The entire entertainment industry has essentially shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the risk deemed too high to be gathering casts and crews that number into the hundreds together for filming movies and TV shows. With the peak of the crisis still set to be a while away yet, 2020 will reportedly see Hollywood miss out on up to $20 billions in revenue from all the delays, with the box office already down to zero as theaters around the world remain closed for the foreseeable future.
This continued uncertainty will have a huge effect on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, too, as each installment in Phase Four needs to be released in a specific order for all the pieces to fit together, with the introduction of the Disney Plus shows adding another layer onto the shared universe. Black Widow is already delayed indefinitely, which could directly impact The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings could struggle to meet the intended February 2021 debut, and Spider-Man 3’s July start date has been postponed, too.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness seems highly unlikely to shoot in June either, leaving The Eternals as the only Phase Four movie that could realistically be released on time. Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder, meanwhile, isn’t scheduled to begin filming until August, but there are already doubts being cast as the pandemic continues to affect everyday life around the world.
However, that hasn’t stopped star Chris Hemsworth from getting into shape to play the title character, with the actor posting a photo on social media to plug his fitness app that shows how he’s hitting the gym hard in preparation for his fourth solo outing as the God of Thunder, which you can see below.
Whether Thor: Love and Thunder manages have the cameras rolling in Australia this August is still anybody’s guess, but at least Hemsworth is still putting in the hard work for what will surely be the contractually-obligated shirtless scene that tends to be a part of the franchise. Recently-cast villain Christian Bale is known for transforming his body for a multitude of roles, but even he’d be foolish to try and compete with Chris Hemsworth.
