Well, what’s new? It probably comes as no great surprise considering how many movies have suffered the same fate even since COVID-19 hit the country, but yet another upcoming cinema release has been delayed to a later debut. This time, it’s James Bond: No Time to Die.
To be fair, we may as well start off by saying that this isn’t the first time this film has been delayed. It was actually delayed once before, also thanks to COVID. But now it has been delayed a second time, to an even further date in the future. The new release date is April 2nd, 2021. In all honesty, COVID was not mentioned specifically as a reason for this second delay, but it is pretty clearly a motivation for the delay. As to whether or not this will be the last time the movie gets delayed, there’s no way to be certain. Hopefully, the era of movie delays will come to an end sometime soon, alongside COVID.
It was announced on Twitter that “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. We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing No Time to Die next year.”
Prior to this delay, No Time to Die was scheduled to release relatively soon, that being November 12th for the United Kingdom and November 20th in the United States. Before the first delay, the film was scheduled to release in April of this year, but it was one of the first movies to be delayed due to COVID. Unlike some films that were delayed by a full year right away, No Time to Die was still hoping for a 2020 release, but now it too has been delayed by a full year, much to the chagrin of those that were looking forward to Daniel Craig’s last time playing the character of James Bond.
It’s no great surprise that the film has been delayed again, all things considered. Tons of movies have already delayed until 2021, and the few that have hit theaters this year, such as Tenet and X-Men: New Mutants, did not perform particularly well considering how many theaters are still closed. Moreover, lots of people that are interested in movies are still avoiding public gatherings due to the virus. Really, it’s just not a good time to be releasing movies, all things considered.
All of that taken into consideration, we still hope that No Time to Die won’t be delayed again, since a full year delay is already pretty significant. But whether or not we will get that lucky remains to be seen. It will probably depend on how the COVID situation continues to evolve from here on out.
