Coronavirus: James Bond Postpones Release Date Because It's No Time To Die 47
The release of upcoming James Bond film "No Time To Die" has been pushed back from April To November due to coronavirus fears. "The 25th installment in the storied spy franchise will commence its run on Nov. 12 in the U.K., followed by the U.S. on Nov. 25," reports The Hollywood Reporter. "It was scheduled to open in North America on April 10." From the report: Relocating a tentpole and restarting a marketing campaign that was in full swing is a Herculean task but insiders say hundreds of millions of dollars hung in the balance decision of the ongoing cinema blackout in China and a downturn in moviegoing in markets where COVID-19 is a major issue, including South Korea, Italy and Japan. And there's concern that by early April, other markets could be impacted. "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," read a statement issued by the three parties.
In its new date, No Time to Die has the advantage of going out over the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday in North America (many previous Bond movies also opened in November). The other major 2020 Thanksgiving tentpole is Godzilla vs. Kong, which debuts domestically on Nov. 20. As the coronavirus first began to spread, publicity tours for the movie in China, South Korea and Japan were canceled, and No Time To Die's release in Hong Kong was pushed back until April 30. Aside for the concerns over audience members, the letter said the ongoing coronavirus outbreak could seriously impact the film's box office, noting that the countries to have banned or restricted large public gatherings -- including China, Italy, France, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea -- contributed some 38 percent of the total global earnings for the last Bond movie, 2015's Spectre.
In its new date, No Time to Die has the advantage of going out over the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday in North America (many previous Bond movies also opened in November). The other major 2020 Thanksgiving tentpole is Godzilla vs. Kong, which debuts domestically on Nov. 20. As the coronavirus first began to spread, publicity tours for the movie in China, South Korea and Japan were canceled, and No Time To Die's release in Hong Kong was pushed back until April 30. Aside for the concerns over audience members, the letter said the ongoing coronavirus outbreak could seriously impact the film's box office, noting that the countries to have banned or restricted large public gatherings -- including China, Italy, France, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea -- contributed some 38 percent of the total global earnings for the last Bond movie, 2015's Spectre.
That's because... (Score:2, Funny)
...apparently there is still more time to die.
Re: (Score:2)
Are there console bond movies?
Re: (Score:2)
Memified that for you (Score:1)
Disney too. (Score:4, Insightful)
I know Disney is thinking of delaying the release of Mulan for similar reasons.
I think this would be the perfect time for using their Disney+ service to do a pay-per-view release with a near "captive audience" with a bunch of bored people hanging out at home (especially in China) which would probably get them a higher box office then the typical release. (though they probably can't because of exhibitor/theater contracts)
Re: (Score:3)
I know Disney is thinking of delaying the release of Mulan for similar reasons.
I think this would be the perfect time for using their Disney+ service to do a pay-per-view release with a near "captive audience" with a bunch of bored people hanging out at home (especially in China) which would probably get them a higher box office then the typical release. (though they probably can't because of exhibitor/theater contracts)
As a shareholder and fan, I can tell you that they better move it. This film looks like it should be good, but China is always going to be a hard sell market for this film. China and Hong Kong have a history of Mulan movies and China had one about 10 years ago with a major Chinese actress that was a hit. Even under the best of circumstances there will always be some chance that China just isn't going to like this film for some random reason. Its success depends on getting people in China to see it and
Re: Disney too. (Score:2)
That's a remarkably inclusive "Asia".
Re: (Score:2)
Man with more experience, more data, more experts makes decision., but you, lone slashdotter with no data of information truly knows the way.
Any decision he makes will be better then your.
You don't even fucking know where Asia is, for crying out loud.
Re: (Score:3)
I wonder if it's as weird for them when a Western company does a story about China as it is when a Chinese company does a story about the West.
Advance ticket sales (Score:1)
Well this sucks. I bought advanced tickets. Guess I have to talk to Fandango customer service.
PPV on Prime Already! (Score:2)
MGM, Eon, and Amazon are missing a huge opportunity to sell me this as a $24.99 PPV event on Prime on 10 April.
Me and Ms. BFM have stocked up on the beer, popcorn, Fabreeze, and filled the local media server before Coronagedon (C)(R)TM, but would live to see the last Daniel Craig Bond film before society and the Internet collapse.
Re: (Score:2)
MGM, Eon, and Amazon are missing a huge opportunity to sell me this as a $24.99 PPV event on Prime on 10 April.
I would pay more to watch ALL movies at home.
I don't see the point of theaters.
Hopefully, COVID will help to kill them off.
Re:PPV on Prime Already! (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see the point of theaters.
Uh, okay, sure. Whatever floats your boat. I just watched 1917 in a theater and it was amazing. Even though I have a fairly large screen TV I really just can't imagine it being nearly as satisfying.
About $22 for my tickets for my wife and me, and another $20 for popcorn, beer, and wine, and it's a pretty cheap date. It's good to get out of the house. It doesn't hurt the there are three theaters within ten minutes of my house and I can usually head out the door about 15 min. before the movie starts and be there with time to buy popcorn.
