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Last month, Hollywood found itself in a state like nothing they’ve experienced before when “Parasite”, a South Korean film from director Bong Joon-ho, infected the award season to become the first foreign language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Over a month later, the film industry finds itself at odds with another parasite – albeit one with a much bigger and much more concerning impact. Its name: the COVID-19 virus, or as it is commonly called, the Coronavirus. Originating in Wuhan, China and spreading throughout the globe, the Coronavirus has already taken the lives of hundreds and infected thousands more around the world. As one would expect, the prevalence of the disease has taken a major toll on the global economy, and the film industry has become one of its most notable victims.
On March 7th, 2020, the mayor of Austin, Texas, Steve Adler, announced a state of emergency in the city and ordered the cancellation of South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin’s annual arts, music, and technology festival. One of SXSW’s biggest highlights is its major film festival, which has seen the premieres of many noteworthy films like “Bridesmaids”, “The Cabin in the Woods”, and “Furious 7”. The film festival has also provided access for countless independent films, allowing them to potentially be picked up by prominent distributors and given more exposure for widespread theatrical releasing.
None of that will happen this year, however. With the cancellation of SXSW, many of the films set to premiere at the festival will have to look elsewhere in order to make their debuts. Unfortunately, the spread of the Coronavirus has only made other festivals just as susceptible to cancellation. In fact, many sources claim that if things don’t take a turn for the better soon, then the Cannes Film Festival, said by many to be cinema’s most prestigious film festival, could be cancelled as well.
Film festivals are only one aspect of the film industry that is being affected by the Coronavirus. More concerning to Hollywood is the massive decrease in box office revenue it has received compared to previous years, especially internationally. Case and point: China, a nation that has seen unprecedented box office growth over the past decade, so much so that many claim that it will soon surpass the United States to become the largest source of box office revenue in the world. With the impact of the Coronavirus, however, that might not happen as quickly as previously expected.
Unlike in the United States and other nations, Chinese movie theaters are under the direct control of the country’s communist government; this allows the government to impose whatever laws and restrictions onto these businesses if they wish to do so. The outbreak of the Coronavirus has made this control incredibly clear. In early February, right as the Coronavirus was starting to emerge, China ordered that all major movie theaters to be closed until further notice. This has made it impossible for Chinese moviegoers to go out to the movies, and for film studios to earn money from Chinese audiences.
For Hollywood, this has proven to be a major concern. The American film industry has become increasingly reliant on Chinese box office as a result of declining ticket sales domestically, and with the Coronavirus shutting down the grand majority of the nation’s theaters, Hollywood has been unable to earn that much needed income. Many films set to premiere in China have either been cancelled or postponed indefinitely; among the most significant films affected by such postponements are Disney’s live-action remake of “Mulan”, a film set in China and starring actors of mainly Chinese background (in other words, a film seemingly designed specifically to attract Chinese moviegoers), and the next James Bond film “No Time to Die”, which has actually pushed its international release to November solely because of the Coronavirus.
China isn’t the only nation that has had to take action due to the Coronavirus. Just recently, Italy expanded quarantine to the entire country, putting all of its people and businesses on lockdown, including its movie theaters. While perhaps not as big of a blow to Hollywood revenue as China, this is still one less source of revenue for the film industry to draw from. With more and more countries taking more drastic measures to limit the spread of the disease, Hollywood could see the number of markets to draw revenue from only decrease with the passage of time.
Even here in the United States, there is speculation that the Coronavirus is deterring potential audiences from going out to the movies. This weekend saw the release of Disney and Pixar’s newest animated feature “Onward”. Whereas previous Pixar films have generally landed an opening weekend of anywhere between $60 and $100 million dollars, “Onward” finished its opening weekend with just under $40 million, a disappointing start for the multi-million dollar production. While many factors can be attributed to the film’s lower-than-expected opening, it’s hard to argue that fear of the Coronavirus may have played a role to some degree.
So what’s going to happen then? The Coronavirus has only gotten more prevalent throughout the world as the weeks go by, and government responses have only become more extreme. At this point, to say that the film industry will face great difficulty in making up for lost time is a major understatement, and when many of the major markets will open back up remains uncertain. For all anybody knows, this could be a crisis that continues over the course of the entire year.
Then again, maybe that’s for the best. At the end of the day, the health and safety of the general public should be the biggest priority, and whatever measures can be taken to protect the people should be taken into consideration. That is why China, Italy, and other nations are going to such great lengths to combat the Coronavirus; they are doing whatever they can to protect their people. Yes, this will result in major economic losses throughout the world, but if means keeping the number of casualties from this disease to a minimum, then economic impact should not be the first thing on the governments’ minds.
What is happening to the film industry right now may be alarming, but it pales in comparison to the impact the Coronavirus is having on people’s health.
