San Diego Comic-Con Malaga was officially presented last March, where it described its purpose and outlined its roadmap, but it was this morning in Madrid, just three weeks before the first edition of the Malaga event, that it finally unveiled its full programme.
After the introduction of the promoters, Javier Barberá, executive director of the San Diego Comic-Con Málaga, proceeded with a very "heroic" speech to preview more of what fans, attendees and partners can expect on 25, 26, 27, and 28 September at the FYCMA.
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As a new key fact, the San Diego Comic-Con Málaga will occupy 82,000 square metres, for the first time 100% of the surface area of the fairgrounds. From the 45-60,000 people originally estimated for the first edition in Europe, they assure that given the demand "far above expectations", in the words of Barberá, no less than 120,000 people are already expected on the four opening days. 45,000 people will be able to attend the auditoriums simultaneously. A new space called "Village" has increased the seating capacity by 22,000 square metres, surrounding the outer perimeter of the FYCMA.
But the assembled press wanted to know more about the talents, about the artists (cartoonists, actors, authors, developers) that fans will be able to see and meet at an event with the personality of a convention. The big announcement of the day was Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator, Total Recall, Predator) as guest of honour, "a great international figure who will help us celebrate pop culture".
Other announcements regarding the 11-vertical content agenda, which maintains its target of 300 hours of activities for attendees, include:
Disney with the premieres of Tron: Ares and Predator Badlands.
Lucasfilm with the third season of Star Wars Visions.
C.B Cebulski, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics.
John Gaeta, designer, inventor and Oscar winner for the special effects of The Matrix, as the creator of its then groundbreaking "bullet-time" filming system.
The already announced Jim Lee or Jeph Loeb.
El Ranchito visual effects artists Félix Bergés (The Snow Society, Game of Thrones), Laura Muro (Exodus, The Jungle Book), Manuel Ramírez (The Mandalorian, Lost in Space) and Alejandro Rivas (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Stranger Things).
Animator and director Robert Valley (Love, Death & Robots, Gorillaz) will give a masterclass entitled 'Indie Spirit: Animation beyond the mainstream'.
The Crisol: Theater of Idols team will talk about how they created the setting for the game inspired by Spanish culture.
Ian Livingstone, John Romero, Josef Fares or Gillaume Broche elevate the gaming side of SDCC Malaga
On the video game side, which, as Gamereactor exclusively reported, will have more presence than in any of the American editions, several top names have been announced today. Although only one (Livingstone) is listed on the official site for now, they have been revealed thanks to SDCC Málaga co-director Iván Fernández Lobo, including but not limited to:
Sir Ian Livingstone (founder of Games Workshop and creator of Fighting Fantasy and the studio behind Tomb Raider), a key figure in the history of video games and role-playing.
John Romero, co-creator of Doom and FPS legend.
Guillaume Broche, creative director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, one of the phenomena of the year and a strong candidate for GOTY (Game of the Year Award).
Josef Fares, filmmaker and leader of Hazelight, awarded for It Takes Two or Split Fiction, also in the cards for GOTY.
Brendan Greene aka PlayerUnknown, creator of the battle royale phenomenon PUBG.
Minh Le, co-creator of Counter-Strike and father of competitive military shooters.
[Update] To add to the gaming panellists, the icing on the SDCC Málaga's cake comes directly from Japan, as after the rumours, now it's official: Nobuo Uematsu will participate in San Diego Comic-Con in Malaga in a concert panel
Barberá has apologised for the shy and intermittent communication of these contents to date due to the complexity of the organisation, assuring that there are still announcements in the final stretch. The complete agenda for San Diego Comic-Con Málaga can be consulted on the official website, though it seems to be down at the moment of writing.