Third World War may have appeared sooner than expected even though countries of the world are not engaging in a physical war. On the contrary, for the first time in history, the whole world is fighting a common enemy- novel coronavirus, a pandemic for which it has found no solution!
The infectious disease which emanated from Wuhan, a city in China, is fast spreading across the whole world, as the number of confirmed cases is on the rise as the day goes by. As of Saturday, March 21, 2020, data from the Johns Hopkins University in the United States put global mortality at over 11,000. There is a total of 284,000 people infected, while some 88,000 have recovered.
Given its global nature, the disease has brought a lot of paralysis to industries from aviation, to finance and even entertainment as world leaders work towards curtailing the spread and finding a cure or vaccine, at least.
eelive.ng ‘DAMILARE FAMUYIWA brings you a report of the effect of Coronavirus on the global entertainment industry indicating that the entertainment industry might lose up to $12bn if this situation goes on until July.
The ripple effect on entertainment
Sporting activities have been suspended. Studio sessions, live shows, concerts, amongst other showbiz activities have been put on hold, at least, till the coronavirus pandemic becomes a history.
Activities at nite clubs, cinemas, cafes, bars, event arenas, museums, and others, have been paralyzed. Across the globe, cities are shutting down, and people are being left without ways of finding distractions. In Nigeria, commercial nerve centre, Lagos, the government announced the closure of clubs and banned gatherings having more than 20 people this weekend.
Unarguably, the mandate of social distancing, which is a proven method of curtailing the spread of the infectious virus, will result to the loss of billions of dollars. Forbes reports that should the shutdown last till July 2020, about $12 billion entertainment revenue will be cut in the United States (US) alone.
There is a possibility that it will be worse as spenders are holding back billions of dollars meant for the creation of new content in films and television production until it becomes safer for casts and crews to get on sets across the world.
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, which currently has 22 cases of the disease, Netlfix has put an indefinite suspension of production on its first original series, whose commission it announced with funfair a couple of weeks back.
This came about the same time the global streaming platform announced the suspension of ongoing productions across the US and Canada. Sources close to the set of the Akin Omotoso directed series told eelive.ng that the suspension was in support of the social distancing counsel given as vital to curtailing the spread of the disease.
This will put top Nigerian cast and crew members including co-directors C.J. Obasi and Daniel Oriahi., co-producer, Kemi Lala-Akindoju and actors, Richard Mofe Damijo, Kate Henshaw, Joke Silva, Bimbo Akintola, and others out of job for a while.
Producers who spoke to eelive.ng also informed that Iroko TV has put many productions on hold for the same reason, a reason for which many filmmakers who were expecting to be mobilised for production now have to wait indefinitely without any assurance of where remuneration would come from. The story is the same with many independent producers, whose investments and now on hold.
A producer, Inem Peters told eelive.ng that she has had to put the shooting of her new film scheduled for the end of March on hold because of the Coronavirus spread.
Ms. Peters explained that this has dire consequences on her investments as “my money is tied down because I have already paid some of the people working with me on the film. I also realised that property owners are no weary of allowing the large crowd of cast and crew to come into the properties, so things are really difficult.”
Nollywood may lose over N2b
Apart from the fact that many producers in Nigeria are currently stuck, cinema houses, which have become huge revenue generation sources for filmmakers are also hit by the fear attending this diseases with the result that revenue in the excess of N2b may be lost in the event that the situation drags on for a few more weeks.
Co-founder, Group Executive Director Filmhouse Cinemas, Moses Babatope told eelive.ng this weekend that the industry is currently in a very dire situation. He explained that the operations of cinemas got the first hit in February when the release of many major Hollywood films were postponed.
His words: “There are two main factors that have affected Nigerian cinemas since February. The first is the postponement of major Hollywood films until later in the year, which reduced the number of film fans attracted by fresh content. The second was the growing fear of COVID-19 in public places that accelerated in March and reduced audience numbers further.
The closure of cinemas affects a whole value chain – from employees and suppliers to distributors and filmmakers. Beyond that, the effect on small retailers and restaurants was noticeable in malls with cinemas being the main anchor.”
Babatope hinted that things are not likely to be the same for the movie industry in Nigeria this year, given that the delay brought about by the pandemic would precipitate a situation where “the schedule will be so crowded that smaller movies might get crowded out by the blockbusters.
Talent manager Efe Omorogbe said of the COVID pandemic, “The effect of the coronavirus on our industry is tremendous. It is even difficult to process. in terms of the numbers.
“But for an industry that is heavily dependent on live events, touring, production work involving a large number of people; everything is grinding to a standstill and the economic effects will be very telling”.
“But the key thing to focus on for now,” he continued, “is to prioritize public health and safety above everything else. When stuff like this happens, everybody pays some kind of price.”
He then emphasized that we not focus on statistics. Omorogbe said, “While it is easy to punch calculators and discuss the economic impact; the primary message should be that people should sanitize, self-distance, and stay safe”.
Selected marred showbiz events
Since the spread of coronavirus started in December 2019, the pandemic has had sweeping effects on individuals in the arts and creatives industries.
Everyone who earns a living from music and film production and distribution has incurred losses running into hundreds of millions of dollars from having been forced to cancel, postpone or suspend release and concert dates that they have planned for months on end!
Some of these events which have been canceled around the globe include:
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Often held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, the annual festival which had been planned in two-weekend installments, April 10 to 12 and April 17 to 19, will hopefully now take place six months later, from Oct. 9 to 11 and Oct. 16 to 18, 2020.
