WonderCon 2017
First published in Press Pass LA on March 23, 2018
Author: Ariel Landrum
Though off-site events are usually reserved for San Diego Comic-Con, the mothership of pop-culture conventions, WonderCon and AMC, we’re excited to step out of the convention hall with a multi-sensory experience promoting AMC’s upcoming series, The Terror. The promotional activation was open during the entire event, from March 23 to March 25, 2018.
Badge holders were ushered inside a shipping container in front of the Grand Plaza of the Anaheim Convention Center. With the doors closed, all interior walls showed clips introducing the speculative outcome of the 1845 Royal British Navy Arctic expedition on which the show is based.
Once the intro was complete, the 12 guests were surprised to learn that one of the walls was a screen, which rose to reveal a small boat. Seated in the vessel, we were given a moment to adjust to our new surroundings, which were made to look like icebergs, before introductory footage resumed.
Completing the realism was actual snow, which was shot through vents onto attendees. On the already unusually cold Saturday morning in Anaheim, imagining myself plopped into the middle of a tundra wasn’t hard. With lights flashing and snow falling, I began to feel the terror the crew may have felt as more shots from the show played.
While visitors who waited in line for more than 30 minutes may have felt cheated by the brevity of the experience (especially after being asked ominously to sign a waiver), the marketing tool succeeded in branching out WonderCon and generating excitement for the upcoming show. The previews and sneak peeks depicted promised peril, suspense, and dynamic visual effects.
The heartbreaking 10-episode series, The Terror, begins with a two-hour premiere on Monday, March 26, 2018, at 9:00 P.M. ET/PT on AMC.
For tickets and details on WonderCon: https://www.comic-con.org/wca