PROVIDENCE – Building on record attendance in 2022, Rhode Island Comic Con kicks off Friday with organizers projecting 100,000 visitors over the three-day event.
The city’s largest gathering of comic book aficionados, film buffs, gamers, celebrities and graphic artists is celebrating its 11th anniversary, set for Nov. 3 through Nov. 5 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion and Rhode Island Convention Center.
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Rhode Island Comic Con returned in 2021 after being cancelled the prior year due to the pandemic, bringing about 50,000 people, growing to an estimated 80,000 attendees in 2022.
Susan Soares, press relations manager for Fall River-based Altered Reality Entertainment, the company that runs Comic Con along with numerous other conventions including Anime Con, expects a “massive” turnout this year that will eclipse six-figures for attendance for the first time.
“We have the highest number of celebrity guests we have ever had before,” she said.
Cast reunions include an 85th anniversary celebration of the “Superman” franchise, welcoming five of the actors that have played the role since the death of Christopher Reeve in 2004.
Among the dozens of celebrity guests this year are Christina Ricci, Melissa Tomei, Linda Hamilton, Anthony Daniels, Charlie Hunnam and Randy Quaid. Sunday features a conversation with five of the six members of the “Brat Pack” from the 1985 cult classic film “The Breakfast Club,” Anthony Michael Hall, Andrew McCarthy, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy.
Organizers have booked more than 300 vendors; and they have brought back “Geek Sped Dating” and the popular cosplay costume contest.
As usual, photo-ops and guest autographs will be sold every day for ticket holders. “The Biggest Show in the Smallest State” is the city’s premier opportunity for fans to interact with another crop of cult heroes from numerous films and television shows.
Organizers said the SAG-AFTRA strike will not affect operations. Altered Reality has no association with the union, whose bylaw say members “can participate in conventions in ways that are wholly independent from characters for struck work or sponsorship from struck companies.”
An after-party celebration is being held at the event’s flagship Omni Hotel Providence on Saturday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Narragansett Ballroom. Tickets are $20. The hotel is once again hosting many of the panel discussions.
A 2018 fiscal impact study prepared for the convention center authority found that every $1 spent operating the Rhode Island Convention Center generates $9.30 in local economic activity. Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau CEO and president, Kristen Adamo, projects about $3.1 million in direct local spending.
“Besides being incredibly fun, Rhode Island Comic Con is a strong tourism driver. It also takes place during the shoulder season, which is a time when tourism starts to slow down,” she said. “It’s been a pleasure to work with the Comic Con team for more than a decade and I certainly hope the relationship will continue for years to come.”
Altered Reality partners with area hotels and books room blocks to handle overflow after the Omni runs out of vacancy. Soares said all of those hotel room blocks are already sold-out. She has been working with booking agents across and the state to find available rooms in in the state and across the border in Massachusetts.
“We certainly take over the city,” she said.
Rhode Island Comic Con runs Friday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 a.m.; and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com
