From conventions to cinema, the coronavirus has forced cancellations and delays of major events and releases. 

Conventions such as South by Southwest were forced to cancel this year’s convention after their main sponsor, Amazon, pulled out due to coronavirus fears. In its almost 50 year history, San Diego Comic Con was forced to cancel due to the large gathering it would have drawn. SDCC has since offered refunds or to transfer the money spent on tickets and badges to the 2021 convention. In addition, more contemporary and newer conventions such as VidCon have also been canceled for 2020 and postponed until 2021. 

Major film festivals in Munich, Cannes and Montreal have all been canceled. 

Most premium streaming services such as Apple TV+, Netflix, Disney+, and HBO have halted production on new seasons of their series. The highly anticipated Friends reunion on HBO MAX will not be available when the platform launches next month. The release of Disney+ in India has been postponed indefinitely due to the postponement of the Indian Cricket season. 

Movie releases have been changed in order to accommodate the current state of the world. Disney is pushing its new movie Artemis Fowl straight through to Disney+ and forgoing a theatrical release. Dreamworks has done the same with its new iteration in its Trolls series by making it immediately available for home viewing. Many movies however have opted to simply change release dates. Doing so increases competition. The new James Bond movie, No Time to Die and Godzilla vs. Kong will now compete in November 2020. Many of Marvel’s new movies have had their dates and production pushed back in order to ensure the safety of their cast and crew. DC has done the same, postponing the release of the new Wonder Woman movie and halting production on the new Batman movies starring Robert Pattinson in the titular role. 

While the world may currently be on pause, the rest of 2020 and 2021 are shaping up to be big for the entertainment industry as they recuperate from the effects of this pandemic.