It still isn’t time forNo Time to Die. Multiple sources are reporting that the debut of the 25thJames Bond film is likely to be pushed back once again, markingthe fourth time the film has been delayed. No new release date has been announced.
Right now, this can be considered an unverified leak, and apparently began from claims on a Dutch website that the film is headed towardslater in the year. Reportedly, several promotional partners onNo Time to Diehave also been informed that the movie is likely to slide to autumn 2021, possibly November.
RELATED:Rumor Mill: MGM Wanted $600 Million to Bring James Bond to Streaming
There’s a lot riding on the success ofNo Time to Die. Its production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) tried to shop it around to video-on-demand services last October, asking for but not getting a $600 million fee from streaming giants like Netflix or Amazon Prime. The multiple delays on the film have reportedlycost MGM somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million already, on top of the $250 million thatNo Time to Diecost to make.
IfNo Time to Diehad come out on time back in November of 2019, MGM might have been better able to weather the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it is, it’s currently a useful example of how the modern film industry depends on theaters, and the big box office takes that come from a movie’s initial debut, tomake their operation profitable.
Notably, MGM is also one of the last major studios in Hollywood that has yet to found its own streaming service. While it hasan impressive lineup of films in its library, including theGirl with the Dragon Tattooseries, theHobbitandLord of the Ringstrilogies, andThe Cabin in the Woods, its run so far in the 21stcentury has been punctuated by bad decisions (such as thatDeath Wishremake) and several outright flops, including a short-lived spat with Starz that came down to MGM being bad at tracking who it had authorized to air its films at any given time.
MGM’s near-total reliance on the theater system has cost it dearly in the last year, and it began to exploreputting itself up for salein December. The company is currently valued at a surprisingly cheap $5.5 billion.
No Time to Dieis planned to be the fifth andfinal film in Daniel Craig’s run as James Bond, and features Bond coming out of retirement for one last job.It co-stars Rami Malek,Léa Seydoux,Lashana Lynch, Naomie Harris, Christoph Waltz, and Ralph Fiennes, and was directed by Cory Joji Fukunaga from a screenplay by himself, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
