Friday, December 27, 2024

New York’s Mayor DeBlasio Orders Closure of All Movie Theaters and Restaurants, But Bike Lanes Will Remain Open

Well, that’s it. The party’s over.

New York is shutting down all restaurants (except for take out and delivery) and all movie theaters. This, though they’re keeping the bike lanes open. Good grief.

The movie theater shut down was inevitable given the situation. But it also means that all of entertainment is closed for at least two weeks. This is unprecedented.

Broadway was already on track to lose $100 million after closing all its theaters. The movie business? Well, this isn’t high season, thank goodness. And there are no big releases left for March or early April. Everything’s been moved out already.

The big winners are the streaming services. DisneyPlus has already scored by putting “Frozen 2” on their platform. “Star Wars:” The Rise of Skywalker” just went digital early. I’ll bet there will be some surprise announcements shortly. This would be a big moment for HBO or Netflix to stage some live showings in any genre.

The Cannes Film Festival? Seems like it’s not going to happen. It would be very hard to pull together at this point.

But restaurants? I know it has to be, for our own safety. But something tells me it’s DeBlasio getting back at hot spots that wouldn’t seat him.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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