No Time to Die Likely to Be First Blockbuster to Delay Release Date Yet Again

As we near the one year mark of the coronavirus forcing Hollywood to complete overhaul and rethink their 2020 release calendar, studios are finding out that the second verse is almost the same as the first. In a new exposé on The Hollywood Reporter, the trade notes that the “feeling of deja vu is demoralizing” to Hollywood executives who are on the cusp of having to “rearrange their spring and early summer slates.” The first title that they specifically mention as being close to a shift is one of the first films that was delayed last year, the upcoming 25th James Bond movie, No Time to Die.

On March 4 of 2020 No Time to Die became one of the first Hollywood blockbusters to shift its release plan, moving from April of 2020 to November of the same year. Later still it would move again to April of this year, a full year later from its original release date. As THR notes though, “not even that date will hold” for Daniel Craig’s swansong. Though MGM declined to comment on the story about the film being delayed, it’s looking more and more likely that it will be the first domino to fall yet again. The trade quotes one anonymous “veteran studio executive” as saying “”I think everything substantive between now and Top Gun: Maverick in early July will move. It’s a mess.”

For those keeping track, other high profile films in the window between now and the Top Gun sequel includes Marvel’s Black Widow, F9, Ghostbusters Afterlife, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, among many others.

“This thing is just bigger than all of us,” Daniel Craig said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back in October. “We want to release the movie at the same time all around the world and this isn’t the right time. So fingers crossed April 2nd is going to be our date.”

Cary Fukunaga is directing the No Time to Die with a script he co-wrote alongside Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Scott Z.Burns, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The film stars Craig, Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Lea Seydoux, and Billy Magnussen. Christoph Waltz will be making a return as the villain Blofeld.

Here’s the official synopsis for No Time to Die:

“In NO TIME TO DIE, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”

Check back here for more updates on No Time to Die and the rest of the 2020 release schedule as we learn them.