
Refresh for updates … As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, more events are being canceled or postponed and entertainment sites closed.
The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic over the COVID-19 virus., had sickened more than 132,000 people in 122 countries and territories, with 4,955 deaths, according to the WHO. The death toll in the U.S. is 41, with the number of confirmed cases nationwide at 1629 in 47 states including Washington, D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control’s latest numbers today.
Here is a large but by no means comprehensive list of entertainment-related disruptions tied to COVID-19 fears. We will update it as more information becomes available.
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Coronavirus: TV Shows That Have Halted Or Delayed Production Amid Outbreak
PRODUCTION
ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy suspended production March 12 for at least two weeks. The show had just completed Episode 21 of its 25-episode Season 16
Netflix’s comedy Grace & Frankie on March 12 halted production on its seventh and final season per series producer Skydance Television.
Apple TV+ drama The Morning Show has gone on a two-week production hiatus.
Shows including One Day at a Time, Tosh.0 and Ridiculousness will film without studio audiences for the time being.
Universal TV has paused production on Russian Doll, Rutherford Falls and Little America.
The CW’s Riverdale has suspended production, and CBS’ Survivor has delayed production on its 41st season.
The broadcast networks’ New York-based late-night talk shows — CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah — will begin taping without audiences March 16. TBS’ Full Frontal with Samantha Bee taped its March 11 episode, and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver will tape its first live audience-less show March 15.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show also will go without a live audience.
The upcoming Season 41 of CBS’ Survivor has postponed a planned March production start in Fiji. It plans to return to shooting May 19.
Syndicated talk or game shows Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Wendy Williams Show, Dr Phil, The View, Live With Kelly And Ryan and Tamron Hall have confirmed they will tape their Los Angeles shows for now without studio audiences.
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.
WORK-FROM-HOME ORDERS/ADVISORIES
Among the companies that have mandated or advised its employees to work from home are NBCUniversal, Viacom, Netflix, Amazon Studios, eOne, STX, CAA, UTA, ICM Partners, the Gotham Group and Paradigm.
INDUSTRY EVENTS
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has postponed the 41st annual Sports Emmy Awards (April 28) and 71st annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards dinner (April 19). Both will be rescheduled.
The 49th annual Juno Awards, Canada’s music prizes that were to be handed out March 15, is canceled.
WonderCon, which had been set for April 10-12 in Anaheim, is postponed. No new date was announced.
The New York premiere of Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections set for March 19 is canceled.
The 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony that was set for May 2 in Cleveland is postponed. No new date was announced.
The 31st GLAAD Media Awards in New York on March 19 is canceled. The organization’s Los Angeles edition of the awards remain set for April 16.
The fourth ScreenCraft Writers Summit has been postponed to April 23-26, 2021, in Chicago.
Twitter and YouTube have canceled planned live events for advertisers at the 2020 NewFronts, which are scheduled to run March April 27-May 6, opting for live-streamed presentations. Organizer IAB is recommending streaming for all participants.
The AFI Directing Workshop for Women Class of 2020 Showcase set for March 11 is canceled. The films can be viewed here.
HBO’s annual live benefit Night of Too Many Stars: America Unites for Autism Programs hosted by Jon Stewart and scheduled for April 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York has been postponed to a later date
The David Di Donatello Awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars, has postponed its annual ceremony in Rome from April 3 to May 8.
The 25th annual Los Angeles Festival of Books, originally set for April 18-19 at USC, has been rescheduled to October 3-4.
The annual white-tie Gridiron Club dinner, sponsored by Washington D.C.’s oldest journalism group, canceled its 2020 edition scheduled for March 14.
The Royal Television Society Programme Awards in London on March 17 at Grosvenor House Hotel will be held behind closed doors, with only nominees and RTS representatives allowed to attend.
Quibi has canceled its launch party that was scheduled for April 5 in Culver City, CA, one day before the mobile platform goes live. The app launch remains set for April 6.
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 Upfront 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.
FESTIVALS
The Garden State Film Festival, set for March 25-29 in Asbury Park, NJ, has been changed to online-only.
The Canadian Film Fest, set for March 24-28, is canceled.
The 22nd annual Ebertfest, set April 14-17 in Champaign, IL, is canceled.
The ninth annual Sun Valley Film Festival, set for March 18-22 in Idaho, is canceled.
The 19th annual Tribeca Film Festival, set for April 15-26 in Manhattan, is postponed.
The 11th annual TCM Classic Film Festival, set for April 16-19 in Hollywood, is canceled.
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, set for April 1-5, is postponed.
The second annual French Riviera Film Festival has been rescheduled to June 8-9 in Santa Monica and Brentwood.
