Things are tough all over for The Walt Disney Company. First Disney announced furloughs for its theme park employees, and now similar cuts are coming to its film empire.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, layoff notices were handed to an undetermined number of employees across Disney’s various film divisions including Lucasfilm, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Disney’s live-action studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 20th Century and Searchlight.

Disney employees affected include whose whose positions are deemed “non-essential.” It is unclear at this time who exactly was affected by this furlough.

Impacted workers will remain Disney employees through the duration of the furlough period. They will receive full healthcare benefits, plus the cost of employee and company premiums will be paid by Disney, and those enrolled in Disney Aspire will have continued access to the education program.

Additionally, employees with available paid time off can elect to use some or all of it at the start of the furlough period and, once furloughed, they are eligible to receive an extra $600 per week in federal compensation through the $2 trillion economic stimulus bill, as well as state unemployment insurance.

Disney’s movie machine has ground to a standstill, alongside its theme park business. Several films, like Mulan and Black Widow, have been pushed back to later dates in the hope of theaters reopening in time for the summer movie season.

Other titles, such as Artemis Fowl, are bypassing theatrical release and going straight to Disney Plus.

Disney will not be the same company on the other side of the shutdown, with some analysts predicting it could take two years for the company to return to business as usual in its theme park division.

Movie distribution may be irreparably disrupted, with AMC Theaters reportedly teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and other theaters not far behind them.

[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]