Disney analyst Doug Creutz is expecting movie theaters to be closed up until mid-2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
When the coronavirus began to spread throughout and out of China, it forced many to fundamentally change the way they do business. The movie industry was all but shut down by the pandemic, with productions halting, movie theaters closing down, with just about every film being released in 2020 either pushing back its release date or releasing on an alternative home method. Disney, in particular, was hit hard on this, with several high profile films set be released throughout the spring and summer and its Disney Land and Disney World theme parks shutting down due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, it seems that the situation will get a lot worse before it gets better for the movie industry.
Since the United States began to reopen, coronavirus cases began to skyrocket, eventually leading the world in the confirmed number of cases. Theaters were originally expecting to reopen by mid-summer in time for the release date of Warner Bros’ Tenet but this will more than likely no longer be the case. When looking at the state of Disney, Cowen’s Doug Creutz stated that they were not expecting the company to release any new films in theaters until at least mid-2021 due to the ongoing situation with the coronavirus:
“We now expect domestic theaters to be largely closed until mid-2021, in part because we don’t think studios will be interested in releasing their largest movies into a capacity-constrained footprint.”
What do you all make of this analysis? Do you think movie theaters will be shut down until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic? Were you looking forward to Disney’s new films? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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