Disney has announced that production and pre-production on “The Last Duel,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Home Alone,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Peter Pan & Wendy” and “Shrunk” have shut down “for a short time.”
A statement from the studio said, “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 Little Mermaid” was set to start shooting in London next week. Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel” had been shooting in Ireland since February but in light of the coronavirus pandemic as well as travel restrictions in Europe, execs felt it was the best move for the safety of all involved to delay the shoot indefinitely.
It is unknown when “The Last Duel” shoot was going to end and if it will impact the Dec. 25 release date at this time. The film stars Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck with Scott directing. The script is by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Nicole Holofcener. Jennifer Fox is producing alongside Scott, Kevin Walsh and Nicole Holofcener. Damon and Affleck will executive produce with Drew Vinton and Kevin Halloran.
Same goes for “Nightmare Alley,” which starred Bradley Cooper with Guillermo del Toro co-writing and directing. The film had yet to be dated and its unknown how many weeks into production they were.
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” had already suspended first unit after director Destin Cretton self-isolated to go through testing for COVID-19. Cretton just had a baby and was doing it as a precaution. There was thought production would go on but this morning Disney decided to pause the remainder of the production as well.
“Peter Pan and Wendy” and “Shrunk” were in pre-production and meeting with actors for remaining parts and and it was advised to put those on hiatus as well before the productions got closer to start dates.