Carrie Fisher to join Utah FanX lineup in January


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SANDY — Salt Lake Comic Con is planning a smaller, high-quality FanX event coming in January, with "Star Wars" icon Carrie Fisher as one of the first guests to be named.

Salt Lake Comic Con founders Dan Farr and Bryan Brandenburg announced that only 50,000 tickets will be sold for the event, which returns to the Salt Palace Convention Center Jan. 29-31.

The inaugural Salt Lake Comic Con in September 2013 was bursting at seams with 72,000 guests, and this year organizers drew 100,000 guests to the first FanX in April and 120,000 more to the second Salt Lake Comic Con in September.

"We're drastically reducing the number of tickets, and that should decrease the crowds significantly," Brandenburg said before a small crowd of costumed fans at the Jordan Commons Megaplex Theatres on Wednesday.

Booth space will also be cut back to prevent overlap, with a focus on bringing in one-of-a-kind vendors selling items "you can't just find on Amazon," Brandenburg said. Popular areas like Artist Alley and a smaller KidCon will return.

Brandenburg expects that tickets, which went on sale at 2 p.m. Wednesday, could sell out before the year ends. A limited number of VIP celebrity packages for specific stars, which include autograph and photo sessions as well guaranteed panel seating, will be offered as the convention nears.

Fisher, Princess Leia from the original "Star Wars" trilogy, will be joined by Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" franchise; Morena Baccarin, who starred alongside past Salt Lake Comic Con guest Nathan Fillion in the short-lived "Firefly" series; and Christopher Lloyd, of "Back To The Future," who was scheduled to attend the September event but was pulled away by a film project.

Brandenburg called Wednesday's guest announcement "just the tip of the iceberg."


We're thrilled that we've had these huge record-breaking events … but it's not about the numbers. We want to continue to deliver the best experience to our fans.

–Bryan Brandenburg, Salt Lake Comic Con co-founder


As organizers try to reign in Salt Lake Comic Con's steady growth, Brandenburg said the focus will be on delivering a quality experience.

"We're thrilled that we've had these huge record-breaking events … but it's not about the numbers. We want to continue to deliver the best experience to our fans," Brandenburg said. "What that's going to allow us to do is have more people get into the panels and have more people get one-on-one time with celebrities."

New crowd control measures will include wristbands with RFID chips in them (successfully used at New York Comic Con) to allow for faster admission, multiple entry points into the convention center, and a coat check for chilly cosplayers.

Salt Lake Comic Con is also doing away with its pre-registration option, which varied between long lines or zero wait time depending on when you showed up. Fans who purchase their tickets early enough will receive their wristbands in the mail, while those who buy closer to the event will have to wait in line to pick them up at the convention.

This will be Salt Lake Comic Con's third event in 10 months. For past attendees who may feel burned out, Brandenburg says that's OK, take a break and catch the next one. The third installment of Salt Lake Comic Con is being planned for September.

The January convention hopes to piggy-back off the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 22-Feb. 1, though organizers say they don't have a formal relationship with the star-studded Park City event. FanX, short for Fan Experience, aims to step up from its foundation as a comic book party to be a media and entertainment event, organizers said.

"We hope that in time, whether there's something formal or not, we would really like to work with the Sundance Film Festival," Farr said. "We have a lot of the same goals. It's about creating great pop culture experiences, and we feel that with the Fan Experience that becomes a little more up close and personal."

At least one celebrity currently being wooed for FanX will be promoting a new TV show at Sundance, though none are appearing in Sundance films, Farr said. Other stars are considering coming early to FanX in order to attend the festival.

Even with fewer tickets available, Brandenburg and Farr expect the event will remain attractive to fans outside of Utah. About 15 percent of tickets at the September convention were sold to fans outside of Utah, and 8,000 nights were rented in Salt Lake hotels for the event, they explained.

In an update about the ongoing trademark lawsuit between Salt Lake Comic Con and the flagship San Diego Comic-Con, Brandenburg said simply that the two comic book and pop culture conventions are discussing a settlement.

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McKenzie Romero

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