It's estimated Disney is losing $20 million a day from closing their U.S. theme parks. Although Disneyland in Anaheim initially remained open when California's Governor Gavin Newsom instituted a gathering ban last week because of the coronavirus outbreak, it didn't last long and the park shut down shortly after. It's only the fourth time this has happened in Disneyland's history, with the other occasions including a national day of mourning after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001. Both it and Disney California Adventure Park will remain closed until the end of March, at which time California officials will decide whether or not to continue the ban.
In addition to Disneyland, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and Disneyland Paris in France have shut down, as have Disney theme parks in other parts of the world. Given the sheer amount of money the company makes annually on not just its theme parks, but also its cruises and consumer product sales, the Mouse House is expected to take a big hit from these closures. In fact, they could be looking at eight-figure losses on a daily basis.
As part of a writeup on how Hollywood at large could be changed by the coronavirus outbreak, Variety reports Disney is expected to lose as much as $20 million to $30 million a day from shutting down their U.S. theme parks. In other words, by the end of March alone, Disney will have potentially lost hundreds of millions of dollars from closing Disneyland and Walt Disney World alone.
From both a business and public health safety standpoint, closing Disney's parks was the right call. As heavy as the company's losses will be, they would've been even bigger if Disneyland and Walt Disney World had continued to operate and, in turn, further contributed to the spread of COVID-19 - and considering more than 400,000 people attend their parks worldwide on a daily basis, that undoubtedly would've happened. Of course, Disney is also taking a financial hit in other areas because of the virus. The company has pulled the release dates for several films that were scheduled to open between now and early-mid May in recent days, including the tentpoles Mulan and Black Widow. With so many theater chains shutting down because of the virus, they really had no choice in the matter anyway.
Once it's believed safe for Disney to open its theme parks again, there's a good chance people will turn out in larger numbers than usual. After being quarantined and forced to stay home for however long that is, many will surely be eager to leave their houses and get some fresh air with a vacation (or even just a day trip) to one of Disney's parks. The company is banking on exactly that and plans to open its Marvel attraction Avengers Campus at Disneyland in Anaheim later this year (possibly even this summer, as originally announced). So that's definitely something to look forward to.
Source: Variety