EXCLUSIVE: With the coronavirus dropping him off at the Asian box office, Deadline learned that MGM, Eon and Universal were postponing the next James Bond film, No time to die from its UK and international release date of April 2 and its American Easter weekend day and date April 10and move the 25th movie 007 to November 25, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
“MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful review and in-depth assessment of the global theater market, the release of No time to die will be postponed until November 2020. The film will be released in the UK on November 12, 2020 with worldwide release dates to follow, including the US launch on November 25, 2020, “said a statement given exclusively to Deadline by the three studios.
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This date brings Bond back to November, which is a season he launched for much of 1995 Golden eye (with the exception of Tomorrow never dies which opened in the United States / Canada on December 19, 1997). No time to die will now face the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with Warner Bros. Will smith King Richard, Disney’s Raya and the last dragon, and Sony’s comedy The happiest season.
It is a purely economic decision that we understand, and not based on growing fears about the coronavirus. Bond is a world release day and date, and with the franchise in the hands of MGM after the complete distribution by Sony of the last four films of Daniel Craig, with Universal, all the parties involved must have all the foreign territories working at their maximum in order may the last Bond be a continued success at the box office. For a pole of this size and scope, this type of drop in activity would have a significant and detrimental impact on the film’s final world position.
I heard that the decision of No time to die should not be seen as a concern for the security of theaters outside areas where public health officials have restricted or advised against attending public events.
All together, the last four Craig 007 movies – Specter, Skyfall, Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale – reported $ 3.2 billion in the global franchise close to $ 7 billion, with Sky Fall being the most profitable peak of all time in the 58-year series at $ 1.1 billion. Failure at the box office is not an option for Mr. Bond, and for studios to stick to their original release plan would be a disservice to their exhibit partners.
Prepare for a big domino effect when it comes to rival studios by following the example of MGM / Eon / Universal by reprogramming their day and date event photos. It is better to wait for the resurgence of the main Asian offshore territories, if you have a photo of a major event on your calendar. No time to die, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, leaves behind a very lucrative Easter weekend period to gain. How much does Easter weekend cost? The 2015 and 2016 holidays delivered record record openings with Uni’s Furious 7 ($ 161.2 million) and Warner Bros. ” Batman v Superman ($ 181 million), which brought the weekend’s gross receipts for all titles to $ 247.1 million and a historic Easter record of $ 278.5 million in the United States.
However, since China closed its exhibition structure due to the coronavirus epidemic, MGM, Eon and Uni are pending. With the closing of cinemas in Korea, Japan, Italy and France, it was clearly necessary to push the release of No time to die. Studios have followed the coronavirus epidemic closely like many other companies, and have seen a significant impact on the global market with all industries facing tough decisions in these uncertain times.
China alone is on the verge of losing more than $ 2 billion since the closure of 70,000 movie theaters this year. Release dates for Universal’s Dolittle and 1917, Searchlight Pictures » Jojo rabbit, Paramount Sonic the hedgehogand Pixar’s Onward have all been postponed indefinitely. For the period from January 1 to March 3, Comscore reports that the box office of South Korea is -60%, that of Italy from 70 to 75% with about half of its cinemas closed (we heard say that this should improve by this weekend), Taiwan is down 30% year on year, with Singapore (-35%), the Philippines (-35%) and Hong Kong (-55%). In total, the global box office is expected to see at least $ 5 billion in 2020.
Recent Bond films have generally had their openings spread around the world over two weekends, with debuts in the United Kingdom and some territories, followed by the United States and other offshore markets.
For example, when 2015 Spectrum opened in the United States at $ 70.4 million, it added 71 markets during its second weekend abroad for a take of $ 117.38 million, bringing its consumption abroad to $ 219.22 million and WW haul at $ 289.6 million.
When Sky Fall opened at a national franchise record of $ 88.3 million in November 2012, the record for the overseas peak was $ 428.6 million, bringing its world catch to $ 516.9 million (all unadjusted for inflation).
United a No time to die all over the world without certain legacy MGM markets, namely the northern territories and the Middle East which are under-distributed. A world premiere in the UK was scheduled for Monday, March 30. No time to die was to travel on April 2 and 3 to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia, India , in South Africa and Turkey. Then in synchronization with the United States, the following overseas markets were to open on April 8 and 10: Australia and New Zealand, Belgium, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Baltic states, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong , Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam and all of Latin America
The decision to film No time to die, we hear ourselves, was fully supported by everyone involved in the film.