March Planner

3 Licensing Japan, the nation’s biggest L&M confab, kicks off as part of CONTENT Tokyo. Evergreen international brands like Peter Rabbit and The Simpsons mingle with home-grown character crazes like Inazuma Eleven and Elite Banana Banao — the fanciest fruit in town. [licensing-japan.jp]

4 The Oscar-qualifying RiverRun Int’l Film

Festival kicks off in Winston-Salem, NC, offering a variety of programs including remarkable animated shorts from around the world [riverrunfilm.com]

5 Everyone’s favorite kid-atheart superhero hits the big screen in New Line’s action-comedy Shazam!, directed by horror pro David Sandberg. The new Pet Sematary is also out today.

The Quirino Awards celebrate the best in Ibero-American animation in Tenerife. Meanwhile, Detroit Int’l Festival of Animation offers a 90-minute shorts program plus comics and artists expo, and sunny Jamaica hosts the KingstOOn animation conference and Afro-descendent film festival. [premiosquirino.org/en | difestofanim.com | kingstoonfest.com]

8 Can’t-miss content market MIPTV will cram broadcast, streaming, production and distribution bigwigs from around the world elbow to elbow in Cannes this week. [miptv.com]

11 Europe’s animation community will gather at the 23rd Cartoons on the Bay in beautiful Turin, Italy. Lucasfilm fanatics will take over Chicago’s McCormick Place for the five-day Star Wars Celebration. If you can swing by

Dubai, the Middle East Film & Comic Con offers three days of fandom fun and special guests like voice actress Tara Strong and Luke Cage star Mike Colter. [cartoonsbay.rai.it/en | starwarscelebration. com | mefcc.com/en]

12

Laika’s latest stop-motion masterpiece brings a colorful explorers’ tale to life in Missing Link.

Also in theaters today: Mike Mignola’s demonic hero gets a reboot in Lionsgate’s Hellboy, starring David Harbour (Stranger Things) and directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent).

14 The final race for the Iron Throne is on as season 8 of Game of Thrones premieres on HBO. Say goodbye to your favorite character now, it will save you pain later.

19 Anime and manga fans on either U.S. coast can check in for a weekend of otaku fun at Anime Boston or Seattle’s Sakura-Con. [animeboston.com | sakuracon.org]

26 Prepare for the final showdown in Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. Anthony and Joe Russo helm this epic superhero pic, which pits the remaining Avengers against destructive demigod Thanos for the last time.

30 Stuttgart Int’l Festival of Animated Film, FMX Conference and Animation

Production Days (May 1-3) take over the German metropolis with hundreds of films, expert talks and special exhibits on animation, vfx, games and beyond. [itfs.de/en | fmx.de | animationproductiondays.de/en]