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- MGM has pushed back the release date of James Bond installment “No Time To Die” to October 8.
- This is the third delay for the film, which is expected to bring in more than $1 billion at the box office.
- Sony also announced on Thursday that it was postponing the theatrical release of four films.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The next James Bond installment, “No Time To Die,” has been hit by a third delay.
The film, starring Daniel Craig, is now scheduled for an October 8 release, MGM announced Thursday. This date is 18 months after the original intended release date.
Sony also announced a series of film delays Thursday, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the movie industry.
“Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” has been pushed back to June 11, “Cinderella” to July 16, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” to November 11, and “Uncharted,” based on the hit video-game series, all the way to February 11, 2022.
"No Time To Die" was the first major film whose release was pushed back because of the pandemic. Originally set for release on April 10, 2020, the movie was first pushed back to November 2020, then to April 2021, and now to October 2021.
MGM seems set on securing a theatrical release for the film, which Deadline reported cost around $250 million to produce. The studio reportedly asked Netflix and Apple for $600 million to bring the movie straight to streaming, and was turned down by both, but the franchise's principal producer Barbara Broccoli eventually scrapped the streaming idea, Deadline reported.
Theatrical release could bring in about $1.2 billion at the box office, Forbes estimated, just topping 2012's Skyfall, which made $1.1 billion.
The film's release has been delayed as cinemas continue to limit visitors due to social distancing restrictions. Many cinemas have also closed completely.
Other studios, including Disney, have postponed their theatrical release because of coronavirus-related production delays.
In early December, Warner Bros. shocked the film industry by saying it would release all its 2021 movies on the HBO Max streaming platform the same day they're released in theaters. Key Hollywood figures have slammed the decision, with "Tenet" director Christopher Nolan calling HBO Max "the worst streaming service."
In response, some movie theaters may slash ticket prices to as low as $3 for Warner Bros. films, insiders told The Hollywood Reporter. Some of the US' largest cinema chains, including AMC and Cinemark, have already suggested that they may not show all Warner titles.
Patty Jenkins, director of "Wonder Woman 1984," warned that the rise of streaming means "we could lose movie theater-going forever."
While movie theaters are struggling, streaming services are posting booming profits. On Tuesday, Netflix announced fourth-quarter revenues of $6.64 billion, and said it had added 8.5 million paid subscribers, bringing its total number of subscribers to more than 200 million for the first ever time.