The Walt Disney Co. is reportedly suspending production on a slew of high-profile movie productions, including the live-action The Little Mermaid, amid the global coronavirus pandemic. The production hiatus is also affecting new films directed by Guillermo del Toro and Ridley Scott, as well as a reboot of Home Alone.
Disney hit the brakes on The Little Mermaid just nine days before shooting on the big-budget movie was set to begin in London, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Directed by Rob Marshall, the movie expected to mix live actors with computer animation in a re-telling of the Hans Christian Andersen story.
A Disney spokesman said the studio decided to halt the projects even though no confirmed cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed on the movie productions.
“While there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 on our productions, after considering the current environment and the best interests of our cast and crew, we have made the decision to pause production on some of our live-action films for a short time,” the spokesman told the Reporter and Deadline in a statement. “We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible.”
Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett, is also suspending production. The Searchlight movie had been shooting in the Toronto area. Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, which reunites Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, is also closing down temporarily. The period movie was preparing to shoot in Ireland, according to Deadline.
Among the other affected productions are Disney’s reboot of Home Alone, which reportedly had been set to film in the Montreal area, and Shrunk, a sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which was in pre-production.
On Thursday, Disney delayed the release of its live-action Mulan to an unspecified future date. The Marvel superhero movie Black Widow is still officially set to open on May 1.
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