AMC, Regal, Cinemark, and many more movie theater chains have closed shop due to the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus). That means we probably won’t have much of an active box-office for the foreseeable future. Everything seems to now be migrating to home viewing, including Universal’s new releases and, even, the SXSW film festival.
Well, according to Deadline, all of these closures could result in a $2 billion loss for the U.S. film industry. As of today, only 20% of the theaters in the US remain open, that number will likely go down to single digits in the coming days and weeks as it seems quite clear that no studio is willing to release a new film anytime soon.
Since there really is no set timeline for when things will go back to normal, the only thing that cinephiles can do for now is self-isolate at home and stream movies. I know, depressing as it might sound, but that’ll be the reality for, at least, the next 8-9 weeks, if not more.
And yet, despite all the changes I’ve just mentioned, Cannes is still slated to happen on May 12th.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.