‘NO TIME TO DIE’ Theatrical Release Postponed Due to Coronavirus Outbreak – Special Features #64

The twenty-fifth James Bond film produced by Eon Productions, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s NO TIME TO DIE, was scheduled to be released just next month on April 2nd in most of the world and on April 10th in the United States. The coronavirus outbreak has now affected most of the world, and major events all over the world are now likely to be either canceled or postponed. Now MGM, Universal Pictures, and Eon Productions have announced that the publicity tour and the global release of the film have been postponed to November 2020 to minimize the risk of infection at movie theaters all over the world and to ensure commercial success.

Back when Danny Boyle was intended to direct NO TIME TO DIE, the film was actually originally scheduled for a release in November 2019. In fact, all of the previous four Daniel Craig-led James Bond-films have been released theatrically around October or November, so this theatrical release postponement perhaps makes more sense than you had initially realized.

Your priority should be health and safety, and you should absolutely be happy that major studios are making responsible and reasonable decisions to ensure your safety, as well as the enjoyment of their product. The coronavirus outbreak can be really scary, and, as major sporting events are already being postponed all over the world, it was only a matter of time before this health emergency affected theater chains outside of China and Italy, which, I believe, have already closed multiple theaters.

I recently had some apprehensions about going to the movie theater to watch The Invisible Man. Those apprehensions eventually made me skip the opening night release and, instead, watch the film in a mostly empty theater. I can only imagine what it is like to go to a theater in areas that have more confirmed cases than we do at this moment in Denmark. If we are unable to contain the disease, then simple freedoms like going to the theater or shopping may become very unsafe, so it makes sense for films such as NO TIME TO DIE to be postponed. Frankly, I’m very happy that MGM, Universal, and Eon have come to this decision. I want to watch the film, but I don’t want to risk my health just so that I can watch it.

In the wake of this decision, I expect several other major motion pictures to be postponed. It may be too late for A Quiet Place: Part II, Disney’s Mulan and The New Mutants, but the theatrical releases of major films such as Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, Trolls World Tour, Black Widow, and F9 could conceivably be postponed soon. Alternatively, select studio releases may be put out on streaming services like Disney+ or be acquired by Netflix, which has previously acquired several films from Paramount Pictures.

As a direct result of the postponement of NO TIME TO DIE, this website — I’m Jeffrey Rex — is also affected. Originally, I was planning to release a James Bond review each day starting on March 8th in the lead up to NO TIME TO DIE. However, now my so-called 007-Eon Project has been postponed indefinitely. As I have already written several of these reviews, you should absolutely expect to see them on the blog eventually. However, you may have to wait until October or November.

Stay safe!

– Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.