This was probably inevitable after
last night's Shang-Chi announcement, but Disney has now paused production and pre-production on all of its currently and soon-to-begin shooting live-action projects.
These include:
Home Alone, The Last Duel, Nightmare Alley and
The Little Mermaid remake.
Peter Pan & Wendy and
Shrunk, which were in the pre-production phase, have also been shut-down.
"While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our productions, after considering the current environment and the best interests of our cast and crew, we have made the decision to pause production on some of our live-action films for a short time," Disney said in a statement.
"We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible.”
Rob Marshall's live action take on the '80s animated classic was set to commence filming next week in London. The delay is not expected to be substantial, but there's been no timeframe given for cameras to begin rolling again on
Mermaid or any of the above projects.
Will other major studios soon follow suit? Well,
Deadline's report mentions that Sony Pictures is not expected to announce any delays, but it may just be a matter of time. Could Warner Bros.'
The Batman be next? Let's hope not.
In related news,
THR reports that multiple cinema chains across Europe (for now, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Greece) have closed their doors.
We'll keep you guys updated.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.