Film launches refer only approximately to European/UK release dates and are subject to studio change.
This convention diary lists only the major national and international SF conventions relating to the genre's literary and cinematic forms. For a more complete list of book conventions (including smaller regional ones especially in the US) then consult the Locus listing. For details of TV related SF conventions in the UK then consult SFX magazine in the UK and for conventions in countries with a significant Russian-speaking population see MIR Fantasy magazine in Russia.
For registration details see the convention's own website linked to each of the below entries.
Jump to 2008 - 10 Films Jump to 2008 -10 Conventions
2008
October 2008
OCTOCON (18th - 19th Oct '08). The Irish national convention. Royal Dublin Hotel, O'Connell St, Dublin.
FESTIVAL OF FANTASTIC FILMS (17th - 19th Oct '08) Day's Hotel, Sackville St, Manchester, UK. Including the international amateur and professional independent SF/fantasy/horror film competitions which provides a rare showcase for recent/current SF art house films. Vintage and rare vintage SF, fantasy and horror films are also covered in other of the three parallel programme streams. Guests not announced as we post this page (check our latest seasonal SF news page for updates) however they will include up to half a dozen film directors and actors. The venue is six minutes walk from Manchester's Piccadilly central rail station.
HISPACON (Date to be confirmed at time of posting (January) but may be November - check the website). Spain's national convention.
WORLD FANTASY CONVENTION 2008 (30th Oct - 3rd Nov '08) Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As it says, the World Fantasycon. Guests: David Morrell, Barbara Hambly, Tom Doherty, Tad Williams and Todd Lockwood.
November 2008...
2009
March 2009
DORTCON 2009 (21st - 22nd March '09), Dortmund, Germany. One of Germany's principal SF & F conventions. Guests of Honour: authors Walter H. Hunt and Markus Heitz, and artist Dieter Rottermund.
April 2009
LXCon (10th - 13th April '09), Bradford, Great Britain. British national convention. Guests: Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Tim Powers and Dirk Maggs. The Fan Guests are the incredible, but shouldn't be edible, Mary & Bill Burns. Now residing in the rebel colonies, Bill has had roots in Manchester and District (MaD) fandom but not withstanding his translocation he is (we understand) the longest continuing attender of the UK Eastercon!
July 2009
FINNCON 2009 (10 - 12th July '09), Helsinki, Finland. Finland's national convention. Guests: George R. R. Martin (fantasy) and Alastair Reynolds (SF).
August 2009
ANTICIPATION -- WORLDCON 2009 (6th - 10th Aug '09), Montreal, Canada. Principal Guests: Elisabeth Vonarburg - Invitee d'honneur; Taral Wayne - Fan Guest of Honour; David Hartwell - Editor Guest of Honour; Tom Doherty - Publisher Guest of Honour; Julie Czerneda - Master of Ceremonies. Can Canada build on 2003? Well the 2003 science programme was very well organised albeit exclusively panels.
2010
April 2010
ODYSSEY 2010 (2nd - 5th April 2010), Heathrow, London, UK. Guests: Alastair Reynolds (SF), Liz Williams (science fantasy) and Mike Carey (graphic novel writer). This is both the British national convention and a European SF Society Euroconference. The venue is the same as that for the succesful 2008 British Eastercon (news review here) and some of the organisers are also the same. Expect well over a thousand attending and at least four parallel programme streams, book dealer's room, art show, fan exhibition area etc, etc. Word has it that the Wednesday (two days) before the convention there will be a sight-seeing tour day of London for visiting mainland Europeans. (Though billed as starting on Friday 2nd, actually many will turn up on the evening of Thursday 1st.)
August 2010
AU CONTRAIRE (27th - 29th Aug '10 provisional dates to be confirmed), Wellington, New Zealand. This is the New Zealand national convention. The aim is to hold the event the weekend before the Australian Worldcon (see next convention) so that those from outside of Australasia can make the short hop to Worldcon and do two conventions for largely the same travel price from Europe as one.
September 2010
WORLDCON 2010 (2nd - 6th Sept '10), Melbourne, Australia. Guests of Honour will be Kim Stanley Robinson, Robin Johnson and Shaun Tan. Remember, this is just a couple of days after the end of the above New Zealand National convention. So if you are travelling to Australasia for one you may as well stay for both events.
Want a feel for whether any of the above might be for you? Check out our reviews of past SF conventions.
