» CORONAVIRUS AND ENTERTAINMENT

By Charly SHELTON

Amid an abundance of caution, most every entertainment enterprise requiring in-person interaction has been shut down. Theme parks are closed. Movie theaters are closed. Festivals are postponed or canceled. Let’s take a look at the realities and the impacts of what this means for the entertainment industry.

Theme Parks

All major theme parks in America are closed. This includes all Disney parks, Universal Studios parks, SeaWorld/Busch Gardens parks, Cedar Fair parks (like Knott’s Berry Farm), Merlin Entertainments parks (LEGOLAND) and Six Flags parks, among others. Most have stated that their shutdown will last until the end of the month or sometime into the first week of April. Others leave the opening date as unannounced.

This is affecting not only the parks but the areas surrounding them. For instance, according to a study by Cal State Fullerton’s Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting, the Disneyland Resort alone brings in nearly $8.5 billion to the Southern California economy. Over its 18-day shutdown, this equates to a loss of over $400 million, or $23 million a day. This is from tourists, hotel lodgers, diners and various other travel expense services … and that’s before guests even get into the resort.

The resort generates $1.4 million a day in taxes, meaning a loss of more than $25 million in tax dollars during the closure. And this is only during the initial planned shutdown. Since the resort closed on March 14, the Centers for Disease Control has issued guidelines suggesting that all gatherings of more than 50 people be canceled for eight weeks to help stop the spread of COVID-19. That would be a loss for the SoCal economy of $1.28 billion generated by Disneyland alone, if the CDC guidelines are met. No statement has been issued about the eight-week period by Disney or other theme park operators and, as of now, all parks are still planning to open around the end of the month.

Movies

Movies are easier to come by since they can be streamed to the home. While many big titles like “Mulan” and the new James Bond film have been pushed to later release dates, some movies are going ahead with release at home. Universal will be releasing its films currently in theaters and new releases scheduled for April to Video On Demand – VOD – services on the same day-and-date with the theaters, which remain closed in America and many other markets worldwide. Disney has pushed up the VOD release of some of their films, like “Frozen II” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” by several weeks to become available during the shutdown.

Netflix, the old standby, has just released a social streaming feature called Netflix Party that allows users to watch the same film together and have an onscreen chat to allow viewers to interact while remaining in isolation from each other.

Xbox and PlayStation have similar versions to watch movies and play games while having a text or voice chat feature as well.

Movies Anywhere, the purchased digital film aggregation and streaming service, now allows users to share their movies with friends as rentals for free through its Screen Pass feature. Each user has three passes with which one can lend their movies to a friend to watch for a limited time. The feature doesn’t apply to every movie, but about 80% of their catalog is shareable.

Festivals

While initially just postponed, festivals and one-off events are beginning to be fully canceled as time goes on. The CDC guideline will push the festivals from spring to summer, which is infeasible due to weather or scheduling for many events. One notable cancellation is the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, which yesterday announced that its 2020 event will not take place but welcomes visitors in 2021. With events like this and St Patrick’s Day parades, the Met Gala, SXSW, E3 and more being canceled outright, it remains to be seen if they will be able to come back as strong next year after missing the revenue that 2020 would have brought.

Locally

The Ascencia Gala annual fundraiser “Celebrating the Superhero in All of Us” on March 20 has been postponed; no new date has been released. The spring Montrose Wine Walk on April 18 hosted by the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. has been canceled as has the Brew Fest on March 29 that the Montrose Chamber of Commerce had planned. Also canceled is the Hometown Country Fair that the CV Chamber of Commerce had planned for April 18, though the chamber board is looking at alternate dates in the fall. The Pasadena Showcase House of Design has been moved from April to June 7 tentatively.

The historic Alex Theatre in Glendale has canceled all performances due to the COVID-19 but is accepting donations to keep the doors open. To donate visit https://tinyurl.com/wb3vxvz.

  Charly Shelton