Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 13 March 2020
'Quiet Place 2' delayed, as Hollywood braces for shut down

Hollywood braces for shut- festivals scuttled and live every show and the indus-
down, clearing release cal- audiences eliminated from try is dependent on tourism.
endar television shows. After extensive cleaning,
To accommodate calls Thursday nights show are to
By JAKE COYLE for social distancing, Holly- go on. The announcement
AP Film Writer wood moved to pause the Wednesday evening, while
NEW YORK (AP) — The en- normal hum of TV produc- President Donald Trump
tertainment industry, a busi- tions and the bustle of red- addressed the nation, that
ness predicated on draw- carpet movie premieres. Tom Hanks and his wife Rita
ing crowds in theaters, The upcoming releases of Wilson had tested positive
cinemas and concert ven- "A Quiet Place 2" and the for coronavirus sent shud-
ues, braced Thursday for latest "Fast & Furious" mov- ders through the industry.
a potential shutdown from ie, "F9," joined the many Hanks was easily the most
the coronavirus as upcom- postponements. famous person yet to pub-
ing movies were canceled, The dawning awareness licly announce that he had
Emily Blunt and John Krasinski attend the world premiere of the virus. He was in Austra-
Paramount Pictures' "A Quiet Place Part II" at Jazz at Lincoln lia to shoot an Elvis Presley
Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall on Sunday, March 8, 2020, in New biopic that Warner Bros.
York said would halt production.
Associated Press "Not much more to it than a
of the virus' reach had al- Pictures would not open one-day-a-time approach,
ready forced the cancella- next week as planned but no?" Hanks said of their
tion or postponement of all be postponed to as yet- condition.
major imminent events on announced date. Universal On Thursday, "Jimmy Kim-
the calendar, including the Pictures also announced mel Live!" and "The Late
sprawling South by South- that "F9" won't open May Show With James Corden"
west conference and fes- 22 as planned but in April joined other late-night talk
tival in Austin, Texas; Holly- next year. shows in announcing they
wood's annual movie expo "One of the things I'm most will tape without audienc-
CinemaCon, in Las Vegas; proud of is that people es. That followed similar
this month's Kids Choice have said our movie is one decisions by CBS' "The Late
Awards in Los Angeles; the you have to see together," Show With Stephen Col-
sunny California music fes- Krasinksi said in a message bert," NBC's "Tonight Show"
tival Coachella, which was on social media. "Well due and "Late Night With Seth
put off until October; and to the ever-changing cir- Meyers," Comedy Central's
big television events like cumstances of what's go- "The Daily Show with Trevor
the NBA season, which was ing on in the world around Noah," HBO's "Last Week
put on hiatus Wednesday us, now is clearly not the Tonight with John Oliver
after a player tested posi- right time to do that." and TBS' "Full Frontal with
tive for the virus. Paramount also shuffled Samantha Bee."
On Thursday, California and the release of "Lovebirds" CBS also said that produc-
some states urged bans of and "Blue Story." Few ma- tion on the next season of
not just the largest events jor releases remain in the "Survivor" was being post-
but also gatherings of more coming weeks, with the no- poned. "Jeopardy!" and
than 250 to help stymie the table exception of the Walt "Wheel of Fortune" have
virus' spread. That brought Disney Co.'s "Mulan." It's set also halted tapings with au-
a new focus on Broadway, for March 27 in the U.S. A diences.
multiplexes and smaller spokesperson for Disney did The closures, postpones
concert venues. not immediately comment and hiatuses are likely to
California Governor Gavin Thursday. Also Thursday, be enormously costly. The
Newsom recommended the TCM Classic Film festival shuttering of Chinese mov-
the cancellation or post- scheduled next month in ie theaters — the world's
ponement of gatherings Los Angeles was canceled second-largest movie mar-
of 250 or more people due to coronavirus con- ket has been closed for
through at least the end of cerns. Canada's top mu- more than a month — has
the month. sic awards show was also already led to the loss of
Hollywood still planned to called off as a precaution more than $1 billion in tick-
usher in several new movie due to the pandemic. The et revenue. Last year, glob-
releases to theaters begin- Juno Awards were sched- al box office sales reached
ning Thursday evening. uled for Sunday in Saska- a new high of $42.2 billion.
North American's larg- toon, Saskatchewan. For most people, the new
est chains, AMC and Re- A part-time usher and se- coronavirus causes only
gal, did not immediately curity guard who worked mild or moderate symp-
respond to emails Thurs- at two Broadway theaters toms, such as fever and
day. Cinemas have been in recent days tested posi- cough. For some, especial-
closed in China, India, Italy, tive for COVID-19 and is un- ly older adults and people
Poland, Greece and other der quarantine. Broadway with existing health prob-
countries. is particularly vulnerable to lems, it can cause more se-
John Krasinski, writer and di- the coronavirus because vere illness, including pneu-
rector of "A Quiet Place 2," its audience skews older, monia. The vast majority
announced Thursday that thousands of people are of people recover within a
his film from Paramount packed into small seats for few weeks.q