Note: This list features UK/Western European dates as at September '08, so these may change.
Also release dates in other parts of the World may vary by a few months.
2008
January 2008
I Am Legend
This is the release of the IMAX version of the Will Smith latest version of the Richard Matheson 1954 SF classic novel about a plague that has wiped out mankind. One man remains alive in the big city, but is he alone? Are there creatures of the night...? Film website here. (The UK cinematic release was Boxing Day (26th December 2007) and a number of other continental European cohntries had released it the previous week to this.)
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem The latest in the alien saga now out in Europe. This time a small rural town gets it. For more information see our autumnal science fiction news or the film's website.
Invasion of the Not Quite Dead
This is a British spoof SF-horror. Alien bacteria enter the Earth's atmosphere above Wales. Years later the result is an invasion of the 'not quite dead'.
February 2008
Cloverfield
A giant monster stalks New York in this special effects dominated adventure.
March 2008
10,000 B.C.
Prehistoric wildlife drama at the end of the last glacial as a hunter stalks a mammoth.
They Came from Upstairs
Some US children must protect their holiday home from invading aliens.
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Moving with their single mum to the run down Spiderwick manor, children enter a land of fantastical creatures. This film is based on the chidren's fantasy books.
Diary of the Dead
The latest zombie from George A. Romero. This one is being played with irony and takes us back to the very beginning of the infestation. A group of students are making a horror film when events begin. Cameos include newsreaders played by Quentin Tarantino, Guilermo del Toro, Wes Craven, Simon Pegg and Stephen King.
April 2008
The Ruins
This is based on the North American SF horror novel by Scott B. Smith. Plants succeed in attacking hikers in the remote countryside. A kind of rural variation on the triffid story.
May 2008
Dance of the Goblins
It is London after a great disaster, but amidst it all the goblins have re-emerged from their deep hiding places and are taking over the underground system. This is based on the fantasy trilogy of novels by Jaq D. Hawkins.
Iron Man
The film based on the Marvel comic character.ironmanmovie.com.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
This time Indie goes into Cold War territory. Directed by Steven Speilberg (hooray) and the story by George Lucas (oh dear). indianajones.com.
Starship Dave
The tiny crew of an alien spaceship explore Earth as the craft can take human form. However the craft falls for a woman. Billed as a comedy, though this remains to be seen...
June 2008
The Incredible Hulk
This is the second time in recent years, and third time in total, that the Marvel comic character has come to the big screen. Given that the last recent attempt was so flimsy, let us hope that lessons have been learned. The Hulk website might be revealling?
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Hollywood does the C. S.. Lewis children's classic. Will they do a good job of it?
The Happening
It is the future and the planet Earth has found a way to combat the disease that is the human race. Plants release spores that infect humans who beocme homicidal.
July 2008
Dark Knight
This is director (and screenstorywriter) Christopher Nolan's take on Batman. Now the first one was quite good, though we are treading over the series of films that began with Batman in 1989. This time around the Joker makes an appearance: will actor Heath ledger be up to Jack Nicolson's portrayal?
August 2008
The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
In this latest version of the special-effects rich action romp, the story is given a far-eastern twist and a shape-shifting evil wizard is added to the mix.
Get Smart
This generation's re-make of the 1960s TV spy comedy spoof. The film's summary details are here. (It may be out earlier in North America.)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
The comic-strip and graphic novel hero makes a welcome return to the big screen. Hellboy is a mild-mannered, but tough, demon from another dimension whom the authorities keep on tap (with other superheroes) for when they need to deal with something out of the ordinary. The director is Guillermo del Toro. Say no more. For ruther information see the comic character website or that of the film.
A Russian woman is escorted by a veteran soldier turned mercinary. He does not know that she is carrying something that will help to recreate through molecular genetic science the new Messiah.
X-Files 2
The second X-Files cinematic spin-off from the US TV series. No aliens in this one apparently.
September 2008
Death Race
This is effectively the remake of the 1975 minor classic Death Race 2000.(The original was rather fun.) This remake may appear a month or so earlier in Northern America.
Ghost Town
Starring British actor/comedian Ricky Gervais, the protagonist has a near-death experience that allows him to see ghosts.
October 2008
Robosapien
A family friendly film (not to be confused with its more violent cousin) about the robot toy. The film is a mix of CGI and live action.
