Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 or coronavirus epidemic, the scenario around the world has converted into an unsettling gloom. With the number of cases rising every day and so the fatalities there is worry and panic everywhere. What started in Wu Han province of China rapidly gripped the entire globe in its clutches, and now, every nation is feeling its wrath. Many countries are so severely affected by this disease that they had to go for a self-lockdown and quarantine its citizens to prevent more cases of coronavirus. The movie industry too has not remained untouched by this pan epidemic, and there is turmoil going over here as well.
To begin with, as the countries are going in lockdown and advising people to maintain social distancing, movie theaters and multiplexes have been shut due to the epidemic. This has been a preventive initiative practiced by many countries and state administration for restricting the spread of the virus. As the movie theaters remain closed and nations under a lockdown, many new movie releases have been postponed or put on hold till further notice. The restriction is just not limited to Hollywood, as every film industry around the world is facing the same brunt.
The pan epidemic of coronavirus not only have brought down the shutters of theaters but also made production houses to stop shooting of movies and web series. All filming and shooting activities are stopped by the studios to prevent the virus from becoming a catastrophe. The virus spread has already resulted in a loss in the revenue of the released movies, and studios are in no mood to incur more. Almost a dozen of anticipated movies have put their release on hold due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. It includes films like James Bond flick No Time to Die, Marvel studio’s Black Widow, Disney’s Mulan, Antlers, Lovebirds, and The New Mutants. Bollywood is also going through a similar dilemma as many of its big releases is being postponed until further notice and no shooting of movies or daily series is being carried out.
The scare became prominent when actors like Tom Hanks, Idris Elba, and few others were tested positive of Covid-19. This made the entire film industry go down in a lockdown mode to prevent the spread of the disease among the other members of its fraternity.
On a worldwide trend, the movie industry has also incurred around $ 20 billion loss due to postponement of the releases and closure of the movie theaters. Many events and film festivals are also canceled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. The on anvil release dates of Wonder Woman 1984, Greyhound, and Top Gun: Maverick also hangs in the balance due to the outbreak of the epidemic. Movie studios are expecting that they will be able to release the films by April or May if the situation comes under control. The losses due to closure and postponement of movies are not only hurting the filmmakers and actors, but also other people whose livelihood run due to films and theaters. It is doing irreversible damage to the people whose earning solely depends on the people who are engaged in movie production or on the audience who come to watch films at the theater. If the situation does not come under control soon, it can lead to greater damage to the film industry and to the people associated with it.
