As the coronavirus is officially declared a pandemic, the entertainment industry has already felt the effects as events have been cancelled in several countries. Cases have been reported among TV set crews, but now the inevitable – movie cast members. In this case, Tom Hanks.
Hanks, who is with wife Rita Wilson in Australia preparing to work on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic (the actor is playing Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker), wrote on Instagram that they'd both been suffering cold and flu-like symptoms and that they've now been tested positive for the virus.
Sharing a photo of some medical gloves, the actor wrote, 'Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.
'Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no? We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves! Hanx!'
Scroll through to see Empire magazine's list of films to look forward to in 2020:
RADIO Empire films to look forward to in 2020 stacked
1 of 261917
Director: Sam MendesStarring: George McKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin FirthSam Mendes' WWI epic follows two young British soldiers given a seemingly impossible mission: cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers. Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins present, incredibly, the entire narrative as if filmed in a single take.Release date: 10th January 2020
2 of 26Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Director: Cathy YanStarring: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ewan McGregorRobbie returns as Suicide Squad's unhinged troublemaker Harleen Quinzell (AKA Harley Quinn), now separated from the Joker and leading an all-female super-team. The comic book caper involves them protecting a young girl from the clutches of McGregor's villainous Black Mask.Release date: 7th February 2020
3 of 26Dolittle
Director: Stephen GaghanStarring: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen, Antonio Banderas, Jim BroadbentLoosely adapted from the second of Hugh Lofting's venerable novels about the doctor who can talk to animals, the third screen version of the story casts Robert Downey Jr as a Welsh iteration of the title hero. Dolittle arrives – very late – having been beset with production problems and preemptively pegged as a disaster. The trailer did nothing to disabuse anyone of that notion. Still, maybe it'll be great.Release date: 7th February 2020
4 of 26Sonic the Hedgehog
Director: Jeff FowlerStarring: Ben Schwartz (voice), Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Neal McDonoughThe upcoming family-friendly Sonic movie blends live action and animation to adapt the long-running Sega video game series. Sonic (Schwartz) is the blue alien Hedgehog Who Fell to Earth, teaming up with Montana sheriff Marsden to defeat Carrey's evil Dr Robotnik. Grown adults got so upset about the first trailer that Sonic's look had to be completely redesigned.Release date: 14th February 2020
5 of 26The King's Man
Director: Matthew VaughnStarring: Harris Dickinson, Ralph Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Arterton, Rhys IfansKingsman 3 offers a prequel exploring the history of the secretive gentlemanly international espionage operation. Set in the early 1900s, its angle is a collection of history's worst criminals and tyrants joining forces to ignite a war to end all wars. Ifans is Rasputin and Stanley Tucci – not for the first time – plays Merlin. It's a lot.Release date: 14th February 2020
6 of 26Emma
Director: Autumn De WildeStarring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia Goth, Miranda Hart, Bill NighyJane Austen's 1815 novel gets its umpteenth adaptation as photographer and music video De Wilde's debut feature. Taylor-Joy plays the meddling Emma Woodhouse, fixated on matchmaking on behalf of her best friend Harriet (Goth), while neglecting her own perfect happiness.Release date: 28th February 2020
7 of 26Onward
Director: Dan ScanlonStarring: Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Octavia Spencer, Julia Louis-DreyfusPixar goes high-fantasy, presenting a modern, suburban world inhabited by elves, unicorns and dragons in Onward. That's the background for a story of two elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, who go on a quest to help them come to terms with the death of their father.Release date: 6th March 2020
8 of 26A Quiet Place: Part 2
Director: John KrasinskiStarring: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Brian Tyree Henry, Djimon HounsouKrasinski returns to direct, but not star, in the sequel to A Quiet Place, offering more adventures in a world that has been overrun by deadly creatures highly sensitive to noise, meaning that the surviving humans are forced to live in silence, communicating with sign language. Nothing is yet known about the plot specifics, but we might expect to be introduced to new survivors, and learn a little more about the aliens' origins.Release date: 20th March 2020
