The House of Mouse is taking another big hit this week as Disney has chosen to halt production on all of its upcoming live-action projects amidst fears of the global outbreak of the coronavirus, a day after choosing to shut down its California theme parks and delay the releases of The New Mutants, Mulan and Antlers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The films affected by the halt of production includes The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey (Grown-ish) in the titular role, which was supposed to begin production next week in London, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, Home Alone, The Last Duel and Nightmare Alley, as well as Peter Pan & Wendy and Shrunk, which were both in pre-production.
“While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our productions, after considering the current environment and the best interests of our cast and crew, we have made the decision to pause production on some of our live-action films for a short time,” Disney said in a statement. “We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible.”
While many studios have shut down production on many big upcoming projects, including The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Mission: Impossible 7, The Flash season seven and the second season of Apple TV’s The Morning Show, this marks the biggest delay yet from any one studio, with seven films affected by the near out-of-control outbreak of the coronavirus.
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Many major festivals has also been delayed or cancelled due to these fears, including WonderCon, E3, South by Southwest and the 19th Annual Tribecca Film Festival.
