Bond 25 questions: Are we set for real?

No Time to Die poster from some time ago

No Time to Die’s final international and U.S. trailers are out. After five delays, it would seem the 25th James Bond film is a lock to come out soon.

Naturally, the blog has questions.

Is this really it?

No Time to Die is scheduled to come out on Sept. 30 in the U.K. (and other countries). It’s scheduled to come out in the U.S. on Oct. 8. There are 28 days before the movie’s world premiere. There are likely fewer days before movie reviewers get to see it to do their reviews.

It would seem to be more than difficult to push it back a sixth time (twice because Danny Boyle was replaced as director, three times because of COVID-19).

Still some Bond fans recall this image from the Peanuts comic strip.

Many Bond fans won’t believe it until they’re in the theater watching No Time to Die.

What does this tell us?

It tells us there’s a limit how many times you can kick a movie down the road. At least that’s what studios (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal) as well as production companies (Eon Productions, which makes Bond films) apparently have concluded.

But is this the best time to release movies?

No. COVID-19 became a factor in early 2020. The pandemic has become more complicated as the virus has evolved. Viruses do that. At the same time, the money types evidently have concluded, at least in No Time to Die’s case, this has gone as far as it can.

Any other thoughts? I will repeat something I’ve said multiple times. No Time to Die was conceived in one era — studios could spend a ridiculous amount of money but get bailed out if the films generated billion-dollar global box office results.

That was supposed to happen with No Time to Die. Skyfall had a $1.1 billion global box office. SPECTRE fell short. But No Time to Die was intended to be the climax of the Daniel Craig era for Bond.

At this point, a $1 billion box office for No Time to Die seems a distant dream. The money people, it would seem, have decided to get what they squeeze from the production.

NTTD’s final U.S. trailer emphasizes Craig-era saga

No Time to Die’s final U.S. trailer debuted today, with an emphasis of the movie being part of a bigger saga featuring star Daniel Craig.

The trailer includes scenes and lines from some of Craig’s previous Bond films, including black-and-white scenes from Casino Royale (2006) where Bond got the kills needed to become a 00-agent.

Taglines in the trailer include: “And Every Mission…Every Sacrifice…Has Led Him…To This.” Later in the trailer, No Time to Die is referred to as “The Epic Conclusion.”

The trailer also has a bit more, but not a lot, about the plot by villain Safin (Rami Malek). Craig’s Bond says something about how “the people become the weapon.” Safin himself says, “Life is all about leaving something behind, isn’t it?”

Multiple YouTube outlets distributed the trailer. This is the YouTube video posted by We Got This Covered. The trailer was also posted at the Eon Productions James Bond YouTube channel.

Separately, the official Twitter feed of Eon Productions said a documentary about Craig’s Tenure as Bond, Being James Bond, will be on Apple TV on Sept. 7.

UPDATE (11:42 a.m. New York time): Universal put out the final international trailer.