What's news: Disney's theme parks are closed "until further notice," WarnerMedia creating $100 million relief fund for crews and says HBO Max is on track, Hollywood praises the $2 trillion relief bill, ViacomCBS adds to its debt load, broadcast news divisions power on, scheduling shakeups at ABC and AMC. Plus: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his favorite sports movies. --Alex Weprin

 Disney Parks Staying Closed

►Disneyland, Walt Disney World closed indefinitely amid virus crisis. "While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains The Walt Disney Company’s top priority, " a Friday statement from the company reads. "As a result of this unprecedented pandemic and in line with direction provided by health experts and government officials, Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice.. The company will pay employees through April 18. The story.

►WarnerMedia to create $100 million relief fund for crews. In a memo to staff Friday afternoon, CEO John Stankey says HBO Max is on track for its May launch and also addresses strategic pivots on advertising and theatrical windowing. The memo.

The $2 trillion stimulus package signed by President Trump on Friday drew praise from unions and associations in Hollywood...

►Hollywood unions applaud congressional coronavirus relief package. The Directors Guild, Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, AFL-CIO (DPE), Actors Equity Association and American Federation of Musicians, all applauded Congress for passing its coronavirus relief bill, which includes benefits for workers in the arts, entertainment and media industries, many of whom are out of work due to COVID-19 related cancellations and postponements. The statements.

+Motion Picture Association says federal virus aid package provides "critical relief." "The ongoing COVID-19 crisis is a threat to the entire global economy, including creative industries. In the United States alone, the film, television, and streaming industry supports 2.5 million jobs and 93,000 small businesses – 87 percent of which employ fewer than 10 people," Charles Rivkin said. "This bill provides critical relief for independent contractors, freelancers, and small businesses who are the backbone of the entertainment industry and among those whose livelihoods are hardest hit by the current public health crisis. Industry stakeholders, including unions, guilds, and theater owners, worked tirelessly to achieve this important relief." The story.

In business news...

►ViacomCBS raises $2.5 billion in new debt amid virus crisis. The company, led by CEO Bob Bakish, is the latest entertainment industry company to raise fresh cash amid the fallout from the coronavirus crisis. ViacomCBS said it agreed to sell $1.25 billion in 4.750 percent senior notes due 2025, and another $1.25 billion in 4.950 percent senior notes due 2031. The story.

+Redstone family's holding company gets ratings downgrade on liquidity concerns. S&P Global Ratings reduced National Amusements' credit rating after a debt refinancing and expects the "company's liquidity to remain thin for the rest of 2020" owing to business trends. More.

+AMC Networks withdraws earnings guidance over pandemic impact. However the company also outlined its liquidity, noting that it had $816 million in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet, and access to a $500 million revolving credit facility, which it has not yet tapped. More.

+APA reduces salaries over $100K amid pandemic. In an attempt to avoid outright layoffs, employees making $100,000 a year or more will undergo pay cuts, and some will be suspended or furloughed. The board of the directors will make the "largest financial sacrifice," according to the agency. More.

►Coronavirus ad impact to exceed 2008 financial crisis: study. A survey of nearly 400 media buyers and brands by Interactive Advertising Bureau found that digital ad spending is currently down 33 percent and traditional media spending is down 39 percent, Natalie Jarvey reports. The story.

 Broadcast News Carries On

►Broadcast news may be more low-fi now, but it's staying on the story. News-side executives from NBC, ABC and CBS talk to Jeremy Barr about how they've kept shows on the air using fewer camera angles, or robotic cameras, and staffers using iPhones and Zoom calls.

Quote: "We're going to do whatever is necessary to stay on the air, because we believe that we provide such a valuable service," says Kim Godwin, evp, news, at CBS News. "If we have to do it from someone's living room, we will." The story.

+Trish Regan out at Fox Business Network. The primetime host had been benched two weeks ago, as part of a coronavirus-related resource re-allocation. More.

►After complaints, TLC's My 600-lb Life halts filming. TLC's nonfiction medical drama continued to film across the U.S. this week with severely obese castmembers despite social distancing recommendations and high-risk factors for the show's stars amid the coronavirus pandemic. Between March 20 and 26, the TLC show was actively filming in at least three states — Texas, Florida and Mississippi — documents provided to THR and interviews with sources with firsthand knowledge of the show revealed. The story.

►How one arthouse theater rebranded as a "digital drive-in" to stay afloat. When Coral Gables Art Cinema was forced to close its doors on March 18, co-executive director Brenda Moe decided to take it digital, inviting patrons to "drive in" to flicks on the theater's website instead, Tara Bitran reports: “We have to be clever to keep our doors open." The story.

+Toronto Film Fest launches "stay-at-home" cinema with virtual Q&As, streaming movies. Festival co-head Cameron Bailey will hold a virtual chat Friday night with Mandy Patinkin, before The Princess Bride streams on partnering service Crave. More.

+Focus Features' Never Rarely Sometimes Always lands early VOD release. The critically acclaimed drama, which won awards at Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival, hit theaters in N.Y. and L.A. on March 13 before the coronavirus pandemic forced cinemas nationwide to close. More.

