The Devastating Effect Coronavirus Is Having On The Entertainment Industry

The coronavirus pandemic continues to rock the entertainment industry, causing the cancellation of major events and leaving the future of others in doubt.

Film, television and music have all been hugely affected, with experts warning the cost of the crisis will total billions of pounds.

Among the most high profile casualties are the Coachella music festival and the latest James Bond film, No Time To Die, which have both been delayed.

Could the likes of Glastonbury be next?

Here is how the coronavirus has affected the entertainment industry, so far…

TV

Baftas

This year’s TV Baftas have been postponed until later in the year, as a result of the pandemic.

A rep for Bafta said: “Following the latest government advice on coronavirus (Covid-19), we regret to announce that the British Academy Television Craft Awards and Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards, originally scheduled for 26 April and 17 May respectively, will be postponed until later in the year.”

The nominations for this year’s TV Baftas were due to be revealed on 26 March, but these will also be delayed “until closer to the ceremony”.

Saturday Night Takeaway

Saturday Night Takeaway

Ant and Dec have pre-recorded material to allow this series to conclude its run, although the series finale in Florida has been scrapped due to travel restrictions.

BBC studio audiences

The BBC has confirmed that none of its shows will feature a studio audience “for the foreseeable future”.

“Following government advice all our studio audience shows are suspended for the foreseeable future,” they said in a statement. “Please do not attend if you have a ticket to one of our shows. We will not be accepting new ticket applications for the time being.”

The Graham Norton Show

The team team is still “standing by to make the new series” but the lack of availability of A-list guests could yet see the show pulled.

EastEnders

EastEnders, which is filmed eight weeks in advance, is continuing its shooting schedule but the BBC is aware that disruption is inevitable. 

Line Of Duty 

A BBC spokesman confirmed filming had also been postponed on the sixth series of the police drama, which began filming in Northern Ireland last month.

Peaky Blinders

Filming for series six of the crime drama has been postponed, according to the programme’s Twitter account.

Loose Women

Still on air every weekday, but without an audience. Host Andrea McLean told viewers on Monday: “Before we carry on, you might have noticed things not only look but they sound very different today.

“That is because our live studio audience are not here. I don’t know if you can see but we are on our own.

“It is, of course, a precautionary measure in light of coronavirus, but rest assured we are still here and we are going to be bringing you some light relief this lunchtime.”

Celebrity Juice

Filming on the current series was halted following the government’s latest advice, even though the audience had arrived at the studio. 

Saturday Night Live 

The long-running US sketch show was supposed to return from a break on 28 March, but production will not resume “until further notice”.

Jimmy Fallon, Seth Myers, James Corden and Stephen Colbert

All of the big late night talk shows have been put on a production break. James Corden told viewers they had “explored every option” to try and put a show on for you but felt “the safest thing to do is to stop for a moment and take advice further down the line”.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

The host said she was “already bored” following the news that her daytime show had been paused. She certainly hasn’t lost her sense of humour though, joking that she and her wife Portia de Rossi have “watched every single thing on Netflix, and are just about done reading the entire internet.”

Stranger Things

Netflix has stopped production on season four. It is part of the streaming giant’s move to shut down all scripted TV and film production in the US and Canada for at least two weeks.

Lord Of The Rings 

Amazon’s reported $1billion series was shooting in New Zealand but production has been suspended with Amazon sending home around 800 cast and crew from the production’s West Auckland shoot. The cast have been told “there are no clear answers when we will resume”. 

Pose 

Production has been paused on the FX show, along with Empire and American Crime Story: Impeachment. 

The Walking Dead 

Production has been delayed, along with spin-off Fear The Walking Dead

Riverdale 

Production was suspended due to a coronavirus scare.

FILM

No Time To Die

The latest Bond film had its release postponed from April to November. The film will now hit UK cinemas on 12 November, and will arrive in the US just shy of two weeks later.

Mulan

Liu Yifei

Disney has delayed the release of its blockbuster remake of the animated feature. The movie’s world premiere still took place on 9 March in Hollywood, complete with a red carpet and many of its stars, including Liu Yifei, who plays Mulan.

Black Widow

 

The new Marvel film focussing on Scarlett Johansson’s character had been slated for release at the beginning of May, but Disney has now made the decision to postpone this until later in the year.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, The Personal History Of David Copperfield and The Woman In The Window have also been removed from their release calendar.

Peter Rabbit 2

 

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which features the voices of James Corden and Margot Robbie, was due in UK cinemas on 27 March, and the US a week later. But with uncertainty over whether fans will avoid cinemas, that has now been put back to 7 August.

The Secret Garden

 

The Colin Firth and Julie Walters remake has seen its release postponed from April 3 to August 14.

The Batman

Filming has been suspended for two weeks with Warner Bros insisting it will “continue to monitor the situation closely”.

Uncharted

Sony halted production on the video game adaptation for six weeks. The film, starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas, had been in pre-production in Berlin.

Untitled Elvis Presley biopic 

The Baz Luhrmann production is on hold after Tom Hanks, who will play the singer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, tested positive for Covid-19 along with his wife Rita Wilson. Both have since been discharged from hospital and are now self-isolating.

Mission: Impossible 7 

Tom Cruise

The latest release in the hit franchise had been set to begin filming in Venice but has been put on hold after Italy became one of the countries hardest hit by the virus.

