The Covid-19 pandemic has rocked 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.
The Coachella music festival has been postponed, the release date of James Bond film No Time To Die has been delayed, and high-profile stars including Tom Hanks and Idris Elba have tested positive for coronavirus.
So, after much consideration given the current circumstances, and with the best of intentions, here is the first list of musical acts for @Glastonbury 2020. As things stand we are still working hard to deliver our 50th anniversary Festival in June and… https://t.co/SisRabWwdW pic.twitter.com/sNRyhDMzRV
— Emily Eavis (@emilyeavis) March 12, 2020
Meanwhile, Glastonbury is among the major events facing an uncertain future.
Here is how the coronavirus has affected the entertainment industry:
Film
– One of the biggest movies of the year, Bond film No Time To Die, had its release postponed from April to November.
– Disney delayed the release of several films, including its blockbuster remake of Mulan and the Marvel film Black Widow. Horror films The New Mutants and Antlers were also pushed back to unspecified dates later in the year, while thriller The Woman In The Window was also delayed.
– A Quiet Place II and Fast & Furious 9 were both delayed. A Quiet Place II was set to arrive in UK cinemas on March 20 while Fast & Furious 9 had a May release date. A Quiet Place II did not receive a new date, while Fast & Furious 9 will now arrive in April 2021.
– Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2 was supposed to arrive in UK cinemas on March 27 but has been pushed back to August.
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020. pic.twitter.com/a9h1RP5OKd
— James Bond (@007) March 4, 2020
– The Secret Garden, starring Colin Firth and Julie Walters, has seen its release postponed from April 3 to August 14.
– Filming has been suspended on The Batman movie, starring Robert Pattinson in the title role, with Warner Bros announcing a two-week hiatus. The studio will “continue to monitor the situation closely,” it said.
– Universal Pictures said it had stopped production on several titles, including Jurassic World: Dominion and Ice Cube boxing drama Flint Strong.
– Sony halted production on video game adaptation Uncharted for six weeks. The film, starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas, had been in pre-production in Berlin.
– The untitled Elvis Presley biopic has been placed on hold after Tom Hanks, who will play the singer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, tested positive for Covid-19.
– Filming on Mission: Impossible 7 had been set to begin in Venice but has been put on hold after Italy became one of the countries hardest hit by the virus.
– 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.
– Production on Disney movies The Little Mermaid, Home Alone, The Last Duel, Nightmare Alley and Peter Pan & Wendy have all been paused.
– Warner Bros has suspended production on Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts 3, with no date so far set for a return.
– Production on Matrix 4 was under way in Berlin, but that is another high-profile casualty of the virus.
Television
– Filming for series six of crime drama Peaky Blinders has been postponed, according to the programme’s Instagram page.
– A BBC spokesman confirmed filming had also been postponed for Line Of Duty.
– A source close to Netflix’s The Witcher Project said filming for the series had been halted.
CAN’T WAIT 🤸🏼♂️ @nbcsnl ❤️‼️ pic.twitter.com/qSauCSM4qs
— DUA LIPA (@DUALIPA) March 8, 2020
– Long-running US sketch show Saturday Night Live was supposed to return from a break on March 28, but production will not resume “until further notice”.
– Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings series was shooting in New Zealand but according to local press, production has been suspended and the cast has been told “there are no clear answers when we will resume”.
– Marvel Studios has halted production on superhero series Loki, Falcon And The Winter Soldier and WandaVision.
– FX has pressed pause on work on both Pose and Empire.
– Warner Bros said production on the final season of long-running drama Supernatural had stopped.
– Netflix has stopped production on season four of Stranger Things. That 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.
– Apple has also put work on many of its shows on hold. They include The Morning Show, Foundation, See, Servant and For All Mankind.
– Production on the second series of neo-noir fantasy Carnival Row, starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, has been suspended.
– US late night shows have not been spared. Jimmy Fallon, Seth Myers, James Corden and Stephen Colbert have all had their shows put on a production break.
– The Ellen DeGeneres Show is another that has been paused. The host said she was “already bored” when the news was announced on Friday.
– Season two of HBO drama Euphoria, starring Zendaya, has been paused.
– Production on AMC’s The Walking Dead has been delayed, and spin-off Fear The Walking Dead is also affected.
