COVID-19 is Delaying Movie Releases and Festivals
The 2020 release schedule for television and film has changed drastically due to the Coronavirus outbreak in America that originated in early spring.
With no clear end of the quarantine anytime soon, it is hard to imagine a moment where consumers are able to watch new and fresh projects of creativity in films and television.
Due to non-essential businesses closing, television and film production studios are shutting down and delaying highly anticipated projects such as “Wonder Woman 1984” and “The Batman”. Without the production of entertainment, there is no way to know how 2021 will look like in terms of content. With no clear answer for how the coronavirus will effect things in the future, all that can be done is wait and hope for the best.
There are people though like Andrew Chapman, a Green River student, who booked Emerald City Comic Con tickets 6 months in advance and was highly disappointed to hear that it would be delayed because of the pandemic.
“I was all ready to go in March with my Mr. Freeze cosplay. I spent a lot of days working overtime so I could afford tickets to Comic Con, not to mention the money I spent building my cosplay. I was really excited to go at the time, but now I don’t know,” Chapman said.
Conventions are places where fans and developers can present new creative ideas, showing off their love for media. For a lot of people, festivals and conventions are a great way to find new friends and express one’s passion for a hobby or piece of entertainment. Emerald City Comic Con, the largest convention of its genre in Seattle, Washington, announced on March 6 that it will postpone the event until sometime in late summer.
Meanwhile in other aspects of entertainment such as movie theaters, COVID-19’s effects have been drastic. There have been mass closures of small businesses and massive profit losses for large chains such as AMC and Regal. Although the experience of sitting down in a movie theater with popcorn and candy is going to be absent in the near future, streaming services are still available for quarantine entertainment.
Despite this, Disney’s entire release schedule has been significantly delayed due to the outbreak. Hyped up films such as “Black Widow”, “Mulan”, and “Artemis Fowl” have been delayed by months, some even years for such projects as “Indiana Jones 5”.
For Green River student Ian Nolsen, the delays of his favorite franchise has been disappointing. He has been a fan of Marvel since he was 8 years old, and has always been excited for the latest films produced by the Disney company.
“I was pretty excited to see Black Widow. I’ve been a fan of Scarlet Johannsen’s portrayal of her ever since her first appearance in Iron Man 2. It’s pretty sad to not be able to sit in the theater with my family and watch it,” Nolsen said.
There is no question about how Marvel has been an important source of entertainment in the past decade, with releases like “Avengers: Endgame” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home”. These films have been massive profit-wise for both movie theaters and Disney. With the lights going down indefinitely on the big screen — all Americans can do is wait.
