James Bond fans will have to wait just a little bit longer for the highly anticipated No Time to Die, after the release was postponed amid coronavirus fears.
According to Variety, the 25th film in the popular franchise which was due to be released worldwide in April, will now not be released until November.
The coronavirus has led to closures of theaters in major markets such as Italy, South Korea, China and Japan, which could mean a major profit loss for the film — which has already cost more than $200 million to produce.
The official release date for the UK is November 12, with international release dates to follow.
Variety also suggested that “other major tentpoles may now consider delaying their releases until coronavirus has been contained”.
Earlier this week, James Page, co-founder of MI6 and MI6 Confidential magazine and David Leigh, founder of The James Bond Dossier, wrote an open letter to the production team via the Bond fansite Mi6-HQ asking for the release to be postponed.
“With the coronavirus reaching pandemic status, it is time to put public health above marketing release schedules and the cost of canceling publicity events,” it read.
“Major events around the world have already been canceled or postponed due to health risks. Leading tech companies have banned travel for hundreds of thousands of employees, including Amazon and Google. All before the US and UK outbreaks expand.”
“With a month to go before No Time To Die opens worldwide, community spread of the virus is likely to be peaking in the United States,” the letter continued. “There is a significant chance that cinemas will be closed, or their attendance severely reduced, by early April. Even if there are no legal restrictions on cinemas being open, to quote M in Skyfall, ‘how safe do you feel?’”
The pair concluded the statement by saying: “Delay the release of ‘No Time To Die’ until the summer when experts expect the epidemics to have peaked and to be under control. It’s just a movie. The health and well-being of fans around the world, and their families, is more important. We have all waited over 4 years for this film. Another few months will not damage the quality of the film and only help the box-office for Daniel Craig’s final hurrah.”
No Time to Die marks the final outing for Daniel Craig as Bond.
Time to reset our countdown timers for the new release date.