One of the first films delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic has just become the latest to do it again. No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond film, was originally scheduled for April 10, was then moved to November 25, and will now open April 2, 2021.
“MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of No Time to Die, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience,” the team announced on Twitter. “We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing No Time to Die next year.”
The move is unsurprising considering almost every other major 2020 release has moved off its initial date at least once. One film that shifted a few times but did come out was Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which was released in early September to wildly mixed box-office results all over the globe. In the U.S., one of the biggest markets, the numbers have been less than stellar and other studios have basically used the results as a bit of a measuring stick.
This year does still have a few big movies on the release schedule, though we are unsure if they’ll hold. Disney has the Pixar film Soul on the schedule for November 20; Warner Bros. has Dune and Wonder Woman 1984 for late December. While rumours have been swirling Disney could potentially move Soul to streaming service Disney+, Warner Bros. is highly unlikely to do that with its blockbusters. (That said, earlier today Warner Bros. moved Robert Zemeckis’ The Witches to HBO Max, setting that precedent. Maybe if it’s a huge hit, the company will reconsider.)
As for Bond, as the statement says, this is obviously a huge disappointment. And yet the move makes it clear everyone involved believes this will be a massive, massive movie and that it’ll be worth the wait, both for the studio and for the fans.
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for an updated Australian release date.