The coronavirus is slowly creeping its way across the globe. We had better get used to it affecting our everyday lives. Yes, even Disney is going to suffer. Even the thought of the man-made possibly being within the vicinity of a major event is grounds for cancellation. The virus won’t be scaring guests away from parks yet, but it is sending journalists and celebrities home early.
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Deadline is reporting that a planned massive press event for Disney+ European launch has been scrapped. The presser was going to feature presentations from an unspecified list of guests. The attendees supposedly included Disney executives and “creative heads.” It would be fair to assume that this meant the team behind ‘The Mandalorian’ and the upcoming Marvel series like ‘WandaVision’. We’ll never know for sure now. Trust me when I say that press events can lead to something similar to convention flu. So, I’d say this was a wise choice from the Mouse when Disney announced the following:
“Due to a number of media attendee cancellations and increasing concerns at the prospect of traveling internationally at this time, we have decided to cancel our Disney+ launch events scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday.”
The service will premiere for a chunk of Western Europe on March 24th. These areas include England, Scotland, France, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Germany. The Eastern areas of the European landscape will have to wait until the middle of 2020 to gain access. There are still some outstanding questions as to what will and won’t be available via Disney+ in the areas outside of the United States. Deadline touched on this as well, noting that Sky (a subscription television service) may have ‘The Simpsons’ as part of an exclusivity deal for their subscribers.
What are your thoughts on how the coronavirus may affect the entertainment industry or theme parks?
