George Lucas, Guillermo del Toro appear at San Diego Comic-Con

George Lucas – the man who arguably launched an iconic era in pop culture nearly 50 years ago – received a rapturous welcome during his debut Comic-Con appearance Sunday, where he offered a preview of his long- awaited Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.

The 81-year-old icon was joined in Hall H at 11 a.m. by fellow filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro and art director Doug Chiang for a panel discussion moderated by Queen Latifah.

Del Toro and Chiang, both Academy Award winners, will join Lucas to “explore the power of illustrated storytelling and offer a sneak peek of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art,”  organizers said.

Co-founded with his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson, the museum broke ground in March 2018, adjacent to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and is scheduled to open in 2026. It’s meant to “bring together mass-produced images with academically rooted art forms to unpack visual storytelling in its richness and complexity.”

The museum will feature works by artists including Norman Rockwell, Kadir Nelson, Jessie Willcox Smith, N. C. Wyeth, Beatrix Potter, Judy Baca, Frida Kahlo and Maxfield Parrish; comic art legends such as Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Alison Bechdel, Chris Ware and R. Crumb; and photographers Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Dorothea Lange.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome George Lucas to Comic-Con for the very first time,” said event spokesman David Glanzer.

“Nearly five decades ago, `Star Wars’ made one of its earliest public appearances at our convention, along with a booth featuring Howard Chaykin’s now legendary Star Wars poster as a promotional item.

“Now, to have Mr. Lucas return – this time [in person] to debut the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art – is a true full-circle moment. His lifelong dedication to visual storytelling and world-building resonates deeply with us and our community, and the museum’s mission to celebrate narrative art in all its forms perfectly reflects what Comic-Con has championed from the very beginning.”

Speaking of “Star Wars,” fans of “the Force” will finally be able to get their hands on the latest cache of collectibles at Sunday’s “ECHOES from the GALAXY” live and onlline auction at Balboa Park’s Comic-Con Museum.

The Julien’s Auctions-Turner Classic Movies offerings, assembled by crew of super collectors, come at the end of a two week exhibition that has been on display at the museum since July 14.

Some of the highlights include:

• “A New Hope” screen-used Stormtrooper helmet exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library’s 2024 exhibition “Defending America and the Galaxy: Star Wars and SDI,” and “believed to be featured in scenes on Tatooine as a “Sandtrooper” helmet, contact says;
• Original production-used Death Star surface pieces including a hand- painted two-sided cardboard “tower”;
• “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” lightsaber props from Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Ray Park (“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Qui-Gon Jinn,” and “Darth Maul,” respectively); and
• Mark Hamill’s (“Luke Skywalker”) “Return of the Jedi” production-made lightsaber.
• An original prop hand worn by Anthony Daniels as C-3PO in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back ($30,000 * $35,000).
• Six prototype heads for an unproduced Yoda toy by Kenner in 1981 for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back ($35,000 * $40,000).
• An original Signature Edition studio scale Master Replicas Millennium Falcon model, released and featuring a hand-signed and numbered plaque from Harrison Ford

A portion of proceeds will help support the Comic-Con Museum’s ongoing mission.

Other highlights inside the convention center will include an interview with George Takei of “Star Trek” fame, the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival and “Defying Gravity:” Exploring the STEM and Ethics of Magic in “Wicked.”

With the use of artificial intelligence on the rise, where do artists, voice actors and creators stand? That’s the focus of the “Creators in the Age of AI” panel at 4 p.m. in the Omni Grand Ballroom, run by the National Association of Voice Actors.

“We’re at a critical stage in the advancement of AI where we, as voice actors, need to engage, understand the implications, and proactively seek frameworks that ensure the fair treatment of creators,” said Tim Friedlander, NAVA president and co-founder, who will participate on the panel.

“This is about coming together as an industry to listen, collaborate, and move forward in a way that helps everyone succeed.”

The San Diego Convention Center’s largest venue will cap its evening with filmmaker Kevin Smith, who will celebrate the 30th anniversary of “Mallrats” and the 25th anniversary of “Dogma.” Not-so-Silent Bob will speak about new comics he is releasing and the film he is working on.

On Saturday, fans soaked in a full day of panel action with major announcements about “Coyote vs. Acme,”  “Family Guy,” “Project Hail Mary” and “Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy,” among other properties.

“Coyote vs. Acme” landed a global release date of Aug. 26, 2026, as announced by its star Will Forte during a Saturday panel, which also included footage of the upcoming Warner Bros. film, a live-action animated “legal comedy” based on the classic Road Runner cartoons.

Creators of the popular Fox animated series “Bob’s Burgers” said during a panel that to celebrate its 300th episode, “the show is celebrating with several special episodes” and will “flashback to the very beginning of the Belchers’ restaurant.”

Also Saturday, fans saw a trailer for “Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy,” which is slated for early next year on Paramount+. The new show features a largely Gen Z cast playing a class of cadets in San Francisco training for their debut space adventure. Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti will headline the cast, but the focus will be on younger characters. The show will also feature actors Sandro Rosta, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané and Zoe Steiner.

In related news, a screening of the fourth episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was shown Saturday to 6,500 attendees in Hall H.

The episode, titled “A Spaced Adventure Hour,” was a period murder mystery and will air on Paramount+ next week.

Meanwhile, producers announced two new “Family Guy” holiday specials to stream exclusively on Hulu before the show begins its 24th season on Fox in 2026. The Halloween special titled “A Little Fright Music” will premiere Oct. 6, while no date or further details were announced for the second special.

Saturday’s early action also included a Season 5 preview of “Abbott Elementary” with stars Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams, and a sneak preview of Season 37 of “The Simpsons.”

“The Simpsons” producers announced upcoming guests for the new season will include Albert Brooks, Kieran Culkin, Cole Escola and Glenn Howerton.

The iconic show’s Halloween special will feature Viola Davis, Idris Elba and Michael Keaton.

Other major events Saturday included a “Peacemaker” panel in Hall H, featuring DC Comic’s James Gunn as well as stars of the series John Cena, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, Steve Agee, Frank Grillo, Sol Rodriguez and Tim Meadows.

The “Project Hail Mary” team – including Ryan Gosling and author Andy Weir – hosted a panel to discuss the anticipated science fiction film and the relationships therein. The event featured various clips – a few that generated laughs from audience members – from the movie, which will be released next March.

The plot revolves around a middle school teacher, played by Gosling, who is sent into outer space to save humanity. Actresses Sandra Hüller and Milana Vayntrub also star in the film.

Since opening Thursday, Comic-Con 2025 has attracted tens of thousands of attendees, which is expected to generate a regional economic boon of more than $160 million. This includes both direct and indirect spending by visitors. Attendees alone typically spend $96.8 million directly, according to the mayor’s office.

Event organizers have agreed to stay in San Diego – where Comic-Con has been held nearly every year since 1970 – through 2027. In 2022, Comic-Con welcomed more than 135,000 attendees and generated $3 million in hotel and sales tax revenue for the city, according to city documents.

The convention shuttered for two years during the coronavirus pandemic and Comic-Con International received more than $2.5 million in Payment Protection Plan loans, all of which have been forgiven.

Comic-Con is the largest comic book and popular-arts convention in the world, with more than 460,000 square feet of exhibit floor space and more than 1,000 exhibitors each year. Additionally, more than 2,000 hours of panels, workshops and events are attached to the convention, not to mention dozens of activities and pop-ups outside the Convention Center.