Even the hottest summer in Australia hasn’t done much in controlling the spread of the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak. Unfortunately, it looks like the showbiz is the first to abruptly come to a halt.
As of Friday, PursueNews has learnt that all film production in Australia has been stopped due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. It is likely that this could result in a large unemployment issue among crew members and production staff in the film industry.
Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis movie delayed indefinitely for now?
The recently wrapped up project, Mortal Kombat reboot seems to be one of the last titles to complete production before the outbreak.
A report from THR examining the impact on Hollywood points out that most production employees are gig workers and aren’t employed full time to be eligible for healthcare. Moreover, the pausing and suspension of film and television projects have led to an industry slowdown affecting Hollywood’s freelancer and below-the-line employees.
More than 100,000 entertainment jobs affected
According to Variety, over 120,000 below-the-line entertainment-related industry jobs have been lost due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The latest movie project to be postponed in Gold Coast Studios was Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis movie. Production on the movie was expected to resume in two weeks after Tom Hanks’ recovery. But it seems uncertain at the moment.
In any case, celebrities have already begun to self- isolate themselves and follow social distancing according to the C.D.C recommendations in the U.S. Few stars such as Idris Elba, Kristofer Hivju and others have been tested positive for COVID-19 and have remained in self-quarantine.
Over 70,000 theaters in the U.S. and China have also been shut down leading to several recently released titles to hit video on demand.
The death toll continues to rise in Australia as the city prepares for the Coronavirus pandemic. Movie projects could resume filming if the situation slows down in the following weeks.
PursueNews has reached out to Queensland Premier for a comment. Stay tuned for more updates.
