props for this, is how much better the food has gotten. Mm-hmm. Because those food trucks outside are so good. We stopped by several of them because we know they're also local businesses. We wanted to support them. But the food was excellent. There was more places to sort of sit and like gather just a little bit, you know, which kind of leans into what you were saying about trying to keep it have a little bit more of an intimate feel rather than just, you know, a big trade show.
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Speaker 3: And you'll be happy to know we expanded our the second food court. So there's a whole food court above South Hall. And now the whole North Plaza off of West Hall is now going to be a second food truck area with tables. And so again, I mean, people invest a whole day coming in. They need to be able to pace themselves. I think being able to go inside and outside and get some food and sit down, it's just an important part of making the fan experience really pleasant.
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Speaker 1: And I think going in as well felt a lot more streamlined last year, um, as well. Cause I know you have to go through security and sometimes the line can be really long depending on what time of the day you get there. So that is something that I think people need to keep in mind as well. If somebody is heading to the con this year, is there anything different they need to know, um, about getting there, getting in, um, give me some tips for first timers and pros that might be helpful. I, uh, No.
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Speaker 3: Matter how early you come, I always advise people the parking is going to be gone really quickly within a couple of blocks of the building. So I always encourage people to either use the public transit, use ride shares, have somebody drop you off, or maybe park a few blocks away and then take a ride share in the last
10 blocks. Because there's nothing more frustrating than thinking you're going to be able to park near the building and circling for an hour. And you eventually will find something 12 blocks away for more than you wanted to pay. Um, so I think that's the best way to get your day off to a really good start is have a parking strategy or a getting in the building strategy that doesn't involve needing to park close by. Um, uh, so that I tell everybody that, because I think that, um, we, I, we, I can't tell how many guests we've had people who want to come and they say, oh, I got there at 10 o'clock and there was no parking and I couldn't find parking and I couldn't get in. Don't try to park close by, find a place to be, and then walk or, or ride share in the last 10 blocks, because that's the best way to get in.
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Speaker 2: I also think download the app.
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Speaker 3: We spent a lot of time trying to make sure that our app has all the information you need. It's you just go to comic con la.com and download it. We were really fortunate about half the people who come to our show downloaded. And I think that really helps people figure out what is the thing I really want to see and where is it and when is it there so that they can build a plan for the day to make sure that if there are five highlights they want to not miss, they're able to get those five highlights. Now you're just similar to the way people plan a day at Disney world. When you're on vacation down there, it's like, I need a fast pass.
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Speaker 2: I'm going to go do that. I'm going to go do this. I'm going to build around that. I think just having a plan for the day is really helpful. Yeah, absolutely.
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Speaker 1: It helps with time management and it helps with, you know, um, I think just making a more enjoyable con and like spending your time and the places you really want to be. Um, I can't.
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Speaker 3: I want to add one more thing on that is, I don't know that everybody realizes how family friendly it is, right? About a third of the people who come to our show, bring their kids. We have a kid's costume contest on Sunday, on Saturday this year, because it's Halloween.
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Speaker 2: We've given candy to all the exhibitors. They'll all be giving out free candy for free trick or treating to everybody who comes. I think it's, you know, there's so many things you can do.
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Speaker 3: With a family in Los Angeles that are fun, but I really think part of why we have an eclectic lineup is so that if your kids have a particular love of stories or characters or whatever, that you can find that there and you can come as a family and have an experience around that and capture those same kinds of forever memories that you get when you go to a Universal or Disney for the day and you are able to bring something that's really important to your kids.
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Speaker 2: To life for them and share that as a family.
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Speaker 3: And so we try very hard to make sure that it's family friendly and and affordable for.
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Speaker 2: Families and that there's a million different things.
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Speaker 3: We have a whole kids area that's being sponsored by bricks and many things this year with, with Lego building stations and all sorts of stuff going on.
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Speaker 2: So if you're wondering, is it a good place to bring your kids answers? Yes, absolutely. It's a good place to bring your kids. And if they're 12 and under they're free.
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Speaker 1: Well, I can attest to that as well. I've been bringing mine for many, many years.
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Speaker 2: She was only yay high the first time I met her. Yes.
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Speaker 1: She was, I want to say like maybe four or five. She was very, very little. And now it is definitely something she looks forward to now this year, she wants to dress up. She wants to cosplay a little bit. And so we're, we're really looking forward to it. One of the things we always try to do when we come is find an artist or a comic book creator that maybe we've never heard of before and buy something from them and support what they're doing. Cause I think that is sort of the, the backbone and why Comic-Con exists is because of these artists and these writers and creators. And so we want to, We always try to do that every year when we can.
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Speaker 2: We could agree with you more.
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Speaker 3: I mean, we probably will have 800 artists this year. It's probably the largest artist alley of any show in the country. And we give 100, 150 of those away for free, mostly for first-time artists. So it's the first time they'll be able to bring their art into a public setting and have fans come and buy it from them. Because I think that's part of our obligation to the industries. We always need to be nurturing the next generations. in the same way that the people that are stars now were nurtured when they were young. And you look back at Stan, and for me, having a chance to work with Stan Lee for a couple of years was one of the most amazing things in my life as a kid who grew up riding my bike to the comic book shop when I.
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Speaker 2: Was a kid to get the latest Marvel comic. And Stan was hugely, it was important to him to identify and help nurture that next generation of talent. So we feel like that's part of the obligation of what we need to do.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, we are looking forward to going again this year and tell everybody really quickly where they can still get passes for LA Comic-Con.
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Speaker 2: Comic-ConLA.com. And we never sell out.
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Speaker 3: I know some shows sell out because of the way we lay out the show and because of the size of the convention center. We always have tickets Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and there's always room. And I will say, if you're thinking about coming to Friday or Sunday will be a little bit less crowded.
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Speaker 2: Saturday is always a pretty full day.
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Speaker 3: And, you know, because it's Halloween, families probably have and people have plans anyway. But Friday, Sunday, we have unique programming every single day. So there's fun stuff to see all three days. ComicConLA.com and you're always welcome.
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Speaker 1: Yay. Thank you. Well, I look forward to seeing you this year and you let me know about that Outlander panel. I'll track you down.
00:18:25
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sure as media, we can get you right up to the front, right? Right.
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Speaker 1: Exactly. Just don't mind me and my media pass over here.
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Speaker 2: Exactly.
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Speaker 3: Well, Heather, it's always great to talk to you. We really appreciate your support over the years. I look forward to seeing you and your daughter again this year.
00:18:40
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to entertain me. Make sure you subscribe, maybe share with friends as well. Spread the entertainment, joy and love. Far and wide. We'll see you next time. Have a great week. Remember, you can listen anywhere, anytime on the iHeartRadio app.