Fan Expo 2010 Wrap-up
Posted August 29, 2010 9:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
This weekend the Metro Toronto Convention Centre became home to thousands of comic book, horror, anime, gaming, and sci-fi enthusiasts attending Fan Expo 2010. Whether you were there to meet stars such as William Shatner, get autographs from icons like Stan Lee, purchase rare stuff, play the latest games, check out footage from upcoming films, or just walk around dressed like your favourite character — if you could make it through the two-hour long lines, which stretched along Front St. and down Lower Simcoe, it was an overwhelming display of uberness inside.
I was booked on Friday to interview actress Sarah Butler (pictured below) from the upcoming I Spit on Your Grave remake. My first reaction upon entering the main floor was not only how many people were there, but how many companies were there. Disney had a giant booth promoting Tron Legacy and Fox Home Video had a similar size area pushing the Blu-ray release of the Alien Anthology. Maple Pictures were handing out Saw 3-D eyeball candy and Microsoft were showing off their latest XBOX 360 device, Kinect. Warner Home Video, Anchor Bay, Alliance Films, Rue Morgue Magazine, Nintendo, G4 TechTV, Marvel, and DC were all there too. Not to mention the hundred or so artists, writers, filmmakers, and small shops pushing their goods.
I had to return on Saturday morning to interview Bruce Boxleitner from Tron and Tron Legacy. I was informed I should arrive extra early and got there well before the doors opened to the general public. From inside I could see the line outside was already longer than it was on Friday afternoon and it wasn’t even 9 a.m. yet. After my interview with Boxleitner there were so many people inside that I could barely move. I was escorted to screen special Tron Legacy footage and when I got out an hour later the crowd inside had grown so large that the organizers had to stop allowing people upstairs or downstairs in order to get some control over the situation.
While I would recommend next year’s Fan Expo be moved to a larger venue, it is nice to know that under the circumstances there was no violence and the attendees were all generally in good spirits (even when passerby’s were yelling “nerds” or “losers” at them).
If you want to check out Fan Expo 2010 it runs until 5 p.m. today.
