This weekend the third ACE Comic Con takes place in Seattle, and while the original line-up was Avengers galore, two of them – Chrises Evans and Hemsworth – have had to bow out due to scheduling difficulties. Evans announced in May he would not be able to attend due to a family matter and Hemsworth tweeted his regrets last week.
Hey everybody, I'm so sorry, but I won't be able to make it to @ACEcomiccon Seattle next week due to last minute scheduling conflicts. We’re working to find another ACE event where I can make it up to you. Thanks for your continued support and I hope to see you soon! #ACEcomiccon https://t.co/g5WNJLILJo
— Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) June 15, 2018
To their credit, ACE quickly filled in with Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie and announced refund/replacement policies for autographs. And Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Hiddleston, Pal Bettany, Hayley Atwell and Grant Gustin will still be there.
The ACE model is a “high risk, high reward” one. The show’s set-up promises huge line-ups of top tier talents, but when there’s a glitch, a lot of people get annoyed over hundreds of dollars spent on unredeemable photo ops. (Some group shots at Ace cost upwards of $900.)
The first two shows, in Long Island and Phoenix, both had scheduling problems with the big names, first due to a snow storm and at Phoenix when Evans got sick and missed all of Sunday.
The Chris-exodus is a lot more orderly and the prior troubles seem to have been smoothed out a bit more. But it’s still a complicated operation as today’s FB post revealed: more than 1000 photo/autograph ops had been sold for Hemsworth. That’s a lotta moolah.
Still, the programming reveals tons of interviews with stars including Kevin Smith talking to Tom Holland, Mackie and Stan and I’m sure that will be an entertaining event that will provide many sentences for many news reports. The ACE Comic Con model is set to “spectacle” and they are providing one.