The 20th annual Beverly Hills Film Festival, set to run April 1-5, is postponed until further notice.
The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sister event the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, both taking place in the desert of Indio, CA have been postponed. Coachella moved its dates from April 10-12 and April 17-19 to October 9-11 and October 16-18, and Stagecoach moved from April 24-26 to October 23-25
The Prague International Film Festival has moved off its March 19-27 dates to an undetermined slot in 2020
SXSW, the film, music and tech festival that runs March 13-22 in Austin, is 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, is canceled. Organizers said the event will be rescheduled
The 22nd annual Thessaloniki Documentary Festival planned for March 5-15 in Greece is 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 is canceled due to concerns over the coronavirus. The 21-year-old electronic music festival was scheduled from March 20-22.
CONFERENCES
NAB Show 2020 in Las Vegas, set for April 18-22, is canceled, with officials reviewing options to hold the annual media, entertainment and technology convention later this year.
E3, the annual computer and video game conference, canceled its 2020 edition set for June 11 in Los Angeles.
Series Mania, the annual TV festival in Lille, France, is canceled.
MIPTV, the annual international TV conference and market set for March 30-April 2 in Cannes, is 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, is 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, is 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.
SPORTS
The UK’s Premier League has suspended its season until April 3, and UEFA has called off the next set of matches in its Champions League and Europa League that were set for March 17-18.
The PGA Tour has postponed all of its golf events, including the Masters and the Players Championship, through at least April 12.
The XFL has canceled the rest of its inaugural regular season.
The 124th running of the Boston Marathon has moved from April 20 to September 14.
The NCAA has canceled its men’s and women’s basketball national championship tournaments
The NHL has suspended its season.
Major League Soccer has suspended its season for 30 days.
The annual Long Beach Grand Prix, set for April 17-19, is canceled.
Spain top soccer league, La Liga, has suspended play for at least two weeks after a Real Madrid player was diagnosed with COVID-19 and the entire team was quarantined.
The NBA has suspended its season, following Wednesday night’s games after a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus.
Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners will not be able to play home games in March after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee banned gatherings of more than 250 people in three counties for the month
Italy‘s pro soccer league Serie A has halted play completely mid-season per a decree by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on March 9. The Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees all sports in the country, said the stoppage is through at least April 3. Also halted is Italy’s participation in Olympic qualifying events ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Italian soccer clubs’ participation in UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League play are not governed by the country’s stoppage, but games in Italy are being played in empty stadiums.
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, set for March 9-22 in Indian Wells, CA, is canceled.
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.
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
RELEASE DATES
Disney has postponed the release of three of its films: Mulan (March 27), 20th Century Studios/Marvel’s New Mutants (April 3) and Searchlight’s horror pic Antlers (April 17). No new dates have new announced.
Universal’s F9 has moved from its May 22 global day-and-date launch to April 9, 2021.
The release of Paramount’s A Quiet Place II has been delayed. No new date was announced.
Sony has shifted the global launch of Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway to August 7. It had been set to premiere overseas later in March and in the U.S. release to April 3.
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 November 25.
CORPORATE OFFICES
The WGA has canceled two planned face-to-face membership meetings to discuss proposals and priorities for the upcoming Minimum Basic Agreement negotiations
SAG-AFTRA on March 9 is cancelling, postponing or reconfiguring national and local in-person meetings and will not reschedule new national group meetings in the immediate future
Sony Pictures Entertainment on March 4 closed its offices in London, Paris and Gdynia, Poland, for a week
MOVIE THEATERS
AMC Theatres is reducing auditorium capacity to at least 50% starting March 14
American Cinematheque has suspended all screenings and public events at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
As of March 12, cinemas are closed in markets including China, Italy and northern France (see below) along with the Czech Republic, Iran, Poland, India, Lebanon, Norway, Denmark, Greece and Kuwait. Saudi Arabia is also said to be closing cinemas, and there are partial closures in effect in South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong.
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
THEME PARKS/MUSEUMS
All Six Flags parks, including Magic Mountain north of Los Angeles and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA, are closing until at least March 31.
Universal Studios Hollywood will close March 14 through at least March 28. Universal CityWalk remains open for now.
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in Anaheim will close March 14 through March 31. Disney Cruises also has halted.
SeaWorld San Diego will be closed from March 16 until at least March 31.
Shanghai Disney Resort closed Shanghai Disneyland, Disneytown including Walt Disney Grand Theatre and Wishing Star Park, on January 25. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are closing from February 29-March 15, operator The Oriental Land Co. confirmed
Universal Studios Japan will be closed until at least March 22.
