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Juno Park wrote and fact-checked this piece for AnimeVerse.

Convention Season 2026: The Dates, Panels and Announcements to Watch

Where the year's biggest reveals are likely to land, and how to plan a first convention.

Juno Park

Features Writer · 2026-01-12

1 min read 104 words

The convention calendar has consolidated around four anchor events, and studios now time announcements to them with the precision of a game publisher's summer showcase.

Expect sequel confirmations at the spring events and film dates in the autumn. Licensing announcements increasingly land at the smaller regional shows, where distributors get undivided attention.

If it is your first convention, buy the badge early, plan two panels a day maximum, and budget more time for queues than the schedule implies. The hallway is the actual event.

We will run live coverage from the four anchor shows with a running announcement log updated as each panel ends.

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