The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down all film and television productions as their casts and crews look to contain the spread of the virus through social distancing, but there is one lone project that survived the lockdown. Kurt Wimmer's Stephen King short story and a reboot of the film series, has officially wrapped shooting -- which occurred entirely under quarantine in Australia.
The Children of the Corn series already boasts a multitude of sequels, with a whopping ten films already part of the franchise. The new outing marks the second remake after the 2009 made-for-television movie that was released on the SyFy channel. Wimmer, whose credits include dystopian sci-fi films such as Equilibrium, has remained a screenwriter throughout the decade but has not sat in the director's chair since 2006 when he helmed Ultraviolet.
There have been other forays into filmmaking during the COVID-19 crisis, but Wimmer's project is one of the only productions to have resumed on-set operations during a nation-wide lockdown. Unter Uns, a German teen soap opera, has also continued shooting in Cologne after pausing production for a week to consider safety measures, while the Australian soap Neighbors has undertaken similar safety protocols. Warhunt, a WWII horror movie starring Mickey Rourke, has also wrapped filming in Latvia during the pandemic. The cast and crew of these projects had to abide by strict safety precautions and used strategies like temperature checks, personal makeup kits, and a measuring tool to mark appropriate social distancing.
The Children of the Corn Reboot Was Filmed Under Quarantine
According to Deadline, producer Lucas Foster (Ford v Ferrari) worked closely with the local governing body, Screen NSW, which helps to art and cultural projects in the Australian state of New South Wales to create a safe environment for filming to continue. Jon Heaney, who works as a film stunt and safety consultant, planned a revised shooting schedule that greatly considered health concerns, making him the first COVID-19 on-set safety coordinator. The film's producers have not gone into detail about what specific precautions were taken, but they have stated that those on set avoided getting sick by participating in a shared quarantine together so their health could be efficiently monitored.
It was the low-budget, indie movie status of the film that ultimately helped production continue. Screen NSW has said that the project was following government-mandated guidelines and restrictions for workplaces, but the film was spared from the studio regulations that forced the shutdown of bigger, higher-profile productions. Another revisit to the Children of the Corn franchise may seem unnecessary, but the creative and technical minds behind the motion picture may have paved the way for filmmaking in a post-COVID world.