►Producers’ Health Benefits Plan unwraps relief package for advertising production industry. It's aimed at assisting the industry trade group's member companies' staff and freelance employees. PHBP, founded through support from AICP, covers approximately 4,000 workers and their families, with over 200 participating employers. The package include additional support for freelancers. More.

In other coronavirus-related news...

--With the goal of sharing evidence-based information about the coronavirus (COVID-19), the cast of Contagion in collaboration with scientists from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and Participant unveiled a series of PSA videos on Friday.

--Roughly a third of U.S. households have purchased tech devices over the past week to help them adjust to their lives during the coronavirus pandemic, suggests a new COVID-19 Impact Study on the Use of Technology at Home, released by the Consumer Technology Association.

+Speaking of: Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his family have donated $5 million to the School District of Philadelphia so city-wide students have laptops to study from home during current school closures caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

--L.A. County officials ordered the unprecedented closure of beaches, trails and bike paths.

--Cannes' Palais des Festivals, the location that has seen thousands of red carpet galas, is now a homeless shelter.

--Carson Daly opened up about his wife Siri Pinter's experience of giving birth to their fourth child during the coronavirus pandemic on Friday's episode of Today.

--German Film Boards have created a $17 million coronavirus crisis fund.

 Scheduling Shakeups

►Grey's Anatomy won't resume production on season 16. ABC on Friday announced that the current season of the Shondaland hit will wrap its run April 9 with the 21st of what was planned to be a 25-episode season. The series, starring Ellen Pompeo, will not resume production to complete those remaining episodes. The story.

+ABC buys time as American Idol live show conundrum looms. On Sunday, Mar. 29, and Sunday, April 5, ABC will air two episodes filled with previously taped performances and footage set at the (now-shuttered) Aulani resort in Hawaii.

--Four hours' worth of new American Idol content buy the show some time as producers and ABC brass decided how they can possibly proceed with the season's traditional live episodes of performances and eliminations — now that all remaining contestants have returned to their homes and producing anything resembling a shiny floor show is impossible for the foreseeable future. The story.

+Killing Eve season three premiere moves up to fill in for Walking Dead. AMC Networks will premiere the Emmy-winning series on April 12, two weeks earlier than its planned April 26 date. The show, which simulcasts on its original home at BBC America and AMC, will help the latter fill in for a pair of Walking Dead series that were unable to finish production due to the coronavirus pandemic. More.

Ryan Reynolds is in talks to tackle the live-action adaptation of '80s video game Dragon's Lair. After almost a year of negotiations, Netflix has closed a deal to pick up the rights to the game. Roy Lee will produce via his Vertigo Entertainment with Trevor Engelson of Underground Films. Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Jon Pomeroy are also producing. Reynolds will produce via his banner, Maximum Effort. More.

+Ryan Gosling to star in Andy Weir adaptation Project Hail Mary. Project Hail Mary, which will be published in Spring 2021 by Random House, centers on an astronaut, who would be played by Gosling, on a spaceship that is tasked with saving the planet. More.

+Shiri Appleby in talks to direct Disney+ body-switching movie Wouldn't It Be Nice. Nice tells of teenage friends — a star football player on the rise and a brainy girl with few prospects — who wake up 20 years later to find out they are married and living a life none of them expected. More.

+Patrick Stewart shares untold Star Trek stories. As Picard wraps season one, the actor looks to his past, including filming Kirk's death scene ("It was an extremely potent moment") and the promise he made his wife about his Starfleet uniform. More.

►Six films for sports fans suffering withdrawal. NBA Hall of Famer and THR contributing editor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar picks his favorite movies by sport (including pool) so "we can get through this Sportcalypse together." "In some cases, the film is excellent despite the cheesy ending. In other cases, the endings aren't doused in cheap-perfumed sentiment, but rather reveal some inner truth about the many widely different aspects of winning," he writes. "Sports films should not be about how to win, but how to be the person who deserves to win." The list.

 Johnny Depp's defamation suit against Amber Heard survives demurrer. In a Friday letter to the parties, Judge Bruce D. White wrote that Depp has met the requirement to "plead allegations of an implied defamatory meaning, that is in fact defamatory, as well as circumstances that would reasonably cause the statements at issue to convey an alleged defamatory meaning." The story.

►Andrea Riseborough's sci-fi thriller Possessor lands at Neon. The second feature by Brandon Cronenberg, son of David, also stars Christopher Abbott, Sean Bean and Tuppence Middleton. More.

►TV ratings: The season finale of A Million Little Things on Thursday brought in the ABC show's largest total audience since November. It helped ABC lead every hour of primetime in total viewers and score the top spot in adults 18-49. NBC's Law & Order: SVU also scored a four-month high in viewers, and Superstore and Brooklyn Nine-Nine hit season highs in viewers and matched their best 18-49 numbers. The story.

Today's birthdays: Piers Morgan, 55, Eric Clapton, 75, Warren Beatty, 83, Celine Dion, 52, MC Hammer, 58.