I'm really looking forward to seeing No Time to Die in the theater. YMMV.
Re:PPV on Prime Already! (Score:5, Funny)
I just watched 1917 in a theater
Now you're getting to experience 1918 outside the theater!
Re: (Score:2)
I just watched 1917 in a theater
Now you're getting to experience 1918 outside the theater!
And it didn't cost me a nickel! Thanks real world, you have always sucked.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe the cinemas are better where you are but I always find there are issues that make me wish I could have watched at home.
- Inconsiderate people making noise or using their phones
- It's hard to get a good seat at popular times
- Too hot
- For some reason in Japan everyone watches the whole of the credits on every movie
- Very expensive
- Bad food
- Sometimes the volume is too high
I guess the problem is that they can't charge much for a streaming release because if it's not included with your Netflix/Prime sub
Re: PPV on Prime Already! (Score:2)
It is awkward to keep asking people to Iâ(TM)ve e fuck out of the way so you can leave, when they want to sit there watching credits roll.
Re: (Score:2)
Because the cinema is awesome.
I have a high end TV, and a wicked awesome sound system. I still like the cinema for some movies.
Any giant monster movie, for example.
And sometimes a dinner cinema is nice.
Re: (Score:2)
Hopefully, COVID will help to kill them off.
Why do you pray that something would kill off an activity enjoyed by millions of others just because you don't like it? Are you truly that much of an arsehole?
Re: PPV on Prime Already! (Score:2)
Because if the theaters die off, then the distributors will have more incentive to make new releases watchable from home on Day 1.
Re: (Score:2)
Fat chance. It'll be $50 or more.
Cinema movie ticket prices and concessions aren't expensive because they're gouging, but because the whole business model is broken. It's why MoviePass was never going to work.
Unsold movie tickets during a release do not cost the theatre anything - 100% of ticket revenues during the first couple of weeks (or for Disney, likely far longer at a month or more) goes str
Re: (Score:2)
My wife has a regal pass, and it's fucking awesome.
It's brilliant because the make nothing in tickets, but bank on concessions. since she has already paid fro 2 movies, getting concession items isn't a huge guilty expense.
And she watches several movie a month.
The problem with movie pass no one got it. Literally seemed to good to be true; and they are only for regal theaters, so regal can recapture the lss in concessions.
Re: PPV on Prime Already! (Score:2)
But what theaters are missing is that many movies could be made on the âoecrowd sourceâ model. They could be completely financed by money from prepaying customers.
Example: Star Wars.
We are going to make the next Star Wars movie. Anticipated release date is 3 years from today. Anyone who ponies up a non-refundable $20 gets it via streaming video on release day. Once $200M is raised, we start the project.
They would have no problem getting their $200M up front. The same model could be applied to othe
Re: (Score:2)
Dont Worry for James Bond (Score:2)
The icing we have been searching for for the cupcake is not icing at all but just Nutella and the cupcake is a Klondike bar! is how the denouement would start.
I understand completely (Score:4, Funny)
Because it IS time to die.
Coronavirus: James Bond (Score:1)
The big takeaway from this story (Score:2)
It will leak onto the internet in that time (Score:4, Insightful)
The theatre take may ending up being less if this leaks onto the internet in the intervening months. I'd imagine the security issues for a film that was about to be released in less than a month that suddenly gets shelved for two quarters will be considerable.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd imagine the security issues for a film that was about to be released in less than a month that suddenly gets shelved for two quarters will be considerable.
It was glued to the shelf with a very strong Bond. The glue was shaken not stirred. I'll be here all week. Tip your waitress.
Looks like it was delayed by '007' months ... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Oddly, this skips the healthier summer months, and puts us back into cold, flu, and coronavirus season in the fall. There's an extremely good chance that the virus will go mostly dormant (or shift to the southern hemisphere) during our summer months, and will come back with a fury in the fall. Was there literally no summer month they could pick to release this movie?
Re: Looks like it was delayed by '007' months ... (Score:2)
Now THAT IS FUNNY (Score:2)
Annual flu seasons are during that time! (Score:2)
Why bother? :P Wait, maybe Elliot deploys his virus in it. Oops, wrong series.
Oh bullshit, they just don't want it to bomb. (Score:1)
They don't want to release it to theaters that people are too afraid to go to. This is probably a wise business move, and they're just dressing it up as some sort of "concern". Sure, they're concerned the theaters will be closed or abandoned.
I don't hate them for doing this or anything, but trying to spin it as anything but a sound business move pisses me off.
Zombie apocalypse (Score:1)
The fans spoke too (Score:2)
There was an article in Wired a few days ago that the founders of two of the major James Bond fan groups (who knew) wrote a letter to the studio requesting postponement because of the coronavirus threat. So it sounds like most of James Bond fandom is onboard with the decision.
Re: The fans spoke too (Score:2)
I think most of the true fans hope this latest
Movie is NEVER released and they get back to the business of making actual Bond movies.
Disciples of Cornshaq, RISE UP! (Score:2)
You know why I'm not gonna die? Why waste the time. [youtube.com]
Spectre (Score:2)
It's all part of Blofeld's plan!