What's news: Coronavirus begins to take its toll on the box office, movie theaters shut down in New York and L.A. while capacity is capped elsewhere, production shut-downs continue, including The Batman, Red Notice, and the Lord of the Rings Amazon series, Universal Music Group CEO tests positive for the virus. David Rooney reports from a socially-distanced friends and family production of Sanctuary City. Elsewhere: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders debate, the NFL players approve a new collective bargaining agreement, the cinematographer's guild names a new president. --Alex Weprin

 Coronavirus Hits The Box Office

The weekend saw productions continue to shut down, awards shows canceled, and a box office bruised by fear of the pandemic...

►Box office: Moviegoing in the U.S. slowed dramatically over the weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in box office revenue falling to a 20-year low, according to initial Sunday estimates.

An official tally won't be finalized until Monday, but revenue is expected to come in around $55.3 million (that could change if Sunday traffic is worse than estimated), according to Comscore. The last time revenue was that low in North America was a weekend in September 2000 ($54.5 million), Comscore adds. Even the first two weekends after 9/11 were higher, at $66.3 million and $59.7 million, respectively. The numbers.

+Analysis: Disney and Pixar's Onward provided a sobering case study over the weekend of the dramatic slowdown in moviegoing across the world, as more cinemas shuttered across various international markets amid the coronavirus pandemic. In North America, the family animated film fell 73 percent to an estimated $10.5 million, the biggest second-weekend decline in Pixar's storied history (The Good Dinosaur fell 59 percent in its second weekend in 2015). Internationally, Onward's second-weekend gross from 47 markets was $6.8 million, a 76 percent dip. The analysis.

+"We’re seeing The Invisible Man with the invisible audience": Moviegoers defiant amid coronavirus pandemic. THR's Chris Gardner and Kirsten Chuba visit L.A. multiplexes amid the coronavirus outbreak as Hollywood faces billions in losses at the box office.

Quote: "Robert Paul Taylor, an actor most recently seen on Vida and The Good Place, checked out a Friday late showing of the Blumhouse-produced thriller The Hunt at AMC Century City 15, one of the country's top-grossing theaters. The mall, he estimates, was 75 percent empty but there were people dining and shopping and his screening was maxed out at 50 percent full. Taylor noticed one man who sneezed midway through the movie and a couple audience members 'whipped around to look.' But overall, it was business as usual, aside from the extra space in-between guests.

“'It’s going to be a real bummer if movies can shut down because it’s one of the last few things you can do when you’re bored,' says Taylor." The story.

+The movie theater shutdowns begin: New York, Los Angeles and parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey ordered movie theaters to close amid the pandemic. New York is also shutting down nightclubs and moving restaurants to take out or delivery only. L.A. will shut down nightclubs, gyms, and bowling alleys as well. The story.

+Elsewhere: AMC Theatres on Monday unveiled a "50-50" policy through April 30 that will see the exhibition giant limit attendance at every movie screening across the country to a maximum of 50 guests amid the coronavirus. More.

Meanwhile, the film and TV suspensions continued...

+Production has paused on Netflix's Red Notice, the big-budget international heist adventure starring Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson. In an Instagram post on Saturday, Johnson explained the situation — a two-week pause — to the crew. More.

+Warner Bros. is suspending work on The Batman, which has been in production in London since January. "Warner Bros. Pictures feature production of The Batman will hiatus filming for two weeks beginning today," the studio said in a statement Saturday. "The studio will continue to monitor the situation closely." More.

+Production on Amazon’s $1 billion Lord of the Rings series in New Zealand has been suspended for two weeks as the country grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, with staff told "there are no clear answers to when we will resume." More.

+Netflix's The Witcher has become the latest addition to the growing pool of major productions impacted by the coronavirus. Filming on the second season of the fantasy video game adaptation series, starring Henry Cavill in the title role, has been suspended for two weeks, starting Monday, making it the first Netflix production to grind to a halt in the U.K. More.

+Production on Vengeance, a Blumhouse thriller that was shooting under the radar, has been suspended due to coronavirus concerns. B.J. Novak, best known for his work on The Office, was making his directorial debut with the production, which was shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Crewmembers were informed of the decision Saturday. The movie had been about two weeks into production. More.

+Related: Here's a running tally of the major productions that have been suspended...



^Critic's Notebook: The bittersweet rewards of socially distanced theater. A hastily organized friends-and-family performance of one of the season's most eagerly anticipated new plays, Sanctuary City, provides a tonic as the monthlong New York stage blackout begins, David Rooney writes.

Quote: "The semi-clandestine Sanctuary City performance hammered home just how sacred the rite of gathering together and being moved by exceptional art is for those of us who love theater. New York is one of a tiny handful of cities worldwide in which theater is such a vital part of the cultural heartbeat."

"All kinds of communal experiences will disappear for the time being including movies, concerts, even restaurants, bars and clubs. But as we hunker down in our homes in the grim weeks or possibly months ahead, ordering in groceries and takeout while wading through those long-neglected streaming queues and trying to stay healthy, it's worth remembering that this city and countless others like it will bounce back." The notebook.

