10 Recent Movies That Were Forced To Shut Down Production (And Why)
Not even Tom Cruise can fend off the coronavirus.
Whenever you're having a bad day, just stop and think about how much of a nightmare it must be for the person tasked with organising a major film shoot.
Getting a bunch of famous movie stars in the same place at the same time is hard enough as it is, but then, there's everything else that has to be planned down to the tiniest of details: catering, locations, security, equipment, crew, extras... even the damn time of day has to be right for the particular scene that's being filmed.
Frustratingly though, even the most thorough of preparations can't ready a production for some good old unforeseeable circumstances, and in the event of an injury, a rapidly-spreading virus, or even a missing crew member, the only option for a lot of movies is to simply stop shooting while the situation in question is resolved.
In recent months there have been quite a few cases like this, whether it's a minor injury that closed down a small production for a couple of days, or a massive blockbuster set that was hit with unfortunate circumstances outside of its control.
10. Fast & Furious 9
It takes a lot of time, resources and craftsmanship to build those insane action sequences we see in the Fast & Furious movies, and most of the time, everything runs smoothly with no massive hiccups to speak of.
But because there's an inherent danger in playing around with explosives and souped-up cars, things can occasionally go wrong, which is exactly what happened on the set of Fast & Furious 9 in July 2019.
While the movie was shooting at Leavesden Studios in the UK, a stuntman suffered a serious head injury, forcing the crew to temporarily halt production. While details are scarce, it's likely that the stuntman in question was a crucial part of whatever sequence was being filmed, which is why the whole operation had to cease.
While the production was only shut down for a single day, time really is money on a movie of this size, and that short stoppage could easily amount to thousands of dollars in losses for the studio.