9 of 26Mulan
Director: Niki CaroStarring: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Jason Scott LeeOffering a slightly different take on the Chinese folktale to the animated 1998 version, Disney's live-action Mulan nevertheless follows the eldest daughter of an honoured warrior who is spirited, determined and quick on her feet – and becomes one of China's greatest warriors. No songs or wisecracking dragons this time though.Release date: 27th March 2020
10 of 26Peter Rabbit 2
Director: Will GluckStarring: James Corden, Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, David OyelowoReimagining Beatrix Potter's charming Edwardian vegetable thief as a cocky 21st-century hooligan seemed to do no harm at the 2018 box office, so here's more of same. Peter feels like he doesn't fit with his new family, so runs off to find other friends. But, he soon finds, different isn't necessarily better.Release date: 27th March 2020
11 of 26No Time To Die
Director: Cary Joji FukunagaStarring: Daniel Craig, Jeffrey Wright, Lashana Lynch, Rami MalekDelayed by some high-profile wrangling behind the scenes, Bond 25 finally arrives with True Detective director Fukunaga calling the shots. Craig's swan song in the role finds Bond retired from active service, but persuaded into one last mission when CIA buddy Felix Leiter (Wright) asks for a favour. Malek is the villain, although it's likely we'll also see Christoph Waltz back as Ernst Blofeld (if only as a cameo).Release date: 3rd April 2020
12 of 26The Secret Garden
Director: Marc MundenStarring: Dixie Egerickx, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Amir WilsonFrancis Hodgson Burnett's Edwardian children's classic gets a handsome-looking new adaptation: the first (not counting a steampunk cosplay oddity) since 1993. Egerickx is the orphaned girl sent to live with an uncle she has never previously met at an isolated Yorkshire manor house.Release date: 17th April 2020
13 of 26Black Widow
Director: Cate ShortlandStarring: Scarlett Johansson, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Rachel WeiszAfter a decade as a supporting member of the Avengers, Johansson's Natasha finally gets her own movie. How does that work given the events of Endgame? It's a prequel set just after Civil War, during the time when Natasha goes rogue with Steve Rogers. Antagonism comes via Red Guardian and Taskmaster.Release date: 1st May 2020
14 of 26Legally Blonde 3
Director: Jamie SukStarring: Reese Witherspoon, Alanna Ubach, Jessica CaufielTechnically the fourth in the series (since there's already been a straight-to-DVD threequel), Witherspoon here sashays back into the lead as Elle Woods, the apparent ditz who's a lot smarter than she seems. Previously she stormed Harvard and Washington. This time? That's still under wraps.Release date: 8th May 2020
15 of 26Chris Rock's Saw
Director: Darren Lynn BousmanStarring: Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, Marisol NicholsA rebootquel of the gory Saw franchise – the ninth Saw to date – the still untitled film is masterminded by and stars Rock, who, it turns out, is a long-term fan. He plays a cop on the trail of a serial killer responsible for a string of gnarly murders. Minghella plays Rock's partner on the force, Nichols is their captain, and Jackson stars as Rock's father.Release date: 15th May 2020
16 of 26Fast & Furious 9
Director: Justin LinStarring: Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Michelle RodriguezFollowing spin-off Hobbes & Shaw, F&F Part 9 properly returns the franchise focus to Diesel. Nothing's been revealed about the plot yet, but threads of F&F8 are hanging, with Theron's villain Cipher still at large. Expect a degree of vehicular mayhem and some sentiment about family.Release date: 22nd May 2020
17 of 26Wonder Woman 1984
Director: Patty JenkinsStarring: Gal Gadot, Kristin Wiig, Chris Pine, Pedro PascalThe time-travelling sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman, and the fourth film in total to feature Gadot's Amazonian warrior princess, AKA Diana Prince, revisits some early Cold War feuds. The antagonist this time appears to be Wiig's Barbara Ann Minerva, AKA Cheetah: an heiress who, through an ancient ritual, acquires supernatural feline powers – but not without a cost to herself.Release date: 5th June 2020
18 of 26Soul
