Marvel’s Falcon and The Winter Soldier halts Disney+ filming amid coronavirus fears
CORONAVIRUS fears have now thrown the TV world into chaos as the filming of Marvel’s move onto the small screen has been halted.
With the COVID-19 disease causing havoc around the world, the big-budget production of Falcon and The Winter Soldier for Disney+ has been put on hold on their set in Prague.
The move came after the Czech Republic government put restrictions on events and travel in an attempt to stop the virus.
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The crew, including Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, who play the two superheroes, started filming in the city on Friday, but just four days later it’s been announced that they are no longer able to proceed.
Falcon and The Winter Soldier – one of a number of Marvel shows due for release in the near future – has been filming since November and was set to air on Disney+ this autumn.
It’s unclear whether this news will change the planned release date.
The production delay is just the latest Coronavirus issue to hit the entertainment industry, with sports fixtures and tournaments postponed and even the release of the latest James Bond movie No Time To Die pushed back to November.
Falcon and The Winter Soldier has been dogged with issues throughout its production – including coping with major natural disasters.
In January, shooting in Puerto Rico was impacted when the country was hit by a massive earthquake that caused an estimated $100million (£76,863,950) in damages. As the relief effort kicked in, the team had to withdraw production.
When the show does finally see the light of day, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will see Sam Wilson (Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Stan) team up or the first time since the death of Captain America (Chris Evans).
The series will be loosely based off the comic books of the same name.
Daniel Brühl has been confirmed to return as villain Zemo, while Emily VanCamp will also come back as Sharon Carter, Peggy’s daughter.
However, Falcon and The Winter Soldier is not the first Disney+ programme to run into trouble.
As The Sun revealed last month, its Lizzie McGuire reboot is in peril after boss Terri Minskey was fired and filming ground to a halt.
This led industry experts to speculate the Hilary Duff-led show will not even make it to our screens.
And yesterday it was reported that a TV series based on the 1982 Disney film Tron had been scrapped by Disney+ after it “fell apart” following several months of work.