►Universal Music chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge has been hospitalized after testing positive for coronavirus. A rep for Grainge and Universal Music Group did not respond to a request for comment. The exec is currently undergoing treatment at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.Though it is unknown how Grainge contracted the virus, he recently celebrated his 60th birthday on Feb. 29 at the Madison Club in La Quinta, California, with a myriad of other music execs in attendance. Apple CEO Tim Cook was also present. The story.

+Also: A staffer on the third hour of NBC's Today show has tested positive for the coronavirus. NBC News employees learned of their colleague's diagnosis late Sunday, and Monday, hosts Craig Melvin and Al Roker took the morning off from Today out of an abundance of caution as NBC News traces their contacts... CBS News correspondent Seth Doane tested positive as well... An Australian entertainment reporter, Richard Wilkins, who met Rita Wilson after her performance at the Sydney Opera House has tested positive for coronavirus... Ukrainian-born actress and model Olga Kurylenko revealed on Instagram Sunday that she has tested positive for coronavirus...

►Add the Academy of Country Music Awards to the list of Hollywood events being postponed amid the global coronavirus crisis. The academy said Sunday its 55th ACM Awards ceremony has been postponed. The show was scheduled to be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 5 on CBS. The kudocast will be rescheduled to air in September; the date, time and venue are to be determined. More.

+The iHeartRadio Music Awards is being postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak. Usher had been set to host the seventh annual awards show, which was scheduled to air live on Fox on Sunday, March 29, from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. More.

+The Razzies too: The Razzies normally air the night before the Oscars, but due to the 92nd Academy Awards' early date and the Razzies deciding to avoid anxiety and set its own schedule, according to its site, the 2020 show was scheduled to take place Saturday. More.

+Cannes still defiant: The Cannes International Film Festival has denied French media reports that claim this year's event will be canceled due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Officially, Cannes has said it will not make a decision regarding this year's festival until mid-April to give the new measures time to take effect. Cannes is scheduled to announce its official lineup on April 16. This year's festival is scheduled to run May 12-23. More.

►More: A Los Angeles judge on Sunday postponed the murder trial of multimillionaire New York real estate heir Robert Durst for three works over fears of the transmission of the new coronavirus... Cirque du Soleil, creator of many of the most popular shows in Las Vegas, said Saturday that it is temporarily suspending its productions in the city as well as around the world because of the new coronavirus outbreak... The India Motion Picture Producers' Association said Monday that it would request the suspension of all film, TV, advertising and web series shoots in the country from March 19 to 31...

 The Biden-Bernie Debate

►Critic's Notebook: Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders rise to the occasion in most substantive Democratic debate yet. "It's amazing how a little thing like a global pandemic can put a damper on things," writes Frank Scheck.

Quote: "Other than the fact that millions of Americans are currently at risk of illness, it all made for a marked improvement. This was the most serious, substantial debate of the election cycle, free of wanton attacks, cheap laugh lines and shameless pandering. The same format should be employed for all presidential debates going forward. Let's leave the live audiences for game shows and late-night talk shows." The notebook.

+Veeps: Joe Biden committed to having a female candidate for Vice President on his ticket, while Bernie Sanders said that he had a "strong tendency" to do the same. More.

+Coronavirus crisis plans: Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders sought in Sunday's debate to cast themselves as best-positioned to lead the nation through a global pandemic, with Biden pledging to deploy the military to help with recovery efforts and Sanders using the crisis to pitch his long-sought overhaul of the country's health care system. More.

Here's the rest of the day's news...

►The NFL players have approved the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement. The deal, which runs through 2030 is an important one for the NFL, as it will allow the league to begin negotiations with its TV partners for the new round of rights negotiations. Of note for TV sports fans: The CBA will expand the playoff field from 12 to 14 teams starting next season, and gives the league the option to expand the regular season from 16 to 17 games beginning in 2021. The details.

+CDC's new guidance could mean longer hiatus for professional sports. Officials recommended in-person events involving 50 people or more be called off for the next eight weeks — twice as long as the 30-day shutdowns that the NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer decided to put into place last week. More.

►New ICG president: Cinematographer John Lindley has been elected president of the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) national executive board. His election follows the Feb. 14 resignation of Lewis Rothenberg just slightly more than half a year into his term. Lindley will complete Rothenberg's three-year term, to which he was elected last year after defeating longtime guild president Steven Poster. More.

►Apple could look to acquire Disney amid stock drop, analyst says. "Mega-cap companies with large cash balances and whose equity outperformed Disney over the last three weeks, like Apple, could take advantage of the volatility" as the coronavirus has hit Hollywood stocks, writes Rosenblatt Securities analyst Bernie McTernan. The story.

►Donald Glover's surprise album: Glover, aka Childish Gambino, shocked his fans in the earliest hours of Sunday morning when he released a batch of new music in the middle of the night. More.

►About last night in TV: Westworld creator on season three's self-driving cars: "That is absolutely the future"... Aaron Paul breaks down his "messy and complicated" Westworld debut... The Walking Dead: Inside that shocking whisperer war death...

+Plus: Inkoo Kang reviews HBO's My Brilliant Friend...

Obituaries: Lorenzo Brino, a child star from the television show 7th Heaven, has died after being involved in a fatal car accident earlier this week. He was 21... Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, a gender-fluid British rock musician and visual artist known for the groups Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, died Saturday of leukemia. He was 70...