Director: Pete DocterStarring: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, John Ratzenberger, Phylicia RashadThis new Pixar adventure involves "a journey from the streets of New York City to the cosmic realms to discover the answers to life's most important questions". Foxx voices a musician who loses his passion for music, is transported out of his body, and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself.Release date: 19th June 2020
19 of 26Minions: The Rise of Gru
Director: Kyle BaldaStarring: Steve Carell, Pierre CoffinExpect a summer-holidays merchandising deluge as the Despicable Me franchise dedicates a second spin-off specifically to yellow horrors the Minions. This one's an origin story, about the slapsticky weirdos' earliest days working for the then-tyrannical Gru.Release date: 10th July 2020
20 of 26Ghostbusters 2020
Director: Jason ReitmanStarring: Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, McKenna GraceA direct threequel ignoring the Paul Feig film, with a likely next-generation handover from the original cast to the newcomers. We'd put some fairly confident money on one of the new cast members playing a grown-up Oscar, the son of Peter Venkman and Dana Barrett, who appeared as a baby in Ghostbusters 2.Release date: 10th July 2020
21 of 26Top Gun: Maverick
Director: Joseph KosinskiStarring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Jennifer ConnellyThirty-four years later, Cruise's Pete Mitchell oversees a new class of drone-flying Top Gun candidates drawn from naval aviation. One of his trainees? Bradley Bradshaw, none other than the son of Maverick's old buddy Goose, who died last time around. Cruise has apparently been learning to fly fighter planes for this one, as one does.Release date: 17th July 2020
22 of 26Bill and Ted Face the Music
Director: Dean ParisotStarring: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William SadlerA much-belated threequel to the much beloved first two Bill and Ted movies is finally on the cards. 29 years on from their bogus journey, our heroes have yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny. But when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe, the now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure.Release date: 21st August 2020
23 of 26Death on the Nile
Director: Kenneth BranaghStarring: Kenneth Branagh, Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Sophie Okonedo, Russell BrandFollowing 2017's Murder on the Orient Express, here's another much-loved case for Agatha Christie's ace detective Hercule Poirot, with Branagh once again taking the lead. Swapping snowy Swiss tracks for the hot sun of Egypt, the film promises another all-star cast, among whom skulks a killer (or killers).Release date: 9th October 2020
24 of 26Halloween Kills
Director: David Gordon GreenStarring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Anthony Michael HallDavid Gordon Green's reboot of the Michael Myers stab-a-thon series continues, with this being the second part of the trilogy he began in 2018. Curtis returns once again as Laurie Strode, battling Myers since 1979, somehow still at it. There's no killin' what can't be killed. Trilogy capper Halloween Ends is due in 2021.Release date: 16th October 2020
25 of 26The Witches
Director: Robert ZemeckisStarring: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Chris RockRoald Dahl's terrifying, barking mad tale speaks of a boy and his grandmother who get turned into mice and still have to battle a coven of witches with a horrible plan for all the children in the world. Zemeckis is promising to hew closer to Dahl's 1973 novel than the previous Nicolas Roeg film.Release date: 16th October 2020
26 of 26West Side Story
Director: Steven SpielbergStarring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Corey StollSpielberg's first musical adapts Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein's classic stage show, itself an updated and relocated retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families become warring gangs the Jets and the Sharks. Can Tony and Maria's love cross that great divide?Release date: 18th December 2020
Hanks reports that they'll be in quarantine and undergoing all the required tests. Studio Warner Bros. sent out a more formal statement on the issue, though it didn't name Hanks directly, "We have been made aware that a company member from our Elvis feature film, which is currently in pre-production in The Gold Coast, Australia, has tested positive for COVID-19.
"We are working closely with the appropriate Australian health agencies to identify and contact anyone who may have come in direct contact with the individual. The health and safety of our company members is always our top priority, and we are taking precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world. The individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently receiving treatment."