“No Time to Die” Delayed Until November Amid Coronavirus Concerns

It will now take more time to see No Time to Die, the final James Bond movie with Daniel Craig in the lead role. As Coronavirus has caused massive quarantines in Asia and Europe, the studios behind the film (MGM, Eon and Universal) have decided to postpone the film until November 25.

Originally slated to hit U.S. theaters on April 10 and internationally on April 2, the film will instead move back to the fall, where all the previous Craig Bond entries have opened. This is the first major release to get bumped as the bug, also known as COVID-19, has made its way across the globe, but it likely won't be the last. Asian countries, particularly China, Japan and South Korea, have played a bigger part of the worldwide box office lately. And with many residents under advised or mandatory quarantines – including the closure of theaters – a trip to the movies just isn't in the cards. Financially, it makes sense to wait until things have returned to normal.

The film will now face off against Disney's animated Raya and the Last Dragon and sports biopic King Richard (starring Will Smith as the father of Venus and Serena Williams), though it wouldn't be surprising if some delay or move up their release dates. No Time to Die was the only major release on Easter weekend in the U.S. There has been no announcement of what will take its place.

About Kip Mooney

Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.