In Los Angeles, the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Broad Museum, the Getty Center, Getty Villa, Natural History Museum, La Brea Tar Pits Museum and the William S. Hart Museumare closing until further notice.
The Battleship Iowa Museum in San Pedro, CA, is closed until at least March 28
In New York, the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s three locations, American Museum of Natural History, the Guggenheim, Brooklyn Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Museum of the City of New York, the Jewish Museum and American Folk Art Museum in New York are closed.
Brooklyn Academy of Music has suspended all live events through March 29; BAM Rose Cinemas will operate at 50% capacity.
CONCERTS
Among countless regional and national cancellations and postponements, Live Nation and AEG have teamed with CAA, WME, Paradigm, and UTA to created a global task force, which reportedly has recommended canceling all tours.
Country singer Kenny Chesney has postponed the start of his Chillaxification 2020 Tour, which now will start April 18 in Dallas.
The Comedy Store in West Hollywood has suspended all performances through March 31. The Laugh Factory in Hollywood i eliminating some shows and limited its audience sizes to 200 for others.
Hard rock band Rage Against the Machine has postponed the first leg of its reunion tour, which was set for March 26-May 20. Its July and August dates are not affected.
The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville has postponed all shows from March 13-April 4.
Rock band Third Eye Blind has rescheduled its U.S. tour, which now will resume May 31 at the Wiltern in Los Angeles.
Country singer Sturgill Simpson has canceled or rescheduled multiple shows on his A Good Look’n Tour, which will resume April 20 in Omaha, NE.
Celtic punk act Flogging Molly has postponed its annual run of shows timed to St. Patrick’s Day from March 12-17.
Colombian singer Maluma has postponed his 11:11 shows in Europe.
New York’s Carnegie Hall has canceled all events through March 31.
Billy Joel‘s shows set for March 19 and April 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York have been postponed to September 26 and October 11, respectively.
Santana has canceled the European leg of its Miraculous World Tour, which was set for 13 countries from March 14-April 5
Country act Zac Brown Band has postponed the spring leg of its The Owl Tour, which was set to kick off on March 12. No new dates were announced.
Country duo Dan + Shay have rescheduled the spring leg of their The (Arena) Tour for summer for fall, with new dates running from July 30-October 31.
Carol Burnett: Laughter & Reflection, a Q&A session scheduled for March 14 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, has been postponed until October 10.
Seattle-based Pearl Jam has postponed the scheduled 17-date first leg of its PJ/Gigaton tour, with current tickets to be honored on the new dates to be determined. The rock band was scheduled to kick off its North American dates March 18 in Toronto; its next date as of now is June 23 in Frankfurt, Germany.
K-pop stars BTS canceled April dates in its hometown of Seoul, South Korea, as have other K-pop groups NCT, GOT7 and Winner
Green Day postponed March dates in Asia (Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong) for its current Hella Mega Tour
Korea Times Music Festival‘s April 25 date at the Hollywood Bowl is postponed
Hard rock band Buckcherry has postponed its March 20, March 21 and March 27 shows at the The Rose in Pasadena, the Canyon Santa Clarita and The Canyon Montclair, respectively. No new dates were announced.
Aaron Neville‘s concerts set for March 13 at the Rose in Pasadena and March 14 at the Canyon Agoura, have been rescheduled for September 12 at the Canyon Montclair and Spetember 11 at the Canyon, respectively.
Comic Sinbad has postponed his March 13 show at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.
LIVE THEATER
Broadway is going dark, effective Thursday. All 31 productions will shut down through April 12, and eight shows set to begin previews over the next month will be postponed.
The Groundlings has said on March 12 it is canceling all shows scheduled through March 31 at its West Hollywood theater.
All public performances at Lincoln Center have been canceled at least through March.. That includes the Lincoln Center Theater’s upcoming Broadway production Flying Over Sunset, the Off Broadway production of Intimate Apparel, Film at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., has canceled all public performances from March 13-31.
The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood has suspended its Hamilton performances set for Thursday through March 31.
Elsewhere in the Los Angeles area, performances of The SpongeBob Musical at the Dolby Theatre from Match 24-31 have been cenceled. Center Theatre Group has scrubbed performances of The Book of Mormon, The Antipodes and Block Party at the Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre. The Music Center has canceled all performances at the Ahmanson Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall, including the REDCAT theater. LA Opera has canceled Saturday’s performance of Roberto Devereux. Cal State Northridge has canceled all performances at The Soraya from March 12 through April 17. The Pasadena Conservatory of Music has canceled all performances through April 5.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella: The world premiere production of Lloyd Webber’s new musical, originally set to begin performances on August 28 at London’s Gillian Lynne Theatre, has been postponed, and will now preview on October 9, with opening night October 28.
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