Promising News Has Dropped For Marvel Movie Fans

As the world warily begins to walk the streets and return to work after months of quarantine and/or self-isolation, UK government officials are also making a push to get the cameras rolling on film and television productions as soon as possible.

In fact, per a Deadline exclusive, such efforts have apparently already been given the green light to return to work.That news comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the UK workforce unable to work from home to start returning to their places of business. It should be noted, however, that UK officials are adding the stipulation that employees should not return to work until their places of business have been deemed "COVID-19 secure."  

While the exact protocols of making workspaces "secure" are still a bit vague, the possibility of film and television work ramping back up across the UK will undoubtedly come as welcome news for the many high-end productions forced to shut down because of the pandemic, a roster that includes Peaky Blinders, The Batman, The Little Mermaid, and Netflix's The Witcher. As entertainment professionals tentatively start eyeing a return to work, the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (or DCMS) wants producers to know they're as concerned as anyone about keeping sets safe and coming up with safety measures that can be scaled to suit larger productions. 

"The government is working closely with the screen sector to understand how different types of productions can comply with social distancing guidelines, and give confidence to people in the TV and film industries that there are safe ways in which they can return to work," said a spokesman from the organization.

Likewise, the British Film Commission has been putting together the so-called Film And TV Production Codes Of Practice, a list of measures built to keep productions safe by focusing on pre-shoot safety training, frequent testing, and the possible quarantining of performers who live outside the UK. Those measures will reportedly be finalized later this week.  

Of course, the big take-away, here, is that the entertainment industry is clearly itching to get back to work. While this news likely has the gears of content machines the world over cranking back up, a return to work in the UK will prove great news for Marvel Studios, in particular, since they recently announced a pair of highly-anticipated sequels would be shooting there in 2020. Assuming current schedules hold, those flicks might not even see a delayed start date.  

The films in question are Marvel's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man 3, which, according to HN Entertainment were prepping to shoot at Longcress Studios (Doctor Strange) and Pinewood Studios (Ant-Man) in the coming months. The Doctor Strange sequel had initially been scheduled to shoot in May, but with the unfortunate shakeup in The Multiverse of Madness' director's chair, the start date was pushed. Ant-Man 3 wasn't slated to shoot until Fall 2020, so, if Marvel decides to get a jump on things, they could potentially get their films before cameras on schedule. 

That being said, Marvel has offered no official word regarding whether or not they'll rush casts and crews for either film overseas to meet those original start dates. If we're being completely honest, we'd be very surprised if Marvel Studios (which is owned by Disney) didn't use an overabundance of caution in getting their high-profile, high-stakes blockbuster machine back up and running, if only because they've already shuffled several premiere dates (Doctor Strange 2, included) to accommodate the new release windows for Black Widow and The Eternals, plus numerous other COVID-19-related delays. 

Still, the good news is that, with UK productions prepping to get back to work in the near future, we are that much closer to getting our eyes on some promised Marvel insanity sooner rather than later.