James Bond’s latest adventure has hit another speed bump. “No Time to Die,” the upcoming installment in the British spy series, has been postponed yet again.
The movie will now release in theaters on Oct. 8. It was originally scheduled to open on April 2.
It’s hardly a surprise that Bond has been pushed back to fall. Hollywood has been widely anticipating that “No Time to Die” would face another delay as coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket.
“No Time to Die” cost $200 million to produce, and it relies on global ticket sales to turn a profit. That’s nearly impossible to achieve when most movie theaters are closed, and the few that remain open have been operating at reduced capacity. Thursday’s announcement marks the film’s third delay in the last 10 months. In March of 2020, “No Time to Die” became the first tentpole to shift its release date amid the pandemic.
MGM is rolling out “No Time to Die” in North America, while Universal has international rights.
The latest scheduling shift for “No Time to Die” may inspire rival studios to delay their movies set for the first few months of 2021. Moments after MGM moved Bond, Universal announced that the studio’s Bob Odenkirk-led action thriller “Nobody” was moving from Feb. 26 to April 2. And Focus Features, the specialty studio owned by Universal, bumped Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” from April 23 back to Oct. 22.
Most big movies have already been postponed to mid-summer or later, but a select few remain on the film calendar in early 2021 including Sony’s “Cinderella” starring Camila Cabello (Feb. 5) and Disney and 20th Century’s “The King’s Man” (March 12).
Cary Joji Fukunaga directed “No Time to Die,” the 25th entry in the Bond franchise and the final go-around for star Daniel Craig. The cast also includes Rami Malek as Bond’s adversary Safin, Lashana Lynch as a new ‘007 agent, and Léa Seydoux as Bond’s love interest. Ana de Armas, Ben Whishaw and Christoph Waltz also star.