ANAHEIM – WonderCon’s organizers on Monday announced that the annual comic book, science fiction and pop culture convention will move to the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2016.

Conflicts with desired booking dates and available space at the Anaheim Convention Center fueled the move to Los Angeles, where the popular event will be held March 25-27, said David Glanzer, a spokesman for ComicCon: International, which organizes WonderCon.

WonderCon’s stays are based on yearly reviews, Glanzer said, and it was unclear whether the event will return to Anaheim in 2017: “We would certainly entertain coming back because Anaheim has been a great venue for us.”

WonderCon previously was in San Francisco, but renovations at that city’s convention center prompted organizers to move the event in 2012 to Anaheim in what was supposed to be a temporary switch.

More than 60,000 comic book fans – some dressed as favorite superheroes and villains – descended on Anaheim last weekend for WonderCon, the smaller version of the giant ComicCon convention held in San Diego.

City officials said that a planned 200,000-square-foot expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center didn’t have anything to do with WonderCon’s departure. Other convention bookings in Anaheim remain on schedule, city spokeswoman Ruth Ruiz said.

“It’s unfortunate, but we just couldn’t accommodate them for 2016,” said Tania Weinkle, a spokeswoman for the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau.

Officials with the bureau did not immediately know WonderCon’s economic impact on Anaheim. However, WonderCon’s organizers reported that that figure will be $32 million during its three-day stay in Los Angeles next year.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or amarroquin@ocregister.com