James Bond movie postponed again amid pandemic
The James Bond film No Time to Die is postponed to October from April. It is a setback for movie theaters who are trying to rebuild a business crushed by the coronavirus pandemic.
The movie’s new debut date is Oct. 8, according to an announcement on the James Bond website and Twitter feed.
“No Time to Die” originally had to release in April 2020; before moving to November 2020 and then April 2021.
The film, which cost an estimated $200 million to produce, marks actor Daniel Craig’s last film as agent 007.
Cinema owners were hoping No Time to Die would kick off a rebound in moviegoing. The pandemic devastated the film business in 2020, and ticket sales in the United States and Canada sunk 80%. That hurt independent theaters and big chain; AMC Entertainment, Cineworld Plc and Cinemark Holdings Inc
With the virus still rampant in many areas, Hollywood studios appear reluctant to send their biggest films to theaters.
Almost all the cinemas are closed temporarily; the opened cinemas urge social distancing.
The UK Cinema Association said the decision to delay the film’s release was “clearly disappointing … (but) at the same time not surprising”.
“Clearly – like the producers of the film – the UK’s cinema operators look forward when the time is right to ensuring that as many people as possible are able to enjoy this and other major titles on the big screen, their natural environment,” it said, calling for government support for the sector.
The Bond franchise made $880 million at the box office worldwide in 2015, while Skyfall in 2012 grossed more than $1 billion globally.
The movie Black Widow from Walt Disney Co’s Marvel Studios, currently scheduled to debut in theaters on May 7.
About James Bond
Novelist Ian Fleming created a fictional character named James Bond in 1953. Bond is a British secret agent working for MI6 who also answers to his codename, ”007“. The actors’ Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig portrayed James Bond in twenty-seven productions. Eon Productions produced all the films. Eon now holds the full adaptation rights to all of Fleming’s Bond novels
