December 22. 2020

Hollywood

The coronavirus pandemic is destroying Hollywood. It is one of the hardest hit industries in America. The industry has lost billions of dollars this year (movie, television and music). Even Disney's theme parks, affiliated with its movie studio, has lost billions of dollars and was forced to layoff 30,000 people. Many production companies have also collapsed.

A new report reveals Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles has seen the closure of 75% of its businesses. Tourists are no longer visiting in droves to see Hollywood related items. Therefore, this is a second way the industry is hemorrhaging money due to the coronavirus outbreak (Covid-19).

A number of people in the industry have lost their jobs, homes and cars due to the deadly pandemic. The industry has not faced this problem before and does not know what to do in the face of these serious, sweeping, life altering changes.

STORY SOURCE

Hollywood Boulevard Struggles Amid Pandemic: "75 Percent Is Boarded Up"

8:00 AM PST 12/21/2020 - On a street typically lined with superheroes and Disney characters, Batman, with precious few tourists to greet, sits on a quiet corner doing crunches. This is Hollywood Boulevard today, nine months into the pandemic-induced shutdown that has stripped the tourist destination of its usual 10 million annual visitors who clamor to take photos with costumed street performers and pose with their favorite celebrity's star.

"The pandemic has canceled what I do for a living," says another street performer, Mark Roman, who for the past six years has worked on the boulevard as Captain America and Reno 911!-inspired Lieutenant Frank. He has not busked since COVID-19 hit, partly because he cannot naturally incorporate a mask into his costume. "I don't know how I'm going to financially survive," says Roman, who has attempted to replace the money he once made from tips with background acting gigs and personalized videos on Cameo, "but I'm trying to figure it out."

Much of Hollywood Boulevard is shuttered, with such crowd favorites as the Dolby, El Capitan, Chinese Theatre, Ripley's Believe It or Not and Hard Rock Cafe closed since March. Madame Tussauds opened for two days in June, says GM Ed Bell, before it was reshut by county rules. According to the Hollywood Partnership's third-quarter report, 185 businesses remained closed in the area as of September. "Seventy-five percent is boarded up, and that's depressing," says Musso & Frank Grill COO Mark Echeverria. "It never really saw any kind of larger-scale reopening."...

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com

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