Disney has pushed back its next D23 Expo until 2022, the company announced on Monday.
The biennial fan convention, held in Anaheim every other year, was originally slated to take place in Summer 2021. It will now be held Sept. 9-11 on 2022. Disney, which was founded in 1923, will use the event to kick start the company’s 100th anniversary celebration.
The Expo functions as Disney’s very own Comic-Con. The last D23 Expo was held in August of 2019 and offered attendees an extended look at Disney+ and a chance to sign up for three years at a heavily-discounted price.
An update regarding #D23Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event: pic.twitter.com/4v6cG8AvOA
— Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) September 28, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic forced pretty much every major in-person event to either cancel, delay or go virtual in 2020. Disney has been particularly hampered by the pandemic, which had kept its theme parks closed for months — Disneyland in California still remains closed — only to reopen at reduced capacity. Disney has not released a major film in theaters, many of which still remain in closed in major cities like New York and Los Angeles, since Pixar’s “Onward” in March (“New Mutants,” which it inherited from Fox, was released to a limited amount of theaters in August). “Mulan” was rerouted to Disney+ and its Marvel Studios slate including “Black Widow” and “The Eternals” has all been pushed to 2021.
Though many health experts remain cautiously optimistic that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be found by the end of this year, it is believed that it won’t be available for wide distribution until the middle of next year, with a full return to “normal” not expected until the end of 2021 at the earliest.