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The release date for No Time To Die has been pushed back to November 2020 amid fears the Coronavirus outbreak will impact its promotion and box office takings.
The team behind the forthcoming James Bond instalment announced the delay today (March 4), writing on Twitter: “MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020.”
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020. pic.twitter.com/a9h1RP5OKd
— James Bond (@007) March 4, 2020
As The Hollywood Reporter writes, the decision to postpone the film’s original April 2 release comes after the Bond fan blog MI6-HQ published an open letter calling on the companies to delay the launch and “put public health above marketing release schedules.”
Co-written by James Page, co-founder of the fan website, and David Leigh, founder of the James Bond Dossier, the letter applauded the decision to cancel the film’s publicity tours in China, South Korea and Japan, and to postpone its release in Hong Kong until April 30.
Additionally, the letter stated that the nations that have banned or restricted large public gatherings to contain the spread of the virus (Italy, France, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea) amounted to 38 per cent of the total global earnings for the last Bond outing, Spectre.
“With a month to go before No Time to Die opens worldwide, community spread of the virus is likely to be peaking in the United States,” part of the letter reads.
“There is a significant chance that cinemas will be closed, or their attendance severely reduced, by early April. Even if there are no legal restrictions on cinemas being open, to quote M in Skyfall, ‘How safe do you feel?'”
No Time To Die is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and is Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007.
The MGM and Eon film was due to begin rolling out internationally in early April following a March 31 world premiere in London. It was scheduled to open in North America on April 10.
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