Disney is pressing pause on its live-action feature productions due to the coronavirus pandemic. The movies affected include those that were days from starting and those already underway.
The live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, which was nine days away from shooting in London, is among the big productions being delayed.
Peter Pan & Wendy as well as Shrunk, a sequel to 1980s classic Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, both in pre-production, are also delayed.
The movies in production shutting down include Home Alone, Ridley Scott’s period drama The Last Duel and Guillermo del Toro’s thriller Nightmare Alley, being made for Searchlight. Production on Marvel’s Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings was already halted after director Destin Daniel Cretton self-isolated.
“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,” said a Disney spokesperson in a statement. “We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible.”
The move comes one day after Disney delayed upcoming releases Mulan (March 27), as well as New Mutants (April 3 via 20th Century Studios) and the Guillermo del Toro-produced Antlers (April 17 via Searchlight Pictures). The studio also has Black Widow (May 1) and Artemis Fowl (May 29) still on the calendar.
