Director Patty Jenkins has warned that cinemas are facing the threat of extinction as films are delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The filmmaker, whose Wonder Woman sequel has been pushed back three times due to the pandemic, warned that widespread closures could lead to more distributors following in the footsteps of Disney’s Mulan and only releasing films directly on streaming.
“If we shut this down, this will not be a reversible process,” she told Reuters. “We could lose movie theatre-going forever.
“It could be the kind of thing that happened to the music industry, where you could crumble the entire industry by making it something that can't be profitable,” she said.
Jenkins’ comments come after a devastating week for the film industry, with Daniel Craig’s final James Bond film No Time To Die being pushed back again from its November release to April 2021.
Shortly afterwards, Cineworld announced its plans to temporarily close all of its UK and US cinemas, affecting more than 45,000 staff members.
A number of other films have also been delayed, including Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and Denis Villenueve’s Dune.
Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984, which stars Gal Gadot, is due for release on 25 December.
