ENTERTAINMENT industry closures.
Broadway goes dark; concerts, TV productions, movie debuts, festivals all off
NEW YORK — The entertainment industry prepared Thursday for an unprecedented shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, canceling coming movies, suspending all Broadway performances and scuttling concert tours until it’s safe to welcome back crowds.
To accommodate calls for social distancing, Hollywood moved to pause TV productions and movie premieres. After New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned gatherings of more than 500 people, Broadway theaters announced that they would close immediately and remain dark through April 12. The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City was called off too.
The closures amount to a nearly complete halt of the industry, from Lincoln Center to Disneyland, and the largest-scale shutdown of many of the country’s major arteries of culture.
The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center in Washington all canceled events through March 31. Live Nation Entertainment and AEG Presents, the world’s largest live-entertainment companies, suspended all current tours through March, including those of Billie Eilish, the Strokes and Post Malone.
The virus’s reach had already forced the cancellation or postponement of other major events, including the South by Southwest conference and festival in Austin, Texas; Hollywood’s annual movie expo CinemaCon in Las Vegas; this month’s Kids Choice Awards in Los Angeles; and the California music festival, Coachella, which was put off until October. TV networks saw the scuttling of most major sporting events.
Disneyland plans to close its gates Saturday for the rest of the month. After Sunday, Florida’s Disney World will also close to guests through the end of March. And Disney is suspending any new cruise ship departures starting Saturday.
Hollywood still planned to usher several new movies into theaters beginning Thursday evening. North American’s largest chains, AMC and Regal, did not respond to emails. Cinemas have already been closed in China, India, Italy, Poland, Greece and other countries.
The Walt Disney Co. held up its coming features, including Mulan, New Mutants and Antlers. Universal Pictures said the Fast and Furious movie titled F9 would not open May 22 as planned but would move to April next year. John Krasinski, writer and director of A Quiet Place 2, announced that his film would not open next week as planned but will be rescheduled at a later date.
Apple’s The Morning Show was among the many productions put on hiatus. Central Casting closed its offices. The TCM Classic Film festival, scheduled for next month in Los Angeles, was canceled.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame postponed its annual induction ceremony, scheduled for May 2 in Cleveland. Posthumous inductees Whitney Houston and the Notorious B.I.G. were to be honored, along with Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails and T. Rex.
The announcement Wednesday evening that Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for coronavirus sent shudders through the industry. Hanks is easily the most famous person yet to publicly announce that he has the virus. He is in Australia to shoot an Elvis Presley biopic that Warner Bros. said would halt production.
On Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Show With James Corden joined other latenight talk shows in announcing that they will tape without audiences. That followed similar decisions by CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, NBC’s Tonight Show and Late Night With Seth Meyers, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and TBS’ Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.
CBS also said production on the next season of Survivor was being postponed. Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have also halted tapings with audiences.