The entertainment industry is feeling the effects of the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, from the international box office taking huge hits to America's Dad, Tom Hanks, contracting the virus. 

Event Cancellations and Postponements

Major events like NAB 2020, SXSW, and Tribeca have been canceled or postponed. Most recently, the Cannes International Film Festival announced on March 19th that it will be postponing the event until the end of June or the beginning of July after weeks of speculation as to whether it would continue as planned this May.

"As soon as the development of the French and international health situation will allow us to assess the real possibility," the press release states, "we will make our decision known, in accordance with our ongoing consultation with the French Government and Cannes’ City Hall as well as with the Festival's Board Members, Film industry professionals and all the partners of the event."

We have also learned that Disneyland will be closed, schools may soon be closing, and major sports are being postponed.

Major Theater Chains Close

Following Regal Cinemas, AMC is the latest theater chain to announce that it will be closing all theater locations amid the coronavirus crisis. Cinemark, however, is still holding out, implementing increased sanitation protocol and decreasing seating capacity in hopes of keeping its theaters open.

Disney Halts Production of Live-Action Projects

Following Disney's announcement that it is halting production on some of its live-action film projects, including The Little Mermaid, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Home Alone, Peter Pan & Wendy, Shrunk, as well as Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, Netflix has also announced that it will be temporarily shutting down a number of its productions as well, including Russian Doll, Grace and Frankie, and Stranger Things. According to Deadline, "all scripted TV and films in US and Canada are grounded for the next two weeks, starting Monday, March 16."

Variety reported that the studio stated, "While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our productions, after considering the current environment and the best interests of our cast and crew, we have made the decision to pause production on some of our live-action films for a short time. We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible."

Major Releases Delayed

Major Hollywood films are seeing their releases delayed, including Mulan, No Time to Die, and Sonic the Hedgehog. 

The Hollywood Reporter has also announced that F9, the latest entry in the Fast And Furious franchise, has been pushed back one year. And according to Deadline, A Quiet Place II has had its release delayed due to concerns over the virus. Director John Krasinsky tweeted, "To all our A Quiet Place fans, one of the things I'm most proud of is that people have said our movie is one you have to see all together. Well due to the ever-changing circumstances of what's going on in the world around us, now is clearly not the right time to do that. As insanely excited as we are for all of you to see this movie... I'm gonna wait to release the film til we CAN all see it together! So here's to our group movie date! See you soon! #AQuietPlacePart2...Take2"

Even at this early stage, the coronavirus has impacted the film industry in a significant way, so we want to make sure you stay informed as more news comes in.

Coronavirus Coverage

Stay up to date on all of our coronavirus coverage below.

Be sure to check back in the following days and weeks as more reports come in regarding movie release delays, event cancelations, and other developments that affect the film industry.

Updated March 20 1:30pm PST

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