Entertainment industry prepares for shutdown
NEW YORK — The entertainment industry prepared Thursday for an unprecedented shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, canceling upcoming movies, suspending all Broadway performances and eliminating live audiences from television shows until it’s safe to welcome crowds back.
To accommodate calls for social distancing, Hollywood moved to pause the normal hum of TV productions and the bustle of red-carpet 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 closures amount to a nearly complete halting of the industry, from Lincoln Center to Hollywood, and the largest-scale shutdown of many of the country’s major arteries of culture.
The upcoming “A Quiet Place 2” and the latest “Fast & Furious” movie joined the many postponements that have erased much of the upcoming movie release calendar. The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall all canceled events through March 31.
The dawning awareness of the virus’ reach had already forced the cancellation or postponement of all major imminent events on the calendar, including the sprawling 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; the sunny California music festival Coachella, which was put off until October; and big television events like the NBA season, which was put on hiatus after a player tested positive for the virus. The NHL also suspended its season.
Earlier Thursday, California urged bans of not just the largest events but also gatherings of more than 250 to help stymie the virus’ spread. California Gov. Gavin Newsom recommended the cancellation or postponement of gatherings of 250 or more people through at least the end of the month. That put a new focus on Broadway, multiplexes and smaller concert venues.
Hollywood still planned to usher in several new movies, beginning Thursday evening at theaters. North American’s largest chains, AMC and Regal, did not respond to emails Thursday. Cinemas have been closed in China, India, Italy, Poland, Greece and other countries.
John Krasinski, writer and director of “A Quiet Place 2,” announced that his film from Paramount Pictures would not open next week as planned but be postponed to an as yet announced date. Universal Pictures announced that the “Fast and Furious” movie titled “F9” would not open May 22 as planned but in April next year.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is that people have said our movie is one you have to see together,” Krasinksi said in a message on social media. “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.”
Paramount also shuffled the release of “Lovebirds” and “Blue Story.” Few major releases remain in the coming weeks, with the notable exception of the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mulan.” It’s set for March 27 in the U.S.