Daniel Craig plays James Bond in “No Time To Die”.
Source: MGM
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on in the US, Hollywood is shuffling its movie releases again.
On Thursday, MGM and Sony announced that big films from their 2021 year are being postponed. These titles include the latest James Bond flick “No Time to Die” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”.
Here are the latest calendar moves:
- “No Time to Die” was delayed until October 8, 2021
- “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” has been postponed to June 11, 2021
- “Cinderella” moves to July 16, 2021
- “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” will now be released on November 11, 2021
- “Uncharted” has been postponed to February 11, 2022
The US has at least 194,252 new Covid-19 cases and at least 3,054 virus-related deaths every day, based on a 7-day average calculated by CNBC using data from Johns Hopkins University. Those numbers have given studios a break when it comes to big blockbuster releases.
Studios fear the continued rise in coronavirus cases will keep moviegoers away from cinemas, even as new titles play on big screens. Many of these films have large production budgets and rely on heavy ticket sales to break even.
“Given the uncertainty of the marketplace, changing the date is certainly better than changing the venue from a big screen to a small screen, so to speak,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
“No Time to Die” is an example of this. The MGM film has an estimated budget of $ 250 million. In addition, there are marketing costs, which usually make up half of the production costs. The studio must get at least $ 400 million back.
“Specter,” the James Bond film released in 2015, grossed more than $ 879 million at the global box office, while its 2012 predecessor, Skyfall, topped $ 1.1 billion. With “No Time to Die” expected to be actor Daniel Craig’s last move as the famous 007, high ticket sales were expected.
“No Time to Die” has experienced several delays. It was first released from its November 2019 release when Danny Boyle, who was to write and direct the film, left the project. It recovered between a few dates before it was released in April 2020. However, the coronavirus pandemic has postponed it to November 2020 and then to April 2021. Now it’s October.
“Those with the long game in mind know that for a film like Bond and many others, the prestige, exclusivity and revenue potential of cinema are still undeniable and still worth waiting for,” said Dergarabedian .
Sony, which announced four film moves on Thursday, was one of the studios that decided to move most of their 2020 schedule to 2021. “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway”, “Cinderella” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” have all been postponed until then later this year, while Tom Holland-led “Uncharted” will now arrive in 2022.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal and CNBC. Universal releases “No Time To Die” internationally, while MGM does the domestic release.
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