Disney has joined a growing list of major film companies threatening to abandon production in Georgia if a controversial abortion ban is enacted in the southern US state.
CEO Bob Iger said it would be "very difficult" to continue filming in the state, where Disney blockbuster such as Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame were made, because "people who work for us will not want to work there".
Netflix was the first major studio to step forward earlier this week and criticise the abortion legislation, saying "we'd rethink our entire investment in Georgia" should the controversial law come into effect.
NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, AMC Networks and WarnerMedia — whose stable includes HBO, Turner and Warner Bros — followed suit.
"We will watch the situation closely and if the new law holds we will reconsider Georgia as the home to any new productions," WarnerMedia said in a statement to AFP.
"As is always the case, we will work closely with our production partners and talent to determine how and where to shoot any given project."
Under the "foetal-heartbeat bill", which was signed by Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp on May 7 and goes into effect next year, abortion would be banned as early as six weeks into pregnancy.
"We fully expect that the heartbeat bills and similar laws in various states will face serious legal challenges and will not go into effect while the process proceeds in court," NBCUniversal said in a statement.
"If any of these laws are upheld, it would strongly impact our decision-making on where we produce our content in the future."
Known as the Hollywood of the South or Y'allywood, Georgia is the third-largest production hub in the US after Los Angeles and New York, thanks to tax credits of up to 30 per cent — among the most generous in the world — it offers to movie and TV production companies.
Should the television and film industry decide to snub Georgia as a filming location, it would be a huge blow to the state, which last year reported some 92,000 jobs and an economic impact of more than $9 billion from productions there.
Movies currently being filmed in the state include WarnerMedia's The Conjuring 3, the third instalment of the supernatural horror movie.
On the television side, Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams' Lovecraft Country, an HBO television horror series based on Matt Ruff's novel of the same name, is set to shoot in the state.
Disney has made a number of blockbusters there, including Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame, while Netflix has filmed such television hits as Stranger Things and Ozark.
AMC's flagship series The Walking Dead, is also filmed in Georgia.
"I think many people who work for us will not want to work there and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard," Disney's Mr Iger said at the unveiling of a new Star Wars section in Disneyland yesterday.
"Right now we are watching it very carefully."
A spokesman for Sony said the company would keep an eye on legal challenges to the abortion law and act accordingly.
"We will continue to monitor that process in close consultation with our filmmakers and television showrunners, talent and other stakeholders as we consider our future production options," the spokesman said.
The law has prompted mounting calls by activists, actors and others in the film industry to boycott the state.
"Georgia stands to lose Netflix & Disney," Democrat Stacey Abrams, who opposed Governor Kemp in the November mid-terms, tweeted.
"This means lost jobs for carpenters, hair dressers, food workers & 100s of small businesses grown right here," she wrote.
Head of the University of Southern California's Media Institute for Social Change, Michael Taylor, said he was heartened to see Hollywood standing "on the right side of the issue".
"I don't know that it's a good financial decision for them … but I think sometimes you have to do the right thing as opposed to the financially prudent thing," he told AFP.
"Most people in town — certainly at the studios and I put myself in this category as well — thought that this was an issue that was settled with Roe v Wade.
"And when you see states trying to undo that, I think the right thing to do is to take a position and take your money elsewhere."
Apart from Georgia, several other US states, including Alabama and Louisiana, have adopted laws restricting abortion.
These states hope the bills will ultimately lead to a reversal of the landmark 1973 US Supreme Court ruling Roe v Wade that made abortion legal nationwide.