Amid all the in-progress financial damage caused by COVID-19, of course, is a potentially massive monetary loss for the Disney team.
Tucked into an update on the entertainment industry's hit from the virus via the Hollywood Reporter is an estimate from sources claiming that Disney could lose as much as $300,000 to $350,000 a day.
"It's not like you can stop on a dime," an unnamed producer explained in the report. "You need to keep department heads going and maybe a level down from there through the hiatus." This figure comes from the fact that Disney has been forced to initiate a pause on multiple productions for an undetermined (albeit expected-to-be "short") period. Among the projects affected by interrupted productions are Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and a live-action Little Mermaid.
Earlier this week, Disney—following similar moves from the teams behind A Quiet Place Part II and F9—announced that the previously planned March release for its live-action update of Mulan would not be moving forward.
Non-theatrical Disney projects have also seen their share of interruptions, including the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, originally slated for an August release date.
And in related Disney+ news, the streaming platform announced Friday that it was making Frozen 2 available three months early so that subscribers could have some "fun and joy" during this perplexing era. Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s animated blockbuster launches Sunday, March 15, followed two days later by the availability of an Ultra HD version for viewers in the U.S.
