If Jurassic Park's John "Spared No Expense" Hammond taught us anything, it's that money isn't more important than lives. (But also, invest in the GOOD ice cream.) Jurassic World: Dominion, the third movie in the Jurassic World franchise, just started filming but the worldwide coronavirus pandemic is already putting production on hiatus for at least a couple of weeks. The movie joins many others out there in pressing pause for safety, at the cost of a lot of money.
Universal shared a statement that it was halting production on live-action features including Jurassic World: Dominion, the boxing movie Flint Strong, and Billy Eichner's new comedy.
Universal Pictures’ live-action feature productions will ramp down and go on hiatus beginning this weekend. The studio continues to monitor the situation closely and will make a determination on when to restart production in the coming weeks.
Disney made a similar move -- although, interestingly enough, at the moment it sounds like Warner Bros. isn't following suit. At any rate, how much is this going to cost studios? THR had a lengthy report on costs, estimating the global box office has already take a hit of $7 billion from the coronavirus and $10 billion more could be added if the rest of March, April, and May are included.
Several movies have delayed their release dates, from Mulan and A Quiet Place: Part II this month to No Time to Die shifting away from April 2020 and F9 moving a full year away from May. So far, Marvel's Black Widow seems to be holding strong with its May 1, 2020 release date, but we'll see.
While many films changed release dates to try and make box office money after the pandemic -- considering international box office is massive for tentpole films -- other movies like Jurassic World: Dominion have stopped the process of making new movies.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the live-action Little Mermaid are among the movies to stop production, and a source told THR that a shutdown on movies of that size could cost $300,000-$350,000 a day. If that's the case, you have to imagine the numbers are roughly the same for Jurassic World: Dominion.
It's not clear how much of the loss might be covered by insurance. And despite these productions grinding to a halt, one producer noted to THR that you still need to keep department heads and some others on staff through the hiatus. The logistics must be a nightmare.
Jurassic World: Dominion just started filming in late February 2020, and that's when director Colin Trevorrow revealed the awesome title of Jurassic World 3. The movie has already filmed in some gorgeous locations but now it has to step back for a little while. Hopefully the break won't be long enough for Bryce Dallas Howard to have to change Claire's bangin' new look for the movie.
Jurassic World: Dominion -- starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and several Jurassic Park OGs -- is currently scheduled for release on June 11, 2021. But the movie calendar for the next couple of years will be shifting in big and small ways thanks but no thanks to that asshole COVID-19.
This list will need serious updating as we move forward, but do your best to keep up with everything heading to the big screen this year with our 2020 movie release date schedule.
