Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema - Movie reviews and ratings by MoviesCom

This article is about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema. For films directly affected by the pandemic, see List of films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the film industry in 2020, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Across the world and to varying degrees, cinemas and movie theaters have been closed, festivals have been cancelled or postponed, and film releases have been moved to future dates or delayed indefinitely. Due to cinemas and movie theaters closing, the global box office has dropped by billions of dollars, and streaming has become more popular, while the stock of film exhibitors has also dropped dramatically. Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released between March and November have been postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also halted.

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The Chinese film industry had lost US$2 billion by March 2020, having closed all its cinemas during the Lunar New Year period that sustains the industry across Asia.[1] North America saw its lowest box office weekend since 1998 between March 13–15.[2] Cineworld, the world's second-largest cinema chain, closed its cinemas in October 2020.

In early March 2020, it was predicted that the global box office could lose US$5 billion as a result of the pandemic.[3][4]

Countries that are pandemic hot-spots have closed or restricted cinemas and movie theaters, negatively affecting film revenue. Attendance has also been lower in other regions. Following the pandemic in mainland China, 70,000 cinemas were closed in January 2020. In the first two months of 2020, China's box office was down to US$3.9 million, compared to US$2.148 billion in the first two months of 2019.[1] Later, as a result of the pandemic in Italy, on March 8, 2020 the Italian government ordered all cinemas to be closed, for up to a month. Before the closure, box office tracking estimated a 94% drop for the weekend of March 6–8 compared to the same period the previous year.[5] Because of the growing pandemic in France, cinemas are operating at half capacity, leaving strategic seats unavailable to reduce proximity in the screens,[6] a move followed days later by the Irish and Northern Irish cinema chain Omniplex Cinemas.[7] On March 12, Qatar also closed all cinemas,[8] as did the US on March 17, Malaysia and Thailand on March 18,[9] the UK on March 20, Australia and New Zealand on March 22, and Singapore on March 27.[10] After a state of emergency was declared in Tokyo and six other prefectures in Japan on April 7,[11] over 220 cinemas were closed.[12][13][14]

Percentage box office losses (outside of mainland China) for January to March 3, 2020 are: 70–75% in Italy, 60% in South Korea, 35% in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Singapore, and 30% in Taiwan.[15] The Los Angeles box office, a key movie market and local economic backbone, was projected to fall by 20% in April 2020 compared to its 2019 figures, based on the state of emergency declared in the county at the start of March 2020.[15] Despite the state of emergency, as single screens within movie theaters do not hold more than 1,000 people, they were granted an exemption from the ban on mass public gatherings in California. A National Association of Theatre Owners representative for California and Nevada announced that theaters would stay open; historically, movie theaters have remained open during other similar emergencies.[16] However, a survey of Americans over the opening March weekend showed support for closing movie theaters.[6] On March 15, Deadline reported that over 100 movie theaters in the US had closed, some due to local rulings and others because of an inability to keep them open with no demand;[2] on March 17, with national restrictions to social gatherings, cinemas across the United States closed.[9] However, drive-in theaters, where customers stay in their own cars, were not closed, and quickly grew in popularity again.[17]

The sign on the door of a closed Regal movie theater in New York City, March 2020; Regal Cinemas would reopen most of their theaters on August 21, before re-closing them on October 8.
The opening March weekend saw a dramatically lower box office than the same weekend in 2019. The 2019 opening March weekend saw the release of Captain Marvel, which alone earned over US$153 million domestically that weekend, compared to the 2020 weekend's biggest film, Onward, with around US$39 million.[18][19] The next weekend saw the lowest total US box office intake since the October 30–November 1, 1998 weekend, with lower percentage drops than the weekend after 9/11, at US$55.3 million.[2] Onward itself saw the biggest weekend-to-weekend drop of any Pixar film, making $10.5 million, though was still the weekend's biggest film and the only one to make over $10 million.[2] On March 19, Walt Disney Studios and Universal Pictures announced that they would no longer report box office figures.[20] Comscore therefore announced the next day that it would indefinitely suspend its reporting of box office estimates and charts.[21]

On March 26, after local transmission of the virus had dropped to 0% in China, movie theaters there began to re-open, with reports that 250–500 theaters were opening, but the next day authorities again closed all movie theaters in the country.[22][23]

Scheduling
Awards
Two award ceremonies were held after the coronavirus became widespread: the 45th César Awards on February 28, and the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize on March 6. The Japanese Academy Prize ceremony went ahead on March 6. However, the ceremony was conducted without any guests or journalists.[24] The 14th Seiyu Awards cancelled its live ceremony scheduled for March 7 in Tokyo and instead broadcast the winners on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting's internet radio program.[25] The 40th Golden Raspberry Awards were initially intended to take place as planned on March 14.[26] However, it was ultimately cancelled. The ceremony's winners were announced on their YouTube channel on March 16.[27]

The International Indian Film Academy Awards, planned to take place on March 27, was canceled,[4] while the Italian Academy's David di Donatello ceremony has been postponed from April 3 to May 8.[28] The American Film Institute's lifetime achievement ceremony to honor Julie Andrews was pushed back from April to the summer.[29] The 2020 Platino Awards were also postponed.[30]

The Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards modified their eligibility criteria for their 2021 editions, as they usually require that a film be screened theatrically for a minimum length of time. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association mentioned that films released via non-theatrical means (such as digital) would be eligible if they were scheduled to have a "bona fide theatrical release" in Los Angeles after March 15 (with a cutoff date to be determined).[31][32][33] The Best Foreign Language Film award will similarly offer eligibility for films originally scheduled for a theatrical release in their country of origin between March 15 and a date to be determined.[34] The 93rd Academy Awards will similarly allow films released via password-protected or transactional video on demand to be eligible if they were originally scheduled to have a theatrical release. Once cinemas have sufficiently resumed operations, the requirement that a film be screened for at least a week will be reinstated. In addition to Los Angeles, eligible screenings will also be allowed to take place in one of five other major U.S. cities.[35][36]

On June 15, it was announced that the Academy Awards would be pushed back by two months from February 28 to April 25, so that the cutoff for eligibility could likewise be extended from December 31, 2020 to February 28. The Academy Governors Awards and Scientific and Technical Awards have been postponed indefinitely. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) subsequently announced that it would follow suit and postpone the 74th British Academy Film Awards to April.[37] On June 22, the Golden Globe Awards were also delayed from early-January to February 28, 2021 (filling the Academy Awards' former date).[38]

In Canada, the pandemic shutdown forced the cancellation of both the 8th Canadian Screen Awards[39] and the 22nd Quebec Cinema Awards.[40] Both programs ultimately announced their winners through virtual livestreaming, the Canadian Screen Awards presenting film winners on May 28,[41] and the Quebec Cinema Awards presented on June 10.[42] As of August 2020, neither the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television nor Québec Cinéma have announced their plans for the 2021 ceremonies.