Page 10 - Film Festival Journal + Review Spring/Summer 2020

FILM FESTIVAL JOURNAL + REVIEW

A wave of disruptions to air travel following the coronavirus epidemic has led to an 80% drop in traffic at China’s busiest airports. WSJ ex-
plains why some analysts expect the impact on the global aviation industry could be greater than that of SARS or 9/11.

According to the Chronicle, the losses hit staffers across the board, from those who had been with the company
for just a few months to some who had been with SXSW for more than a decade. The paper said the departing staffers
are being offered severance pay.
Among those confirming via Twitter that they were hit by the cuts was festival publicist Heather Kaplan, who
wrote, “Got laid off today, plz send me your favorite songs/shows/movies to cry to.”
Elements of Austin’s tourism business are also expected to be devastated by the cancellation, which SXSW had said
had an operational impact of $157 million on the local economy last year.
Talking with the Austin Statesman, mayor Steve Adler said, “They told me they fully intend to come back next
year…. They haven’t quite figured out the path yet. But they fully intend to come back.”
In a separate development, Austin city officials, after canceling the festival, also declared that no events with a capaci-
ty of more than 2,500 could proceed unless specifically approved by health issues, under the new disaster declara-
tion. Without a waiver, that could affect events looming as quickly as Tuesday night’s Post Malone concert, set to
take place at the city’s 16,000-capacity Erwin Center. The city has said it will allow events at mid- and large-size ven-
ues to proceed only if “mitigation plans for infectious diseases are in place.”

CinemaCon 2020 was canceled by its organizers due to concern over the rapid spread of coronavirus.
“It is with great regret we are announcing the cancellation of CinemaCon 2020,” said a statement from NATO’s John
Fithian and Mitch Neuhauser.
“Each spring, motion picture exhibitors, distributors and industry partners from around the world meet in Las
Vegas to share information and celebrate the moviegoing experience. This year, due to the travel ban from the Euro-
pean Union, the unique travel difficulties in many other areas of the world and other challenges presented by the
Coronavirus pandemic, a significant portion of the worldwide motion picture community is not able to attend Cine-
maCon. While local outbreaks vary widely in severity, the global circumstances make it impossible for us to mount
the show that our attendees have come to expect. After consultation with our attendees, trade show exhibitors, spon-
sors, and studio presenters, NATO has decided therefore to cancel CinemaCon 2020. We look forward to continuing
the 10-year tradition of presenting the largest movie theater convention in the world and joining our attendees in fu-
ture celebrations of the moviegoing experience,” read the statement.

The annual gathering of global movie theater owners was scheduled to run March 30-April 2 in Las Vegas and
represented one of the few holdouts among mass entertainment industry gatherings to remain on the calendar.
While anxious Hollywood executives watched cancellations mount — SXSW, Coachella — and nations like China
and Italy place populations on lockdown, CinemaCon didn’t budge until Wednesday.
The stance was frustrating for industry insiders, but perhaps understandable. Many sources observed that mov-
ie theater owners could not afford to signal to the American public that it is dangerous to congregate in a theater, as
the convention does each year in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.
Presentations from the likes of Universal, Warner Bros. and Paramount are splashy by design. showing off ex-
clusive footage and trotting out top movie stars to excite the theater owners. Prior to cancellation, all those parties
were planning leaner presentations and, many said, having trouble convincing rattled talent to hop on a private jet
and share the public space of a Las Vegas casino.
Up to the 11th hour, the convention was prepared to offer wellness checks for casino staffers, increased staff in
public restrooms, and individual bottles of hand sanitizer within every convention gift bag. Just hours before the tip-
ping point, MGM Resorts (which does not own Caesars Palace) banned buffet-style eating in its Las Vegas properties.
In the Hollywood ecosystem, CinemaCon has been essential grip-and-grin meet where film companies pledge undy-
ing loyalty to the multiplex, even as all they all devise their own streaming services and order up feature films to lure
digital subscribers.

10 FILM FESTIVAL JOURNAL SUMMER 2020