Keen moviegoers will have to satisfy themselves with films they can stream at home, as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti have ordered all cinemas to close in the two bustling cities, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
This move will include New York’s AMC Empire, the top grossing cinema in the USA, as well as venues such as nightclubs and concert venues in New York, and gyms, bars, and arcades in Los Angeles.
The closures will officially come into effect as of 9 AM on March 17, but even prior to this announcement attendance at cinemas was at a historic low. The collective box office for this weekend in the US was just $55.3 million, the lowest it’s been since 1998.
The film industry has planned for this drop to a certain extent, delaying the release of big ticket films such as No Time To Die, with others such as Mulan and Onward facing delays for the Chinese market.
However with production halted on highly anticipated titles like the next Mission Impossible, and the Lord of the Rings TV show, the coronavirus outbreak could mean huge losses for the entertainment industry.
Disney has been proactive in its response, with both Rise of Skywalker and Frozen 2 getting early home releases. Films currently in cinemas may yet move to online distribution to try and make up for the loss in box office income.
