Coronavirus: Disney halts production on ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘The Last Duel’ and other films

Team Udayavani, Mar 14, 2020, 2:09 PM IST

Los Angeles: Disney Studio has suspended production on its live-action movies — “The Little Mermaid”, “Home Alone”, “The Last Duel”, “Nightmare Alley”, and “Peter Pan & Wendy” and “Shrunk” — amid coronavirus outbreak.

The move was just a precaution and no one has been effected on any sets by the coronavirus, the studio said in a statement to Variety.

“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. We will continue to assess the situation and restart as soon as feasible,” the statement read.

Production of the Marvel Studios project “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” had already come to a halt in Australia due to fears of the COVID-19 virus spread.

Disney also closed Disneyland and California Adventure beginning Saturday. Disney World in Orlando will not be open for visitors next week. The studio also postponed the March 27 release of its much-anticipated “Mulan” live-action remake.

The novel coronavirus originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year and has killed over 5,000 people and infected more than 134,000 globally. China remains the worst-hit with 3,189 deaths and 80,824 confirmed cases of infection.

The WHO described the outbreak as a pandemic on Wednesday.