On March 4, the studios behind the upcoming James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” made the shocking decision to delay the film from its international release date of April 2 and U.S. date of April 10, all the way to Nov. 25. This decision follows the Asian box office taking a major hit due to public health concerns over the coronavirus, leaving fans stunned and disappointed. But will the move be better for the film’s overall profits?

Pushing back a film’s release date so soon before it opens is virtually unheard of for a blockbuster of this scale, especially when the film’s budget is over $250 million, not including marketing, which, on average, is about half of a film’s production budget. This James Bond film’s total budget may be anywhere between $300 million to $375 million. One can reasonably assume that MGM, Eon and Universal Studios will lose millions in now pointless marketing, given the hype machine they have created over the past month. It all includes an expensive Super Bowl advertisement spot, the announcement and release of a new Billie Eilish title song, “No Time to Die,” all culminating with star Daniel Craig (“Knives Out”), hosting Saturday Night Live this past weekend after the film’s abrupt delay was announced. 

The reason this move was made has a lot to do with the studios behind the film. MGM Studios filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and only recently began distributing films again in 2018. The James Bond franchise is MGM’s biggest cash cow and they desperately need “No Time to Die” to hit big, not just in America, but overseas, hopefully garnering a huge profit worldwide. If the film was under the umbrella of Disney or even Universal, it could be within reason to assume that they may just suck in and take the hit. “Black Widow” and “Fast and Furious 9” are both set to open in May and have not shown any signs of switching dates thus far. However, even if these films did move, both Disney and Universal would suffer internationally, but the studios would survive without worry. MGM on the other hand, has placed all their eggs in the Bond basket. The previous Bond film alone, 2015’s “Spectre,” grossed almost $680 million overseas, while only nabbing $200 million domestically. With China shutting many theaters down and projected to lose billions in the process, MGM, already steering a shaky ship, is perfectly right to veer the other direction. 

However, the studios did not simply pick up the film and Hail Mary it seven months down the line to open on any random date. They chose November. More specifically, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Bringing Bond back to November is more than a safe move, given that ever since 1995’s release of “Goldeneye,” with the exception of “Tomorrow Never Dies” in 1997, every 007 film has opened during November. In fact, the only reason why “No Time to Die” was set to come out in April in the first place was due to the fact that previous director Danny Boyle (“Yesterday”) dropped out of the project and Cary Fukunaga (“Maniac”) was hired to replace him. This sudden shift in leadership prompted the studio to move from a November 2019 date to April of 2020. However, the coronavirus may have acted as a blessing in disguise for the studio, given that now they are back in the traditional month where Bond does best. With MGM being fully in control of distributing Bond films now that their four-picture deal with Sony Entertainment is done, it is vital that they do everything in their power to make sure their one tent pole franchise remains successful. Switching the release from the odd, up-in-the-air date of April to a more traditional, safe place, nestled nicely within the holiday season, is a move in the right direction. 

Moving the new Bond film was an economic decision more so than just a cautious act of public health concern. However, the big question now lies with what other major studios will do, given the growing hysteria and severity of the coronavirus. As previously stated, studios like Disney and Universal are doing just fine for themselves and could perhaps survive a huge blow in their international markets, but would they risk it? Disney is releasing their live-action remake of “Mulan” on March 27, which is a week before when the Bond film was about to drop. Given that the film takes place in China and has a majority-Asian cast, one can assume that Asian markets will play a major role in the film’s success. The film’s press tour has already begun and press screenings are currently being scheduled, so to delay now would incur huge financial losses for Disney. To put into perspective, the “No Time to Die” delay will cost MGM about $30 million and it was set to release a week after “Mulan,” meaning that Disney would suffer far worse given the fact that their promotion is up and running at full speed. According to Variety, while “Mulan” will remain in its current U.S. release date, given the fact that China has shut down so many theaters, it will wait until they reopen to release the film in affected countries. 

What does this all mean in the grand scheme of things? One, that film studios care deeply about their money, as expected. Two, the coronavirus is showing no signs of slowing down. If major movie studios are paying attention to it, maybe we should too. 

Image from James Bond 007 via YouTube