Recent years have seen most major studios skip San Diego Comic-Con, largely because attending is so expensive (how much of a difference a splashy Hall H panel makes to box office takings has long been debated). However, Marvel Studios paid the price for its recent appearance at the show.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Disney-owned studio has been fined a whopping $160,000 for the Avengers: Doomsday signage it placed across San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter arch during Comic-Con weekend.
That covered the landmark for the duration of the four-day convention, and the eye-catching banner was created by the Los Angeles-based company, Elevue Outdoor. They reportedly told San Diego city officials about plans to install it a week before it went up, and were told not to "because of concerns about safety and fears it could disrupt the flow of people during the year’s biggest event."
The company chose to ignore those warnings, and Marvel Studios will have to pay the price. According to San Diego spokesman Richard Berg, "The contractor knowingly created a safety risk and refused to address it, and was cited and fined accordingly."
Believe it or not, fines like these have become the norm during Comic-Con. Outdoor advertising has been banned in the city for decades, meaning all those hotel wraps, banners, and installations result in studios having to pay up after the fact. San Diego issued $48,500 in advertising fines this year, but it seems officials felt Marvel Studios' effort was a step too far.
It's also multiple fines in one, because after city officials demanded that the signage either not be put up or be removed, Marvel Studios was fined $10,000 on Tuesday, $10,000 on Wednesday, $20,000 on Thursday, $30,000 on Friday, $40,000 on Saturday, and finally $50,000 on Sunday, totalling $160,000.
Was it worth it? Well, it's hard to imagine anyone seeing that sign and then being compelled to buy a ticket. However, Marvel Studios dominated Comic-Con (DC Studios largely gave it a miss aside from a low-key Lanterns panel), so it may well have wanted to be seen all across San Diego.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.