Madonna
With only two shows left on her ‘Madame X’ tour, the music star cancelled the two Paris shows, which were scheduled for March 10 and 11, 2020. Event promoters, Live Nation confirmed the development with claims that the postponement resulted from the French government’s ban on public gatherings of more than 1,000 people to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Madonna’s Madame X Tour was the eleventh concert tour the American singer has embarked on since the start of her musical career. Averaging about 2,000 seats every night, the tour, last year, grossed $9.6 million, as over 31,000 tickets were sold.
Bollywood’s IIFA Awards
The International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), has been postponed due to the threat the coronavirus pandemic poses. A fresh date and plans of hosting the awards are yet-to-be-announced.
Dubbed the Oscars of Bollywood, the award holds annually to expose the razzmatazz of India cinemas to the world. It is among the biggest media events in India, and the most popular yearly entertainment shows, as it attracts millions of people around the world.
Davido’s A Good Time Tour
The Nigerian Afro-pop star has surprisingly canceled his forthcoming scheduled headlines, as his ‘A Good Time’ tour commenced on February 21, 2020. Since the tour started from Edmonton, a city in Canada, Davido has hit places like Canada, Columbia, Las Vegas, amongst others.
The OBO himself canceled the tour, which was to also hit Dallas, a city in Texas, when Davido spread the word via his Instagram page with fans expressing sadness at the cancellation.
Celine Dion’s Courage Tour
While an official explanation is yet-to-be-given, the Canadian-born singer has postponed the remainder of her Courage World Tour. Courage is Dion’s first tour in about ten years even though it is the 14th concert tour of her career.
She planned the concert in support of her English-Language studio album, Courage and had started on September 18, 2019.
The next date on the tour was March 24 in Denver, Colorado, and the trek was to continue through an April 27 date in Winnipeg, California. The tour’s first 19 shows grossed a whooping $32million according to Billboard Boxscore. She was to play in 14 locations between March 24 and April 27, 2020, but there was no specific date for her return to the tour.
Asa
Nigerian soul artiste also canceled her Lucid tour in Europe, and at the same time postponed her stops of the tour in Lagos.
Asa Live in Lagos was to hold at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island area of the state on April 11, 2020. Other stops on the tour included London (March 29, 2020) and Abuja (April 13, 2020).
While she canceled her Europe stops, the artiste, however, promised to announce new dates for her shows in Nigeria.
Alicia Keys
The Grammy Award winner, in compliance with the coronavirus social distancing, postponed her book tour and next album, ALICIA. The tour for her book More Myself: A Journey Memo was to begin from Brooklyn on March 31. But the producers have postponed it till further notice although she will still release the book as scheduled.
Announcing the decision, the artiste tweeted: “Everyone’s health and safety is the #1 priority!” Keys tweeted. “Thank u for ur deep love, I’ll let u know about new dates soon. Stay powerful!”
Cannes Film Festival
The international film festival, which had 12,000 visitors from across the world in 2019 has been postponed indefinitely to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
The organisers said in a statement that this postpone was in deference to the French government’s restriction of gatherings to a maximum of 1000 people.
The event which would have held between May 12 and 23, 2020, will no longer hold, and speculation has it that the showrunners might push it to June or July 2020.
The organiser’s statement assured that “As soon as the development of the French and international health situation will allow us to assess the real possibility, we will make our decision known.
“This will be in accordance with our ongoing consultation with the French Government and Cannes’ City Hall as well as with the Festival’s Board Members, Film industry professionals and all the partners of the event.
“The festival which industry professionals from across the world attend has a $22m budget this year.”
The stalling of financial flow
As stakeholders and world leaders struggle to deal with the ravaging coronavirus crisis, the reality of spending, jobs, and opportunities in the entertainment industry are shrinking.
Nearly every facet of the entertainment industry has received negative effects, as the government limit large gatherings and encourage stay at home for people. Eelive.ng understands that this has led to serious losses and still counting in the industry.
The major impact of the outbreak dates back to January 2020, when cinemas in China, where the disease spread started from, shutdown. A month after, Disney canceled the Chinese premiere of Mulan, which would have held in March. When the disease control worsened, the American entertainment conglomerate canceled the film’s release altogether.
Some weeks ago, sources in Hollywood speculated that the coronavirus pandemic will cost the international film industry as much as $5 billion. At the moment, The Hollywood Reporter put losses at about $7 billion speculating that the industry might lose a total of $20 billion in the long run.
On the music scene, billions of dollars have been lost from promotion, planning, and crystallization of music and live concerts that have been canceled in recent times.
While show promoters, event organizers, musicians, actors, cinemas have suspended their activities, the coronavirus pandemic is having a direct negative impact on ushers, security agents, tickets marketers, amongst others have been stopped from doing business.
Asked to put a cost on what the cinemas might be losing from the situation at hand, he told eelive.ng: “The estimation is about N500m for Feb and March, if it persists through April it will be about N1.2b to N1.5b because big films like James Bond and Disney’s Mulan have moved and some big local content will move.
Those numbers are for the box office alone. Other revenue like popcorn and drinks served in cinema and advertising will be as much as N350m for Feb and March and up to N800m to include April.”
Meanwhile, Netflix has set aside $100 million coronavirus relief funds for out-of-work creatives. The streaming platform says it aims at supporting cast and crew without employment, in response to the productions compelled to stop.
Written by Damilare Famuyiwa