The COVID-19 pandemic has closed all 165 Cineplex theatres in Canada (as well as Landmark Cinemas and Imagine Cinemas.)

In the United States, all AMC and Regal theatres have also closed.

The Los Angeles Times reports that:

“AMC Theatres said it would close all of its U.S. locations, starting Tuesday, for six to 12 weeks in response to the pandemic after President Trump declared that people should avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.”

The moves follow widespread orders to close bars and clubs and other places where people gather to socialize.

My take: although the movie exhibition industry has been in decline for the last decade, it only took one week of this pandemic to kill it. Suddenly VOD is an option for new movies as the 90-day theatre window proves impossible. People will be streaming everything for the next two weeks to two months and it’s going to be hard to get them back into the theatres.

In the meantime, here’s something funny to watch:

The latest fallout from COVID-19 and China closing almost all of its 70,000 cinemas in January: 007 has decided it’s No Time to Release its latest instalment, No Time to Die, postponing it from April to Thanksgiving.

Elsewhere, Vulture‘s Chris Lee reports that the total fallout “could result in a loss of at least $5 billion from diminished box-office returns.”

He then quotes David Unger, chief executive of Artist International Group:

“Who wants to go to the theater right now? Do you want to go sit in a room with a bunch of people that are coughing? It’s going to change viewing patterns. It’s going to change behavior. It’s going to change the way people consume entertainment. This is where streaming becomes normalized for the world and it’s going to be disastrous for the entire industry.”

Meanwhile, Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter reports that some film studios had their best year ever last year: “Among key trends for 2019, Disney hit an all-time film profit record that many say may stand for years.”

The Netflix insights are huge:

• 167 million total members
• 61 million U.S. members
• 106 million international members
• 2019 free cash flow losses of $3.1 billion
• Projected 2020 free cash flow losses of $2.5 billion
• $15.3 billion spent on programming in 2019
• CFO Spencer Neumann: “well over 50 percent of our cash spend is on originals.”

My take: COVID-19 has the potential to rewire society completely. Imagine if every cinema had to remove every two out of three seats and every second row. OMG, tickets just became six times more expensive! Is this the push VR has been waiting for?