A statement from studio Paramount said: “Out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew, and efforts of the local Venetian government to halt public gatherings in response to the threat of coronavirus, we are altering the production plan for our three week shoot in Venice, the scheduled first leg of an extensive production for ‘Mission: Impossible 7’.

Cinderella

Camila Cabello will play the lead role in a Cinderella musical but Sony said production at the UK’s Pinewood Studios had been suspended for two weeks.

Fantastic Beasts 3

Eddie Redmayne

Warner Bros has suspended production on Harry Potter spin-off with no date so far set for a return. The series is one of WB’s top franchises, with the previous two films grossing more than $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.

Matrix 4 

Production on was under way in Berlin, but is another high-profile casualty of the virus.

MUSIC

Glastonbury

Glastonbury organisers say they cannot yet confirm whether the festival will go ahead but are continuing to plan and prepare for the event.

Adrian Coombs, Glastonbury Festival’s Head of Event Operations, said: “Glastonbury Festival thoroughly plans each year’s event, and puts in place all necessary measures to protect the public and maximise safety. We work closely with all of the relevant agencies, including Public Health England and the NHS, and always review our plans as any circumstances change.

“With this in mind and with our 2020 Festival still 16 weeks away, we continue to plan and prepare for the event, whilst at the same time closely monitoring developments with the coronavirus situation.”

Coachella 

The music festival has been pushed back from its original April date to October. Festival organisers say Coachella will now take place over two weekends in autumn, 9-11 and 16-18 Oct. 16-18. Country music festival Stagecoach suffered the same fate. 

Eurovision

The official line from organisers of the annual song contest – which is due to take place in Rotterdam on Saturday 16 May – is that they “hope to have more information shortly”.

Billie Eilish 

The teen pop sensation has been forced to postpone a string of US tour dates.

Guns N’ Roses 

The US rockers have postponed their forthcoming South American tour.

Sir Elton John

The music legend has pulled more than a dozen concerts in Canada and the US, which had been set to take place in March, April and July as part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. The concerts are being postponed until a later date.

The Who 

The legendary rockers have postponed their tour.

Foo Fighters

The US band have postponed their Van Tour 2020, frontman Dave Grohl said. Some dates have already been rescheduled

Alanis Morissette

The Canadian-American singer will reschedule tour dates in Japan, Manila, Australia and New Zealand. 

The Jonas Brothers

The sibling band have cancelled their planned April residency in Las Vegas. “We love you guys and we are praying for everyone’s safety and wellness. We’ll see you soon,” the band said in a statement.

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson, who was also scheduled to begin her Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood on 1 April, postponed the launch of her Invincible shows until July due to the pandemic. The singer also announced her US daytime show had shut down production indefinitely “out of concern and care for everyone’s safety.” 

Thom Yorke 

The Radiohead frontman postponed the US leg of his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes Tour. He tweeted: “Ticket holders, please standby for information on a new routing for later this year. Apologies for the inconvenience.”

Celine Dion 

The singer has pushed back the March and April dates of the North American leg of her Courage tour. New dates are yet to be announced.

Radio 1’s Big Weekend 

Organisers have cancelled this year’s event. The annual music festival, which had Biffy Clyro, Harry Styles and Camila Cabello on the line-up, was due to take place in Dundee from Friday May 22 to Sunday May 24.

“It is important that we prioritise the health and safety of all those involved,” Radio 1 said in a statement.

THEATRES AND CINEMAS

Theatres in the West End and around the UK closed from Monday night.

The Society Of London Theatre (SOLT) – which represents hundreds of theatres in the capital including the National Theatre, London Palladium and London Coliseum – and UK Theatre said the decision was “not taken lightly”.

The Royal Shakespeare Company also announced its three theatres would close following the Government’s advice to stop all “non-essential contact”.

The Royal Opera House said it would close the building to the public and cancel all performances in Covent Garden with immediate effect.

Odeon Cinemas also closed all its cinemas in the UK, saying in a statement: “Following Government guidelines Odeon cinemas are closed until further notice.”

Cineworld and Picturehouse are shutting all UK outlets starting from Wednesday while outlets in Ireland will close on Tuesday.

Cineworld Group chief executive Mooky Greidinger said: “At Cineworld and Picturehouse we are committed to providing safe and healthy environments for our employees and guests and have therefore made the difficult decision to close our cinemas in UK and Ireland until further notice.

“We deeply value our cinema-loving customers and have no doubt we will be serving everyone again as soon as possible with a full slate of Hollywood blockbusters and the best of independent films and content.”

All 91 of the UK’s Vue cinemas will close from Tuesday 17 March until further notice.

Founder and chief executive Tim Richards, said: “As you would expect, we are also doing our part by putting employment policies in place so that our staff are protected and are not penalised financially.

“We want to wish all our customers and employees well during these difficult times. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to welcoming you back at one of our cinemas soon.”

The Met Gala

Anna Wintour attends Met Gala.

One of the biggest dates in the fashion diary each year, has been postponed “indefinitely”, host Anna Wintour said. In a statement posted on the Vogue website, the magazine editor called the decision “unavoidable and responsible,” and promised a preview of this year’s planned exhibition in the May issue of Vogue.