The impact of COVID-19 has been massive in the film industry around the whole world. All the film industries across the globe are facing the consequences of COVID-19 hugely. The film industry has faced billions and billions of financial losses. All the multiplexes and cinema halls have been locked down, and there has been no profit in the market sector. The film festivals had to be canceled. Many of the dates of the film festivals have been delayed. All the films which were supposed to release in this timeframe have extended the time of release. The complete lockdown of the entertainment industry, due to COVID-19 has majorly affected the box office profit. The places to face severe financial losses at the box office are North America, China, India, South Korea, Italy, Japan, Middle East, U.K., and many others.

Present Scenario at the Box Office

Most parts of the world that have been severely affected have entirely shut off the entertainment industry. They have closed down the shopping malls and movie complexes. Hence, it has changed the box office tremendously. China, America, Italy have been facing significant drawbacks in their box office estimations. Though the box office had already calculated substantial financial loss as soon as COVID-19 started spreading in China, it hardly estimated the significant loss it would suffer across the world.

Italy, China, the USA, Qatar, Thailand, Australia, U.K., Malaysia, and New Zealand have closed down all the movie theatres, and there have been no film releases since then. Afterward, France and Ireland decided on reducing the seating capacity at every movie theatre to half of its original percentage. Japan has closed down over 200 movie theatres after the spread of COVID-19.

Box Office has faced significant financial loss from the beginning of the year. As they have estimated, they have suffered around 30% loss in Taiwan, 35% loss in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, 60% loss in South Korea, and about 72% loss in Italy. In March, the box office faced higher financial losses. Though China had reopened their cinema halls and movie theatres at that time, the government had to close them down again, to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The Chinese film industry has suffered a significant loss due to the outbreak of COVID-19. They had strictly closed down all the movie theatres and cinema halls. The primary reason behind their massive decline in the Chinese film industry is the Lunar New Year. Every year, at the time of Lunar New Year, the Chinese box office made a huge success. But, this year, they suffered a significant loss, which was unprecedented for them. They have closed down film studios like Xiangshan Global Studios and Hengdian World Studios. Hence no production work is going on at the moment. The film releases have been postponed, and there has been no work progress since. 

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Japan has entirely locked down all the movie theatres and cinema halls. Many film festivals have been canceled like the Osaka Asian Film Festival. They have canceled the festival and have arranged to give refunds to the tickets which were bought by the people, in advance. Other small festivals like Kitakan Film Festival, the AnimeJapan Festival, and many others were canceled. The only film to have released during this pandemic is Fukushima 50, and it has not able to cross the 1 billion mark at the box office yet though Japan has been planning out various strategies to release films for the people and arrange a way for them to get some peace amidst this crazy pandemonium.

Things have gone pretty rough for the Hollywood film industry as well. After the impact of COVID-19, multiple blockbuster projects got delayed, and all the movie theatres have been closed. Many films that were about to get released like No Time To Die, Mulan and others have been postponed to November. Disney has entirely locked down all the production works of films such as The Little Mermaid, Jurassic World: Dominion, and others. This had hugely affected the pillars of the Hollywood Industry in that many are afraid that Hollywood might not go back to the stage where it stood before COVID-19 took place.

Many film releases have been postponed, and all the movie theatres around India have been locked down. Most of the technicians working in the film industry have no income source. COVID-19 has surely broken down the pillars of the Indian Film Industry. Several Bollywood film releases got postponed like Sooryavanshi, which was expected to make hundreds of crores. Rohit Shetty has to postpone the dates of his film release. Many production houses such as Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions closed down all the ongoing activities and also, any work which was going on in their films. Even the most delayed film of 2020, Brahmastra, got even more delayed due to the pandemic. Some film releases took place at the beginning months of the year. But, things have come to a halt since March. The major film releases as 83, Radhe, and others got postponed. Even Salman Khan had to postpone his film Radhe, which was supposed to release on Eid. Every Indian wait for Salman Khan’s Eid release, but this year, no movies got released. The Indian Film Industry has faced huge losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The major film industries around the world have faced similar consequences of the pandemic. The scenario has been identified across the globe. Every part of the world, may it be in the United States or Canada or France or South Korea or Germany or Australia or Mexico, all have faced the impacts of COVID-19 thoroughly. The productions of significant films have halted, and the technicians have lost work across the world. The box office is facing financial losses in billions. Massive projects have been postponed. Many celebrities have lost their lives, which have inevitably affected the film industry. Like Terrence McNally, Lucia Bose, Mark Blum, Patricia Bosworth, Allen Garfield, and Hilary Heath, many others have lost their lives fighting with coronavirus, which has hugely affected the film industry. The entertainment industry is one of the most popular sectors across the world. People everywhere wait eagerly for the film releases, and the film industry is the one single business sector that never goes without work. Though many films might face failures at the box office, the blockbuster successes always compensate for those. Apart from the film industry, even the television industries across the world have been going through the same loss of money and work. 

The Film Industries as One

Most of the award show and the film festivals got canceled due to the impact of COVID-19. To cope with the present scenario, twenty film industries worldwide have come together to project movies on YouTube for free. This is a worldwide film festival that has united the film industries together. The “We Are One: A Global Film Festival” has been arranged for ten days by film festivals worldwide. The online global film festival is streaming documentaries, comedy shows, music, and films. This is the best step that has been taken by the film industries across the world so that they keep entertaining the people around the globe. The complete lockdown of the entertainment industry has also left a reduced effect on the people. Hence, this is a way to help all of us from the traumatic news we’ve been hearing for months now.

All the film industries are trying to work together to bring smiles on the faces of people. Though they have faced significant losses for the last few months, they are still trying to arrange online festivals and shows for the viewers to stay engaged.