Infestation
In this action, comedy-horror, our good-for-nothing protagonist awakes to find himself covered in webbing and that alien insect types have taken over the World. He finds others and together the band begins a struggle for survival.
Ghost Town
Bertram (Ricky Gervais) Pincus lacks social skills so it is not too much of a disappontment when he dies. However he is revived after a few minutes but has the strange ability to see ghosts. Will this change his life? You bet. Ricky Gervais is a British comedian behind the hit TV series The Office and Extras. Note: Despite the British lead this film is a US production.
Schrödinger's Girl
Rebecca is a scientist who has some unconventional ideas as to quantum physics. She is also happy to bend ethics when it comes to experiments esecially when they are dodgy. She then becomes her own victim of one that changes her... This is a British independent.
November 2008
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
More magical fun for youngsters. STOP PRESS -- The release date has been moved back to next year.
December 2008
The Day The Earth Stood Still
This is the remake of the classic 1951 original. This one stars Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. Director Scott Derrickson. 'If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.'
2009
January 2009
The Spirit
A cop returns as a spirit to fight crime... Now this is based on the classic -- some say the first true -- graphic novel (1940) by the legendary Will Eisner (of whom the Eisner Awards for comics are named). As with all films based on genre classics, one wonders whether they will allow the original brilliance to shine through or will it be a hash job? Though Eisner died back in 2005 he is credited as being one of the film's writers and this was probably done out of respect, especially as the film's other co-writer is one Frank Miller! (Frank was the US comic writer behind the Dark Knight Batman graphic novels that have influenced the recent Batman films.) What is more Frank Miller is the director!
February 2009
Outlander
During the time of the Vikings a 'man' from another world crashes with an alien who escapes. The man's technology and the Vikings come together to get the alien.
March 2009
Watchmen
This is based on the seminal 1987 graphic novel by Alan (V for Vendetta) Moore and Dave (2000AD) Gibbons. It is set in an alternate Earth in which costumed super heroes really do exist. As such they are used by the Government until the people gets worried and so nearly all the heroes retire. Then one former hero is murdered and another, Rorshach who never really retired, sets out to find his killer... Now the original graphic novel had all the depth and character of a text-only novel and the story the richness and allegory of much of Moore's other work. Will it successfully transfer to the big screen? V For Vendetta has so far come the closest while The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was an abomination of the excellent original. At the time of posting this page we have only seen the trailer -- hardly the best way to judge a film but it looks good. This is a joint UK as well as US production and there may be an IMAX element or version even.
Lesbian Vampire Killers
This is a British made comedy horror. The women of a Welsh village have been taken over by a group of lesbian vampires but the village men folk are not going to give up especially when they can send two of their lads to try to sort matters out...
April 2009
The Wolf Man
An American returns to his ancestral European homeland and is bitten by a wolf. You know what comes next... Made by a US company but filmed in Blighty (Farnham in Surrey). Anthony Hopkins co-stars.
Monsters vs. Aliens
Race to Witch Mountain
This is Disney's re-make of the 1987 kids' SF film Escape to Witch Mountain. Two siblings have special powers that may be connected with a UFO.
May 2009
From Time to Time
Based on Lucy M. Boston's novel The Chimneys of Green Knowe, this is a kids' film made by Britain's reincarnated Ealing Studios. While at his grandmother's house a boy as transported back in time as a ghost and solves a mystery.
Star Trek
This release was originally scheduled earlier for before Christmas. The latest Star Trek film returns us to the early days and a young Captain Kirk who is - if early reports are to be believed - threatened by time travellers from the future. Can Spock save the day? Silly question.
June 2009
Terminator Salvation
The latest in the Terminator series. Set in the robot controlled future - the remenants of humanity fight back. It can't be much worse than 3. (Can it?)
July 2009
2012
Apparently the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. Perhaps this explains the spate of natural disasters?
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
More magical fun for youngsters. School-boy wizard, Harry Potter, finds a book that tells of Voldemort's past... Made by US Warners but, on author Rowling's insistence, has a British cast. It was originally slated to have come out before last Christmas. (This may have IMAX elements or an IMAX version?)
The Land of the Lost
A re-make of the 1974 film. A forest ranger and his children accidentally find a lost land with dinosaurs and strange people.
August 2009
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This page is updated annually in early December -- so get any additions you have to us in November. (See 'contact' below.) Please note the guidance at the top of this page: this is a listing of primarily national level and international conventions. There are other sites on the web for regional and more specialist events.
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