Apple has become the latest company to pull out of the South By Southwest festival due to coronavirus fears.
The tech giant has canceled scheduled premieres for its Apple TV Plus original documentary Beastie Boys Stories from director Spike Jonze as well for animated musical series Central Park and the docuseries Home.
Also scrapped is a discussion of Apple’s docuseries Little America with show creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, according to Variety.
Apple has become the latest tech giant to pull out of the South By Southwest festival due to coronavirus fears, canceling premieres for AppleTV originals including the Spike Jonze documentary Beastie Boys Stories. (Beastie Boys are pictured in 1987)
SXSW begins on March 13 and runs until March 22 with organizers insisting Wednesday that it will take place despite the absence of some of the advertised contributors and exhibitors.
‘Right now there’s no evidence that closing South by Southwest or other activities is going to make this community safer. We’re constantly monitoring that situation,’ Mark Escott, the interim medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health, said at a press conference.
However, Apple is just the latest in a string of big names to decide not to attend.
Late Tuesday, Amazon Studios announced it would no longer be participating and all events and activities planned for the Amazon brand would no longer take place.
Other companies to cancel over coronavirus include Twitter, Facebook, Intel, Vevo and Mashable.
Late Tuesday, Amazon Studios announced it would no longer be participating. Other companies to cancel over coronavirus include Twitter, Facebook, Intel. Vevo and Mashable
SXSW begins in Austin, Texas, on March 13 with organizers insisting Wednesday that it will take place despite concerns the thousands of attendees could help spread the COVID-19 virus
A Change.org petition calling on South By Southwest organizers to cancel the event had more than 46,000 signatures Wednesday night.
Signatories are concerned that bringing thousands of people from all over the world together in Austin could contribute to the spread of the virus known as COVID-19.
Texas currently has 11 confirmed cases of the disease.
The U.S. death toll from coronavirus infections rose to 11 on Wednesday as new cases emerged around New York City and Los Angeles.
California recorded its first death from the virus while 10 people have died in Washington state.
On Wednesday Microsoft Corp asked its employees in the Seattle region near its headquarters and in the San Francisco Bay Area to work from home if possible until March 25.
Producers of the 25th James Bond movie No Time To Die have announced the film’s release will be delayed from April to November ‘after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace’
It followed an open letter posted by fan website MI6-HQ which said it was time for MGM and Universal ‘to put public health above marketing release schedules and the cost of cancelling publicity events’ (pictured, woman in mask walks past No Time To Die poster in Bangkok)
Meanwhile, producers of the 25th James Bond movie No Time To Die have announced the film’s release will be delayed from April to November.
It came ‘after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace’ by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
It followed an open letter posted by fan website MI6-HQ which said it was time for MGM and Universal ‘to put public health above marketing release schedules and the cost of cancelling publicity events’.
Publicity tours for Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 in China, South Korea and Japan had already be scrapped and fears had been expressed about the movie’s March 31 world premiere to be held at London’s Royal Albert Hall which can seat more than 5,000 people.
Disney postponed the Chinese premiere of its live-action remake of Mulan. More than 70,000 Chinese theaters have been shuttered for several weeks, devastating the world’s second largest movie market. The coronavirus is predicted to cost the film industry $5 billion
The global coronavirus outbreak is predicted to cost the film industry $5 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter this week.
More than 70,000 Chinese theaters have been shuttered for the past several weeks, devastating the world’s second largest movie market.
The growing spread of the virus in Italy, South Korea, and Japan is only intensifying bottom-line worries.
As of Wednesday evening, the virus has infected more than 95,300 people in at least 78 countries, per The New York Times.
As of Wednesday evening, the virus has infected more than 95,300 people in at least 78 countries. The U.S. death toll rose to 11 on Wednesday as new cases emerged around New York City and Los Angeles. (pictured, a medic transports a patient in Washington state)