Coronavirus Hits Movie Release Schedules Across the Globe
The pandemic is affecting the entertainment industry big time
Coronavirus is hitting everyone, and the entertainment industry isn’t unaffected by it. The movie premieres are being delayed due to the disease and even conferences like SXSW and ECCC are being cancelled. Now, the movie release schedule of this and the next year has also been impacted.
This Friday, it was reported that Disney has decided to delay the release of Mulan, Antlers and New Mutants. A Quiet Place II will also delay the global release. The release of Peter Rabbit 2 will also be delayed.
The next James Bond movie, No Time to Die and Fast and Furious 9 are also delayed. The latter was to be released this May, but the release has been pushed to 2021. Even CinemaCon, the industry gathering of theatre owners and press that is held to discuss future movie release news has been cancelled for this year. Similarly, WonderCon 2020 has also been delayed and will probably happen later this year.
Coronavirus is not just impacting the movie release schedule. Even the production of TV shows has been hit. The recent victim of that was The Falcon and the Winter Soldier by Disney that had its location shoot in Prague cancelled as the Czech Republic restricted communal gatherings. Similarly, the production of Riverdale was halted for a while when one of the crew members tested positive for coronavirus.
In addition to the movie release schedule, upcoming productions that have gathering casts are also impacted. Universal Television has suspended plans to initiate the production of multiple shows, which includes the next season of Russian Doll on Netflix.
The decision to change the movie release schedule is a smart one because the global audience might not be able to see movies as soon as they are released. Countries like China, Denmark, Greece, Norway and Italy have closed the theatres. Some states of India, Kuwait and Lebanon have also done the same. Budapest, Kiev, Sweden, Finland and Belgium might follow their lead. The theatres of Australia, USA, Canada, the UK, Spain, Germany, Mexico and Brazil are still open but you never know when the situation would change.
The changes in the movie release schedule will affect more than the balance sheets of the studios; it will impact the lives of millions of people and will make them realize how severe coronavirus is.
