Razzie Awards Producers Debate Canceling Ceremony Due To Coronavirus

The latest Hollywood-related event to fall prey to the coronavirus outbreak is the Razzie Awards, which had been set to take place in Los Angeles last night. Over the past few weeks, the entertainment industry has gradually begun to adjust its regular practices to cope with the growing concern over the spread of COVID-19, and things reached something of a fever pitch over the last couple of days. Studios have delayed major films and shut down productions while events such as CinemaCon, SXSW, and ACE Comic Con have been cancelled.

Deadline reported that the Razzie Awards, given every year to the worst in film, had been “cancelled/postponed.” John Wilson, one of the Razzie’s co-founders, issued a statement explaining that, due to cautionary measures put in place by the Mayor of Los Angeles, the Razzies’ chosen venue had been shut down. When issuing the statement, Wilson said, “we are hoping to have something to disseminate by tonight – Perhaps even by what had been our original “curtain time” of 8 p.m. tonight (Saturday, March 14). Obviously, if there is no live show, there is nothing to be streamed, either.” However, as of yet, they have not found a solution.

Related: Coronavirus: Every Event & Convention Cancelled So Far

Typically, the Razzie Awards are handed out the day before the Oscars, but this year they were forced to take place much later due to the Oscars being earlier than normal. Of this year’s nominees, the leaders were Cats, Rambo: Last Blood, and A Madea Family Funeral, all of which scored eight nominations. This was the first year the Razzies were expected to be televised.

Additional films to score multiple nominations were The Fantatic, The Haunting of Sharon Tate, and Hellboy. The Razzie Awards were first handed out in 1981 in Wilson’s living room as a joke. It was only in later years that it became a public event.

More: Coronavirus: Every Movie Delayed So Far

Source: Deadline

Kylo Ren Practices His Pickup Lines In Hilarious TikTok Video

About The Author

Rachel LaBonte is a news and features writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for movies and television. A recent graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

More About Rachel Labonte