Wizard World has made it's Canadian debut with their inaugural
Toronto Comic Con. Now a pop-culture focused event with guests from film and television as well as comics, the convention took place at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place 100 Princes’ Blvd in downtown Toronto last weekend.
Headliner
Eliza Dushku, star of
Dollhouse and formerly of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer unfortunately had to cancel her appearance, but we were still able to talk to a lot of the guests that were very accessible at the event as the line ups were not nearly as bad as other conventions we've been to.
Ghostbusters co-star
Ernie Hudson was in attendance and commented on the rumours of a possible Ghostbusters 3 film. While he hasn’t received official word from the studio, he’s heard from co-stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, as well as director Ivan Reitman, that they want to see it happen. Everything is dependant on approval of a script and filming could begin as soon as this fall for Winston Zeddemore.
One of the most entertaining individuals we've ever had the pleasure of meeting was former WWF Champion
The Iron Sheik. As clips of interviews with this legend make their way to YouTube, the Iron Sheik began to experience a cult following among a new generation of fans. I couldn't resist paying $20 for a photo with this superstar.
Other notable guests included the beautiful
Jewel Staite (Firefly, Stargate: Atlantis and Serenity); actors from the SAW movies, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and Buck Rogers; comic artist Dale Keown, Wrestlers Hacksaw Jim Duggan, The Honky Tonk Man, Kevin Nash and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.
Overall the show was well run, and the attendance wasn't bad for Wizard's first year in Canada. Reportedly they will be looking at expanding their presence into more Canadian cities in the future. The show opened Friday at noon which seemed to be a little early considering most people were still at work. According to the recently launched
Toronto Comic Con 2011 Facebook event this will be corrected with a later start time of 4pm for next year. While Friday was a little light on attendance Saturday picked up significantly bringing in a lot more people and making the dealers we spoke to happy. Sunday, while not as quiet as Friday, had less traffic filing through the Direct Energy Centre with the last couple hours people and guests were fading out. It looks like the event was a success for Wizard with the 2011 date already announced for the same weekend but in order to draw in more attendees Wizard is going to need to have more guests that draw as a lot of the booked guests are reality TV stars that no one I spoke to had heard of. At least one big name guest is essential. A lot of people were also confused by the way Wizard advertised the show, as they told us a lot of people didn't see a lot of local promotion. Finally the biggest turn off to a lot of dealers was the price of tables, being higher than Fan Expo. If they would be willing to reduce the price the dealers that were scouting the event told me they would be more willing to setup at this show. In conclusion the first ever Wizard World Toronto Comic Con was a great overall event, with lots of potential. The March time frame is great for the Toronto market and I fully expect this to be a powerhouse in the next 2 years, and I hope to be there to witness it happen.
