Hurricane Sandy Slams Entertainment Industry With Production Delays, Lost Ticket Sales

Hurricane Sandy pummeled the East Coast leaving behind it a trail of devastation that had major cities like New York and Washington (DC) reeling. But the storm's impact had a much wider reach, with economic fallout expected to cost the entertainment industry millions of dollars.

Executives in Los Angeles stress that their headaches pale in comparison to the loss of lives and damaged property wrought by the storm, but production delays and lost box office are being keenly felt by an industry headquartered on the other side of the continent. Their problems won't go away any time soon. With large swaths of New York's subway system underwater and off-line for up to five days, audiences will continue to have difficulty making it to movies or plays, while film crews and other production personnel will face challenges getting to work. Already, New York is feeling the pinch. As the storm started to pick up steam on Sunday, the country's major movie theater chains began shuttering locations all along the eastern seaboard. On Monday, box office in all of New York was $3,000, while a week ago it stood at nearly half a million dollars.