New James Bond Movie Release Delayed Due to Coronavirus
Well, this is pretty shocking.
Here is the official statement from the James Bond 007 twitter account:
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. The film will be released in the U.K. on November 12, 2020 with worldwide release dates to follow, including the US launch on November 25, 2020.
The studios being concerned about Coronavirus and the impact on the international and now United States box office market shouldn't be a huge shock. Variety released some statistics on the impact on China's box office numbers alone and they're pretty insane...
China’s box office has plummeted $1.91 billion over the first two months of this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, but a nationwide resumption of movie theaters and production is unlikely to happen any time soon.
According to box-office data company Comscore, box-office receipts in China in January and February totaled only $238 million, compared with $2.148 billion in the comparative period in 2019, and $2.378 billion in 2018. Box office revenue for the whole of 2019 were a record $9.2 billion, having risen 5.4%. (via Variety)
So Bond moves to November (after originally being slated for an April release), but now our attention turns to the obvious question: what's next? Here are some big blockbuster movies being released in the next few months…
- 03/27: 'Mulan' from Walt Disney Pictures
- 05/01: 'Black Widow' from Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios
- 05/22: 'F9: The Fast Saga' from Universal Pictures and One Race Films
- 06/05: 'Wonder Woman 1984' from Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films
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All four of these movies have the potential to take major damage if they don't perform well overseas, especially the two superhero movie properties. It feels as though 'Mulan' is too close to release date to move, but there have been some rumblings about it being delayed.
Regardless, this is pretty crazy and might set something off going forward with the movie industry…