When the global pandemic swept across the entire Earth earlier this year, film productions came to a halt. The idea of putting numerous workers in one space couldn’t keep up with social distancing guidelines. In today’s climate, there are parts of the world getting back to work, though some parts that are still quite deep in the lockdown phase.
When it comes to movies, production depends on location. For many movies shooting in places where COVID-19 is a bit more under control (unlike the United States), production is becoming reinstated.
For Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, production has started back up in Australia!
According to 7News from Sydney, Australia, the entire cast and crew have come back to the country, and they are confirmed for the restarting of production. Though they haven’t released any information on how long it will be, the production managers have noted that there will be a required quarantine period.
In most cases, two weeks is the standard for quarantine. Once the cast and crew are cleared up for release, they may begin shooting again.
Unfortunately, the movie is sitting 18 weeks behind the shooting schedule due to the recent lockdown.
Compared to many other productions out there, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ceased production quite early. The production came to a halt after Destin Daniel Cretton, the movie’s director was put into quarantine before testing for COVID-19.
Luckily, Cretton’s test came back negative, though Disney decided to take precautions and shut down film productions anyway. Just over a month ago, Disney said that they would begin work at the end of July. They initially expected to start production back up in the final few days of the month, though they are now starting up in the first few days of August, making the production, more or less, right on schedule.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was initially set to release in February of 2021, though now has a planned release of May 7. In fact, the entirety of the Marvel Universe had to hold back a few months, as movies began to take the release dates of the ones coming after them.
Black Widow is now set to release in November, though it originally had a May release date.
Australians, for the most part, have been able to contain COVID-19, meaning getting back to w0rk is now safe. The same thing goes for the cast and crew of the Avatar sequels, which have been shooting in New Zealand for the past few weeks. Even though they’ve been on for a few weeks, they are still well behind schedule.
Avatar 2 was originally set for a December 2021 release, though will not open until 2022.
Hollywood is finally starting back up again, though the question of whether or not theaters will be open by the end of this year is still up in the air. Studios currently believe that theaters will open back up by September, though we will just have to wait and see.
