Coronavirus: List Of Canceled Or Postponed Hollywood & Media Events
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, more events are being canceled or postponed amid travel restrictions and increasing health warnings. As of Saturday, the virus had sickened more than 105,000 people worldwide in 101 countries, according to the World Health Organization. More than 3,500 people have died globally.
The death toll in the U.S. is 21, with the number of confirmed cases nationwide growing. President Donald Trump on Friday signed a $3.8 billion emergency spending bill to combat the illness after it passed swiftly through the House and Senate earlier this week.
Here is a list of entertainment-related disruptions tied to COVID-19 fears. We will update it as more information becomes available.
RELEASE DATES
Magnolia Pictures is moving the theatrical release of its gerrymandering documentary Slay the Dragon from March 13 to April 3 in theaters and digital.
MGM, Eon and Universal postponed the global release dates of their James Bond movie No Time to Die from April 2 in the UK and internationally and its April 10 U.S. Easter weekend day-and-date release to Novmeber 25.
FESTIVALS
SXSW, the film, music and tech festival that runs March 13-22 in Austin, has been canceled
The Geena Davis-cofounded Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas has moved its 2020 dates from April 29-May 2 to August 5-8
Saudi Arabia’s inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival, originally set to run March 12-21 in Jeddah, has been canceled. Organizers said the event will be rescheduled
The 22nd annual Thessaloniki Documentary Festival planned for March 5-15 in Greece has been postponed, with organizers eyeing dates in late May or early June
In Switzerland, the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, set for March 6-15 in Geneva, and Rencontres 7e Art Lausanne (Think Cinema Lausanne), set for March 4-8, were both canceled
The Ultra Music Festival in Miami has been canceled due to concerns over the coronavirus. The 21-year-old electronic music festival was scheduled from March 20-22.
INDUSTRY EVENTS
A+E Networks canceled its live upfront event scheduled for March 25 and will hold virtual upfront presentations starting the week of March 23
Comcast’s FreeWheel has canceled its scheduled March 12 Upfronts presentation in New York. Fox News pulled out of its Upfronts presentation scheduled for March 24
Fox Entertainment has canceled its program development presentations, which had been scheduled in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles for the last week of March
Disney canceled its European press launch for Disney+ in London, which was scheduled for March 5. The event at the Exhibition London event space to “celebrate the European launch of Disney+” was expected to include “exclusive” presentations from key executives and creative heads, along with several special guests
The London Book Fair, one of the world’s biggest international literary events, has been canceled. The event was scheduled for March 10-12. Around 25,000 publishers, authors and agents from around the world were expected
CONFERENCES
MIPTV, the annual international TV conference and market set for March 30-April 2 in Cannes, has been canceled. All events surrounding MipTV — including Mip Formats and Mip Doc — were also canceled. The Cannesseries event, originally scheduled to run parallel to MipTV, was moved to October 9-14 alongside MIPCOM.
The annual Google I/O developers conference, set for May 12-14 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA, has been canceled. Google said guests who purchased tickets will receive a full refund by March 13 and those who registered will be automatically granted the option of purchasing an I/O 2021 ticket.
The Doha Film Institute canceled the 2020 edition of Qumra, an event in which international directors are invited to speak to Arab filmmakers. Claire Denis and James Gray had been set to attend this year’s edition, which had been planned for March 20-25.
The Milken Institute Global Conference announced that the event, scheduled to take place in Beverly Hills in early May, has been rescheduled to July 7-10 at a venue to be announced. The annual gathering brings together leaders in business, government, science, philanthropy and academia from around the world.
The annual Game Developers Conference, scheduled for March 16-20 in San Francisco, has been postponed, with plans to organize an event this summer
Facebook’s F8 Developers Conference: In-person component set for May 5-6 in San Jose, CA canceled; will focus instead on “locally hosted events, videos and live-streamed content”
Hong Kong Filmart: Asia’s most significant film market was postponed from late March to August 27-29, 2020
The 2020 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona scheduled for February 24-27 was canceled
CORPORATE OFFICES
Sony Pictures Entertainment on March 4 closed its offices in London, Paris and Gdynia, Poland, for a week
MOVIE THEATERS
Italy decreed March 8 that all cinemas will be closed until at least April 3. Until then almost half of the country’s theaters were closed, mostly in Milan’s Lombardy region. Some territory release dates have already been postponed including for The Invisible Man (Universal) and Onward (Disney).
About 38 cinemas have been closed in parts of France beginning March 2
Thousands of cinemas are closed in China, which has roughly 70,000 screens across 10,000 venues. All local film releases scheduled for the lucrative Chinese New Year holiday were pulled by distributors in the territory, the world’s second largest for box office. UME, Wanda, Jinyi, Bona, Emperor and Lumiere chains have all shuttered. Anticipated Hollywood releases likely to be impacted include Disney’s Mulan and Universal’s James Bond debut No Time to Die, the latter of which already has seen its Beijing premiere and press tour canceled
PRODUCTION
Paramount’s Mission: Impossible 7‘s upcoming three-week shooting kickoff in Venice, Italy was postponed after the local government put a stop to all public gatherings
CBS’ The Amazing Race has postponed shooting on its Season 33 edition, which had not been announced but so far had shot in England and Scotland
SPORTS
The Greek Olympic committee said its traditional Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony on March 12 will be closed to the public. The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, set for July 24-August 9, remains on track. Any change of date for the Olympics would have a huge effect for broadcasters worldwide.
The BNP Paribas Open pro tennis tournament in Indian Wells has canceled this year’s edition, which was set for March 9-22
France’s top soccer league Ligue 1 has moved to play games either in empty stadiums or with only 1,000 fans until April 15 as mandated by the government’s call to limit public gatherings to 1,000 people or less. French club Paris Saint-Germain’s home Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund will be played at an empty Parc des Princes in Paris
Italy’s top pro soccer league Serie A has postponed some games, and played others in empty stadiums especially in the northern part of the country
Formula One has canceled the Chinese Grand Prix, which had been scheduled for April 17-19
The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, scheduled for March 13-15, has been postponed to March 2021
via Deadline