– Highly anticipated political drama American Crime Story: Impeachment has been put on hold by FX.
– Production on teen drama Riverdale was suspended due to a coronavirus scare.
– Wrestlemania will still go ahead on April 5 and air live, the WWE said, but it will be vastly scaled back and no fans will be allowed inside the venue.
– NBCUniversal suspended production on about 35 shows, including Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med and Law & Order: SVU.
– Other high-profile shows affected include America’s Got Talent, Grey’s Anatomy and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Music
– The world famous Coachella music festival has been pushed back from its original April date to October. Country music festival Stagecoach suffered the same fate.
— Coachella (@coachella) March 10, 2020
– As it stands, Glastonbury is set to go ahead, with headliners Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and Sir Paul McCartney.
– Teen pop sensation Billie Eilish has been forced to postpone a string of US tour dates.
– Singer Jamie Cullum has cancelled the remainder of his UK tour ahead of planned performances in cities including London, Oxford, Liverpool and Cardiff.
– Record Store Day 2020 has been postponed by organisers by two months.
– Rock band Guns N’ Roses postponed their forthcoming South American tour.
– Sir Elton John cancelled 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 and Pearl Jam have postponed their tours.
– Foo Fighters have postponed their Van Tour 2020, frontman Dave Grohl said. Some dates have already been rescheduled
– Canadian-American singer Alanis Morissette will reschedule tour dates in Japan, Manila, Australia and New Zealand.
– The 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards were supposed to take place in Los Angeles on March 29. Organisers said they “plan to reschedule at the appropriate time”.
– The Jonas Brothers 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.
– Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke 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 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 was called off by organisers. The 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.
– The Billboard Music Awards, which was due to take place in Los Angeles next month, was postponed on Tuesday. Organisers said they hoped to announce a new date and venue “in the near future”.
Theatre
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”.
Our updated response to Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/Pv9rvKfzlP
— The RSC (@TheRSC) March 16, 2020
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.
Earlier, a production of Endgame starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming at London’s Old Vic Theatre was cancelled.
However, Jason Manford, starring in touring musical Curtains, said his show was still going ahead because the Government advice was too vague.
Museums, Galleries and Venues
– The Royal Albert Hall announced it has closed its doors, warning in a statement that “the consequences of these national actions are going to be hugely damaging. The Royal Albert Hall does not receive regular Government support and is dependent on income related to events, which will not be happening”.
– The Tate said all four of its galleries – the Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London, the Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives – will be closed from March 17 through to May 1.
– The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) said all of its sites – South Kensington, Museum of Childhood, Blythe House, V&A Dundee – will “temporarily close” from March 18.
– The Barbican will close temporarily “until further notice due to new UK Government advice on coronavirus/Covid-19”, a statement said.
– The National Portrait Gallery will close temporarily from March 18.
– The Natural History Museum has closed its buildings in South Kensington and Tring.
– The British Museum will close temporarily from March 18, but museum director Hartwig Fischer said it will remain accessible through its digital channels.
– The Science Museum Group has closed all of its sites – the Science Museum in London, National Railway Museum in York, Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, and Locomotion in Shildon, County Durham – until further notice.
– The Royal Academy in central London closed its doors to visitors on Tuesday evening.
Other
– Disney has closed its theme parks in California, Florida and Paris, shutting Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Paris Resort. The Disney cruise line has also stopped new departures.
The #MetGala has been postponed indefinitely. https://t.co/hJ6Z7gT1EW
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) March 16, 2020
– The Met Gala, one of the biggest dates in the fashion diary each year, has been postponed, host Anna Wintour said.
– Two major LGBTQ awards shows have also been postponed. Advocacy group GLAAD said its ceremonies in both New York and Los Angeles would no longer go ahead.
– Video game event Electronic Entertainment Expo widely known as E3, was supposed to take place in Los Angeles in June. However, it has been cancelled.
– Vue announced all 91 of the company’s cinemas will close from Tuesday until further notice, while major chains including Odeon, Cineworld, Curzon and Picturehouse have also announced plans to close their doors for the foreseeable future.
– Organisers announced both the Cheltenham Science Festival and Cheltenham Jazz Festival would be cancelled.
– The Alexandra Palace venue, which hosts events including sports and concerts, announced that it was going to close “for the time being”.