Bond 25 questions: Odds & ends edition

It’s a tense time to be a James Bond fan. The countdown to the current release date of No Time to Die is drawing down. But we’ve been here before. Naturally, the blog has questions.

Will No Time to Die actually be released this time? Or, like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, are Bond fans in for disappointment again?

Beats me. COVID-19 is flaring up again. The Summer Olympics were forced to have no crowds at events. In the U.S., there’s a surge in states such as Florida and Texas. The main reason are variants of the COVID-19 virus that have developed.

As recently as a month or so ago, I was pretty optimistic. I’ve stopped giving odds.

What makes sense for No Time to Die?

Financially, there are no good choices.

Back on July 31, this blog wrote about how billion-dollar movies, once a thing, have been affected in a major way by changes in the industry and by the continuing effects of COVID-19.

On Aug. 2, the MI6 James Bond website went further. That site crunched numbers. Recent major movie releases, such as F9 and Marvel’s Black Widow, have seen major falloffs in their second weekend of release.

According to MI6, if that trend holds up for a September/October release for No Time to Die, it will be hard for the 25th James Bond film to recoup the movie’s massive investment.

What are you trying to say?

It’s possible — possible, mind you — that No Time to Die will be the worst performing Bond film in terms of profit versus investment ($300 million or more). A 2021 release may be disappointing. But another delay means another $1 million a month in interest costs until the movie comes out.

Neither is a great choice.

Any advice?

As a fan, you have no control over any of this. If the movie makes its current release date, make your plans to see it safely. If it gets delayed? Well, we’ve adjusted before and we can do it again.

Bond 25 questions: The new delay edition

No Time to Die teaser poster that needs updating.

So, No Time to Die has been delayed. Again. Naturally, the blog has questions.

We saw a marketing blitz this week, including a title song music video, putting the soundtrack album available for pre-order (again), even listing the titles of the various tracks, a new six-part promotional podcast and other tie-ins. What happened?

A lot of that activity was handled by companies that did deals with Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal. They have deadlines based on a release date. Evidently, those companies didn’t get the word from Eon, MGM and Universal to hold back.

Isn’t that crazy?

As the saying goes, there’s no business like show business.

Enough with the jokes! Isn’t that inconsiderate to the fans?

It absolutely is. But, typically, business comes before fan relations.

And what business considerations caused yet another delay?

One consideration was the same thing that caused a delay from April to November: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Movie theaters in New York and Los Angeles remain closed because of the virus. COVID-19 is still a problem in the U.K. and Spain. There are new surges in some U.S. states such as Wisconsin. And the president of the U.S., Donald Trump, has come down with the coronavirus, putting even more attention on the disease.

What’s more, other major film releases have reacted to COVID-19. Tenet, the latest Christopher Nolan-directed film was released by Warner Bros. The movie has generated a global box office of almost $285 million, according to Box Office Mojo. But only $41.2 million of that was in the U.S.

Meanwhile, other films, including Marvel’s Black Widow was pushed back for a second occasion, this time to May 2021. F9, newest entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise, already delayed once by a year, was further pushed back to May 28, 2021.

In announcing the delay, a statement from Eon Productions and its studio partners, said the move was made to ensure No Time to Die can ” be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience.” Essentially, the Bond camp is saying that won’t be possible in November.

Are you confident No Time to Die will make that April 2021 release?

Color me skeptical. As usual, we’ll see.