Apple has canceled its plans to premiere new Apple TV+ shows and movies at the SXSW 2020 Film Festival following concerns over the ongoing worldwide coronavirus outbreak.
According to a report in Variety, executives are concerned over the COVID-19 spread and want to limit its potential, and have therefore made the decision not to premiere new shows at the upcoming festival, despite their original plans to do so, and ultimately win awards.
The company announced earlier in the year that Home, Central Park, and Beastie Boys Story would receive their official premieres at the SXSW 2020 Film Festival, which is due to kick off on March 13 and run through March 21.
What’s more, Apple was set to host a Little America discussion panel, where creators Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon would take questions from attendees and journalists about the show’s recent and upcoming episodes.
However, Apple has now decided to pull out of the event, though it’s unknown what that means for the release dates of the aforementioned content.
Apple could choose to push back the release of those shows until they can be premiered at a prestigious event (like with James Bond, which has been pushed back until November), or it could choose to drop the shows on Apple TV+ and forfeit the possibility of its content winning major movie awards.
Apple isn’t the only company to pull out of the upcoming SXSW Festival, with Amazon Studios, Twitter, TikTok, SAP, Intel, Facebook, and Panasonic confirming they’ve decided against appearing.
The festival usually attracts more than 100,000 attendees from around the world, as well as international press coverage, a great springboard for upcoming films.
What are your thoughts on this news? Did Apple make the right decision? Do you think SXSW will ultimately be canceled? Let us know on social media and check back soon for more.
