AMC Theatres have announced that they will be closed for at least the next eight to twelve weeks. This comes after Regal Cinemas announced they were also closing their doors. Last weekend’s domestic box office was the worst it has been since 2001. As theaters try to limit the people coming in, the more people want to come in and see movies, it seems. As the coronavirus continues to spread, businesses across the United States are starting to close down.
Bars, Casinos, Restaurants, movie theaters, and gyms are just a few places that the government is closing down to protect us from spreading Coronavirus. Local government has taken it upon themselves to close buildings down out of fear of coronavirus spreading. To keep up, Tuesday, March 17th, all 630 AMC locations in the country will close for at least six to twelve weeks, “in compliance with local, state and federal directives, and as a precaution to help ensure the health and safety of moviegoers and their theatre staff.” This is huge news as the Covid-19 continues to spread.
In response to theaters closing, Disney and Universal have taken matters in to their own hands. Disney has already released Frozen 2 for their new streaming platform, a full three months before it was set to premiere. Disney and Lucasfilm also released The Rise of Skywalker digitally a few day earlier to allow people who are staying indoors to have a little bit better of a time. Netflix has yet to move any release dates up, as of this writing, giving Disney+ a clear lead spot when it comes to the quarantine streaming wars.
With movie theaters closing down all over North America, Universal Pictures may have won the battle. The Hunt, The Invisible Man, and Emma will all be available for rent by this Friday, even as the movies are supposed to be screened in theaters. Viewers can rent the movies for 48 hours for $19.99. This is huge news for the entertainment industry. Trolls 2 will be available on April 10th, which is the same day that the movie hits theaters. Some may see this as the fall of the movie industry while others will see this as trying to adapt and overcome.
Whatever the case may be, movie theaters across the United States are closing down. Disneyland and Disney World are shut down. The message is loud and clear: Stay in your homes. Disney is going out of their way to make the coronavirus doesn’t spread and so is Universal Pictures. For now, it’s all a matter of how audiences take these measures. In order for this to go away semi-quickly, we need people to stay at home and avoid any kind of party that has more than 50 people in attendance. It’s going to be hard, but it’s something that needs to happen.
