US box office: worst in 25 years, since the release of Outbreak

The US box office has experienced its worst weekend in 25 years, which coincidentally just so happens to be the year that Outbreak was released: 1995. Just in case you don't remember Outbreak, I've got the trailer embedded below:

It looks like all that social distancing with cinema chains like AMC Theaters implementing new procedures, along with advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommending social gatherings of over 500 people end, with CDC's new guidelines recommending just 50 people or less now.

COVID-19 coronavirus has forced US box office numbers into worrying lows, with the top 10 movies combined making just $50.3 million. This is the lowest for weekend 11 of the year since March 17-19, 1995 -- the year Outbreak was leading the US box office.

Deadline reports that some estimates could see the global ticket sales of COVID-19 coronavirus blasting $17 billion from January-May, but the situation continues to change and these numbers could swell, dramatically.

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The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has issued new COVID-19 coronavirus guidelines, where it wants to see in-person events of over 50 people limited, or outright canceled.

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Starbucks have also implemented a new "to go" policy over the new social distancing push around the world. Xbox Live also went down for a few hours, which I'm sure was because Microsoft servers were overloaded with countless gamers playing games because more and more people are forced to stay and work from home.

EA has joined the coronavirus panic as well, ushering in new work-from-home policies lasting through to April 1 and postponing all in-person live events for games like Apex Legends and the FIFA franchise.

Not even Batman is safe from coronavirus, with Warner Bros. shutting production down on the Matt Reeves directed and Robert Pattinson as the Batman and Bruce Wayne movie The Batman. Speaking of movies, the largest theater chain in the US -- AMC Theaters, has announced new social distancing methods of limiting theater attendance.

The Game Developers Conference will now be offering streamed conferences through Twitch, over postponing the physical game industry related event over coronavirus fears.

Bitcoin has dropped in price significantly, with a huge 40% reduction in its price from highs of $10,000 to a new 2020 low of less than $5000. Apple stock has also tumbled, dumping $300 billion from its market cap and reducing it to just over $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000).

Apple has recently postponed an event over coronavirus, where it was due to unveil new iPhones and a new iPad.

New York Governor Cuomo has established a 1-mile containment zone in New Rochelle over the spread of coronavirus / COVID-19 in New York, while Google has recently asked all staff based in Canada or the United States to work from home if they can. Apple has just canceled an event where it was due to unveil a successor to the iPhone SE, and a new iPad, too.

Delivery start ups including Postmates have now got a "non-contact delivery option" for those who are worried about contracting coronavirus, too.

We've seen some gigantic events being canceled or postponed over coronavirus / COVID-19 fears, with Mobile World Congress, the Game Developers Conference, Google I/O, Facebook's F8 developer conference -- and even chatter from Dick Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee, with the IOC talking about outright canceling the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Google has also ended all of its in-person job interviews for now over coronavirus fears, instead shifting to a digital-only Hangouts meeting for future employees. Twitter is also "strongly encouraging" its employees to work from home if possible, while Amazon has halted its near 800,000 strong workforce from all non-essential travel over coronavirus / COVID-19 fears.

But don't worry, gamers... as AMD has confirmed that the next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launches are "on track" for later this year and that coronavirus hasn't forced a delay for these launches (yet).

You can read more on our coverage of coronavirus here.