What's news: SXSW was canceled amid coronavirus fears, Cannes is still on for now, the WGA and studios will start talks later this month, Hachette drops Woody Allen's memoir, Pixar's Onward off to a slow start, Disney+ is ordering a Beauty And The Beast prequel series. Plus: James Wan enters Universal's monster-verse, and a Weinstein sentencing update. --Alex Weprin

 SXSW Canceled

►SXSW has been canceled due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, Austin, Texas, Mayor Steve Adler announced during a press conference Friday afternoon. The annual event, which brings together the film, interactive media and music industries, was previously scheduled to take place between March 13 and 22 in the city.

--Adler said he had declared a "local disaster in the city" that had effectively canceled SXSW. He added that the decision had been made based on the recommendation of Austin's public heath officer and director of public health given the size and nature of the event, which often features concerts where people are in close contact. Travis County, where Austin is located, does not have a confirmed case of the virus, known as COVID-19. The story.

►Coronavirus concerns? Not at Cannes. On Friday organizers sent out a defiant PR message aimed at countering any major industry withdrawal from the world's most prestigious film festival, in which they claimed accreditation to the 2020 event, due to take place May 12-23, were continuing at an "intensive pace" and had actually risen nine percent year-on-year.

--Organizers also asserted that the official selection would be unveiled by festival director Thierry Fremaux on April 16 at 11 am CET, at the UGC Normandie cinema in Paris. The story.

+Seattle's Emerald City Comic Con indefinitely postponed over coronavirus outbreak. ReedPop explained that the decision to postpone the event came after “many hours of conversation internally and consultation with local government officials and the tourism bureau,” noting, “We did everything that we could to run the event as planned, but ultimately, we are following the guidance of the local public health officials indicating that conventions should now be postponed.” More.

+Also: Amid ongoing coronavirus concerns, Geena Davis' Bentonville Film Festival is the latest event to push back its dates this year. The festival, held in Arkansas and backed by corporate sponsors that include Walmart and Coca-Cola, has been delayed from its original April 29 to May 2 date to later in summer, August 5 to 8. More.

+And: Annual visual effects and animation confab FMX is among the latest industry events to be canceled due to the continuing spread of coronavirus. The organizers of the event, which had been slated to be held May 5-8 in Stuttgart, Germany, announced its cancellation Friday. More.

►Woody Allen memoir dropped by Hachette after staff walk-out. "Hachette Book Group has decided that it will not publish Woody Allen’s memoir A Propos of Nothing, originally scheduled for sale in April 2020, and will return all rights to the author," the publishing company said in a statement to THR. "The decision to cancel Mr. Allen’s book was a difficult one. At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly." The story.

►Writers Guild and studios set talks on new basic deal. The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin talks March 23 on a new three-year theatrical and television agreement ahead of a May 1 contract expiration, the WGA disclosed Friday. Negotiators are expected to grapple with issues that include basic wage increases, residuals, and compensation, holds and exclusivity related to short seasons such as are common on streaming platforms, Jonathan Handel reports. The story.

Elsewhere in film...

--James Wan and Universal Pictures are teaming up for a monster movie. Robbie Thompson, a longtime writer and co-exec producer on CW’s Supernatural, is penning the script for the untitled horror thriller.

--Martin Freeman says Peter Jackson shifted Hobbit production to ensure he'd play Bilbo Baggins.

--Canada's actors union, ACTRA, on Friday unveiled "best practices" to protect actors in scenes involving nudity, intimacy, simulated sex and sexual violence.

 'Onward' Off To Slow Start

►Box office: The animated Pixar family pic Onward is having trouble finding its groove at the Friday box office, according to early returns. At this pace, projections show the Disney-Pixar release delivering one of the lowest nationwide openings ever for the storied Pixar brand. Heading into the weekend, Onward was already tracking for a relatively modest domestic launch of $40 million to $45 million.

--Box office analysts say they won't know until later this weekend, when they are able to study returns on a market-by-market basis, whether worries over the coronavirus are impacting Onward, or whether it is the movie itself. The story.

+Previews: The film began its box office journey with $2 million in Thursday night previews.

►Beauty and the Beast prequel series in the works at Disney+. Stars Josh Gad and Luke Evans will reprise their roles as Gaston and leFou from the 2017 feature for a limited series from Once Upon a Time creators Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, with Gad also down as co-creator, writer and showrunner. The story.

Elsewhere in TV...

--Quibi will launch with 50 launch shows, and a 90-day free trial.

--It's the end of the line for AJ and the Queen at Netflix. The streamer has canceled the road-trip dramedy starring and co-created by RuPaul after a single season. 

--Inkoo Kang reviews the FX docuseries The Most Dangerous Animal of All.

--Westworld season three Hollywood premiere: A look inside the HBO thriller's "dystopian future."

--Ratings for Grey's Anatomy hit their highest mark since the show's January return on Thursday for an episode that wrote out original castmember Justin Chambers.

 Weinstein Prosecutor Argues Against Leniency In Sentencing

The lead prosecutor in Harvey Weinstein's rape trial wrote to the judge in the case, arguing that Weinstein's "lifetime of abuse" means that he should not receive leniency during sentencing. More.

+Johnny Depp heads to U.K. defamation trial over "wife beater" story. Two weeks before a trial commences where The Sun publisher will attempt to prove that the star actor abused Amber Heard, a judge orders him to turn over audio recordings and papers from a divorce proceeding. More.

+Also: Esports star Turnery "Tfue" Tenney and FaZe Clan are each asking a New York federal judge to declare partial victory in their favor in their dispute over his exit from the gaming organization... The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday refused to throw out charges against former Empire actor Jussie Smollett that accuse him of staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself and rejected his effort to remove the special prosecutor in the case...

►No matter who is elected, Jane Fonda promises to "hold their feet to the fire." "No matter who is elected in November, we have to hold their feet to the fire. If necessary, shut down the government, and I'm not kidding," Fonda said on Thursday in Beverly Hills, while accepting the Visionary Women's annual award to celebrate International Women's Day. More.

+Also: Fonda and Lily Tomlin led the second "Fire Drill Friday"in California. More.

Casting roundup: Modern Family star Julie Bowen will star in a CBS comedy pilot from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick called Raised by Wolves... Fox's big-swing drama pilot about a group of people re-enacting the 1985 movie The Goonies has found its first actor in Ramon Rodriguez... Fox's comedy Call Me Kat has found its male lead in Cheyenne Jackson... Dulé Hill is joining Andrea Riseborough in the supernatural thriller Geechee from Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios...

Revolving door: Lydia Polgreen is stepping down as editor in chief of Huffington Post to join Gimlet Media as head of content... Nathaniel Halpern, the creator of Amazon's upcoming sci-fi series Tales From the Loop has signed an overall deal with the show's producer, Fox 21 Television Studios... Universal Content Productions has signed Gina Fattore, who serves as co-showrunner on the USA Network cheerleading drama Dare Me, to an overall deal...

What else we're reading...

--"The Walt Disney Archives are shaping the culture of tomorrow. Ask Marvel’s Kevin Feige" [LA Times]

--"AT&T cooperates with Justice Department on Google probe" [WSJ]

--"Love Is Blind Doesn’t Exactly Ask Whether Love Is Blind" [The Ringer]

--"Do you think Meghan and Harry are happy?" [The Cut]

Today's birthdays: Bryan Cranston, 64, Rachel Weisz, 50, Laura Prepon, 40, Ivan Lendl, 60, E.L. James, 57.

Have a nice weekend...