The film industry and its influence can be found all over the world, from Los Angeles, to Shanghai. On average, movie production generates around $136 billion US dollars globally each year. It has made itself into an important cornerstone in countless communities. However, this year the industry has been put to the test as COVID-19 threatens to change film as we know it. 

The 2020 Coronavirus outbreak has been detrimental to many businesses, and movie theaters are no exception.Prior to the virus, online streaming had already been on the rise, as more and more people were beginning to prefer staying home to watch a movie instead of going out to a theater. 

Now, online streaming has become commonplace. Movie theaters worldwide were forced to close their doors to the public to avoid spreading COVID-19, and it appears many of them won’t be opening again. According to a study done in August of 2020 by global economics expert David Fang, the international box office has already dropped by billions of dollars (estimated about $5.9 billion,) and is expected to drop further in coming months. 

Movie theaters haven’t been the only ones in the movie industry who have been hit hard. Blockbusters originally scheduled to come out in October or November of 2020 have been postponed or canceled, with film production also halted. Carolyn Albert, an avid follower and fan of the movie industry says this about production; “I don’t think they’ll (ongoing movies and shows) look the same at all. It’ll be hard to make everything the same since there’s so many new restrictions on who can act in them, how many people can be on set at once, where they can film, and so on.” 

Release dates and production dates have been forced to move as well. For example, “Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage,” the highly awaited second installment of the Venom series from Marvel. Originally set to be released on October 2nd of 2020, the virus has pushed the release date all the way to June 21st of 2021. “We’re going to be seeing Coronavirus’s impact on release dates for a while,” Carolyn Albert states.

 “There’s going to be movies coming out in four or five years that were supposed to come out this year.” 

The Munich Film Festival was also canceled, it was supposed to happen in June of 2020.