On Thursday, "No Time to Die," the latest installment in the British spy franchise, James Bond, and one of the most anticipated movies of 2021, been delayed again.
The movie will now release in theaters on October 8 after it was originally scheduled to open on April 2.
It is hardly a surprise that the upcoming James Bond movie has been pushed back to fall as Hollywood has been widely anticipating that “No Time to Die” would face another delay as coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket.
MGM is rolling out “No Time to Die” in North America, while Universal has international rights. The movie has been produced with a massive price tag of around $200 million and relies on substantial global ticket sales to turn a profit, which is nearly impossible to achieve at a time when most movie theaters are closed, and the few that remain open have been operating at a reduced capacity.
Thursday’s announcement marked the movie’s third delay in the last 10 months. In March 2020, “No Time to Die” became the first tentpole to postpone its release date amid the pandemic.
The latest scheduling shift for “No Time to Die” may inspire other studios to delay movies that are still set to be released in the first few months of the year.
Moments after MGM relocated Bond, Universal announced that the studio’s Bob Odenkirk-led action thriller “Nobody” was moving from Feb. 26 to April 2, and Sony rescheduled “Peter Rabbit 2,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”, and “Cinderella.”
Meanwhile, Focus Features, the specialty studio owned by Universal, moved Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” from April 23 back to Oct. 22.
It is also been commonly speculated that Universal’s “Fast & Furious” sequel, “F9”, won’t keep its May 28 release date.
“No Time to Die” is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and marks the 25th entry in the Bond franchise and the final go-around for star Daniel Craig, who plays the British spy.
The movie also stars 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.
The spy thriller was originally set to open in November 2019 but was delayed after original director Danny Boyle left the project and Fukunaga stepped in.
It was pushed back from its April 2020 release date to November 2020 after the pandemic effectively shut down the entire movie theater industry. The movie was delayed again to April 2021 when it became clear that theaters weren’t opening up anytime soon.
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