The diabolical Covid-19 has infected every aspect of our day to day lives and that includes the entertainment industry. So here’s a rundown on some of the Television shows and Movies that are suffering in the wake of this crisis. As of now, March 20, 2020, the majority of the nation’s movie theaters have temporarily closed. Remember the scene in Outbreak where someone sneezes in a movie theater and we see in slow motion the tiny particles sent spewing into the theater infecting a majority of the movie goers? While we don’t know for certain Covid-19 is spread through the air like that, still those theater seats…!
BLACK WIDOW was scheduled for May 1st but has been postponed with no new date yet
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 which is filming in Venice, Italy has had its filming halted.
NO TIME TO DIE James Bond has jumped into one of his fancy expensive cars and high tailed it from an April release to November.
FAST & FURIOUS 9 they’re up to their ninth movie? Well this sequel has turned on the turbo and raced away from this May to April 2021.
A QUIET PLACE II sshhh…the sequel has been delayed with a new release date to be announced later. I said THEY’RE RELEASING IT LATERRRRR *ack* thud. Gulp.
DISNEY has halted production on all live action films in production including Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, Peter Pan, and Shrunk. SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS has suspended production as well. MULAN had its March 27 release cancelled to be rescheduled for later this year…likely this fall.
THE NEW MUTANTS the troubled FOX film has been rescheduled several times since it was first supposed to open in 2018. Lately it has found even more controversy over a lesbian sub plot between two characters. Now it will not be released on April 3 as fans thought they would finally be able to see it. It’s now rumored to be eyeing an opening later this year. It’s not known for sure if this extra time will allow the studio to make any edits or even omit the lesbian sub plot.
SAW franchise’s SPIRAL, ANTLERS, ANTEBELLUM, and Sarah Paulson’s RUN have been pulled from release by Lion’s Gate.
THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER has halted filming in Prague. Its August premier on the Disney+ streaming service is now up in the air but it seems unlikely at this point that it will meet that deadline.
THE FLASH, RIVERDALE, SUPERNATURAL Warner Brothers has stopped production on these series. With most of the shows scheduled to have their season finales and, in SUPERNATURAL’S case, series finale, in May it’s very likely those will be postponed. Television shows–at least most of them–usually air finales in May because May is a sweeps month for the Nielson Ratings (yes, they’re still around).
NETFLIX has halted production on all of its shows and movies including stopping production on the second season of THE WITCHER.
HULU has stopped production on the upcoming fourth season of their social sci-fi THE HAND MAID’S TALE.
APPLE TV has also stopped production on its shows.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS television series is temporarily ceasing filming.
HEELS Stephen Amell says his new wrestling drama has been put on hold.
WONDERCON has been postponed but SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON is still a go for July 23-26.
FINALES: OUTLANDER has all episodes filmed and will air their season finale on May 3 as scheduled. STAR TREK PICARD will air its season finale next week on March 26. THE WALKING DEAD likewise has the rest of its season ten episodes filmed and the season 10 finale will air April 12. FEAR THE WALKING DEAD was in the middle of filming season 6 and is reportedly taking a month off. As of this writing it is likely the season premier which was scheduled for the summer will probably change. WESTWORLD has all of its season 3 episodes in the can and will have its season finale in May.
On a strange/morbidly funny note, BIG BROTHER’S house guests for the next season entered the Big Brother House in early February and since the show cuts them off completely from the outside with no TV, radio or news papers they are very probably unaware of what has happened since they went into seclusion.
Expect more shows and movies to be affected the longer the Covid-19 crisis lasts. For now, Comcast is offering some free movies and channels and you can also purchase some recent films like The Invisible Man and The Hunt which are getting early VOD release.