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It looks like the first Hollywood casualty of the Coronavirus is none other than James Bond himself. While the latest movie in the franchise, “No Time to Die” was set to be released in North America in April, with the current crisis revolving around the Coronavirus outbreak, the studio behind the film has decided to postpone the film’s release.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, instead of having the new James Bond movie release this spring, it will instead get its premiere in November. “No Time to Die” will open first in the United Kingdom on Nov. 12, 2020. It will then open in the United States on Nov. 25.
While some people may be wondering what lead to this decision, which was likely not an easy one for the studio to make since they were already heavily into their marketing for the April release, it is actually quite simple. Although one might think that the studio was concerned about public health and safety with their decision to postpone the release of James Bond’s latest adventure, the reality is the decision is rooted in money.
With so many government officials issuing warnings and shutting businesses and schools down because of concerns over the Coronavirus outbreak, the studio behind James Bond knew that there would be less people heading to theaters. At the same time, in China, where many Hollywood movies find the most success, there is currently an “ongoing cinema blackout” and countries like Italy, South Korea, and Japan are seeing less people heading to the movies as well.
All of this combined to create a perfect storm that would have potentially tanked the movie. Considering the amount of money that went into this film and the marketing for the project, there is simply no way that the studio was going to want to release “James Bond: No Time to Die” at the height of the Coronavirus scare.
For fans of the James Bond franchise, this means that they will have to wait until the end of 2020 to see Daniel Craig in action once again. As this is his final outing as the titular hero, it is likely better than the studio chose to wait to release the film rather than run the risk of letting it flop because of a downturn in movie-going because of the outbreak.
Written by Kimberley Spinney
Sources:
The Hollywood Reporter – ‘No Time to Die’ Release Delayed Due to Coronavirus Outbreak
CNN – James Bond film, ‘No Time To Die,’ release pushed to November due to coronavirus concerns
Image Credit – brando’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License