‘The Batman’ and Other U.K. Productions May Soon Resume Filming
By George Robbins
The world we currently live in is one that has been said multiple times recently to be “unlike any other moment in history.” This is very true considering the fact that this is the first time in the present day that the world has had to deal with a global pandemic. With the pandemic, many things started to become normalized in our daily routines such as wearing masks and gloves out in public and washing down everything that is touched on a regular basis. When things will be able to go back to how they were before, nobody knows, but people are trying to make the best of a bad situation everyday at this point.
All productions for movies and shows were forced to shut down worldwide when the pandemic was first began. Just like all other businesses that closed up at that time, film productions shut down so that they could prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. Many businesses have had no choice but to keep their doors closed during quarantine due to not being essential businesses. Film productions fit into the non-essential category, so they haven’t been able to start up again. However, now that economies are failing, non-essential businesses have been slowly allowed to start opening up again. It now seems as though some productions will also be able to start again.
However, businesses that have been allowed to reopen have to follow strict rules if they want to stay opened. These rules include keeping social distancing rules active, wearing masks and gloves, taking temperatures, and keeping all surfaces cleaned consistently. Movie and TV productions must follow a similar yet differently restrictive set of rules in order to continue filming. For instance, actors will not really be allowed to interact with one another on set even while filming, a much smaller amount of people will be allowed on set, and things like craft services will not be available. Other things are included such as no one being able to leave the filming location during breaks, but this is more of a per production thing.
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has said that the country will soon be easing on the lockdown a little bit which would allow for things like film productions to begin again. One of the films on that list happens to be DC’s newest iteration of the Batman franchise, simply titled ‘The Batman.’ Many other productions will be able to start up again as well, as long as they follow the guidelines that will be put into place by the country. As of now, the exact guidelines for film productions is unknown but will be available before the country ends up reopening to production companies.