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Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas in "No Time to Die": "Where the hell are you?"
Photo: Nicola Dove / Universal Pictures
"Come on, Bond," whispers Ralph Fiennes in the trailer for "No Time to Die".
“Where the hell are you?” The answer is simple: in lockdown.
Hollywood studio MGM has just announced that the new Bond film "No Time to Die" will not be released until October 8, at least in the US.
It is very likely that the start date will also be postponed in Germany.
It would be the third postponement since last spring.
This is another setback for the entire cinema industry.
After the catastrophic year 2020, in which the worldwide box office collapsed by over 70 percent, »No Time to Die« should have reopened the blockbuster season for good at the end of March.
However, given the current development of the pandemic, it is unclear when the cinemas will reopen and when they will be able to play again without restrictions.
Something like a normalization should probably take place in summer at the earliest.
Other studios also want to postpone their blockbusters or evaluate them digitally instead of bringing them to the cinema.
MGM had apparently also considered the latter in between and negotiated with streaming services such as Netflix and Apple about "No time to die".
There was talk of $ 600 million.
But no agreement was reached.
The last Bond film "Specter" grossed almost 900 million in the cinema alone.
Biggest Bond break since "Goldeneye"
Even before the pandemic began, the start date of "No time to die" had been changed several times.
The 25th film in the series, which was supposed to open in April of last year, had a pretty rough story.
The originally planned director Danny Boyle and his author had to leave because their concept was apparently not well received by the producers, as Boyle told in a SPIEGEL interview.
The American Cary Fukunaga took over the direction, but then Craig injured himself while filming.
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Craig in No Time to Die: Farewell performance as 007
Photo: Nicola Dove / Universal Pictures
"Specter" came out in November 2015.
So far there has only been such a long time lag between two films in the series, when Pierce Brosnan took over the lead role of Timothy Dalton in "Goldeneye" in 1995.
With a Bond film, a shift is more serious than with other blockbusters.
Because 007 is also a kind of brand ambassador for cars or watches that are presented in the films.
The campaigns for these products are coordinated with the cinema release and are intended to push it.
The question now is whether "No time to die" is really the best way to advertise.
Four new models from Aston Martin, one reads, are to be used to the extreme in “No Time to Die”.
For the time being, the ailing automobile manufacturer has to console itself with the fact that you can already guess in the teasers and trailers for the film how resilient and amazingly drivable even an Aston Martin shot to a lump is.
The champagne manufacturer Bollinger even reported that its »Special Cuveé 007« edition was »fantastic« and had sold well.
Many Bond fans may have toasted their hero's future with anxious expressions.
The best way to advertise?
Because "No Time to Die" has to struggle with a major problem that is a consequence of the postponements: You could almost believe that you have already seen the film.
New trailers came out several times, revealing more and more of the plot.
On YouTube you can get the director to explain how he approached Bond and what the character is struggling with.
"No time to die" therefore feels more like a package tour than an adventure vacation: We know the route and the individual destinations, and we will probably be able to explore them from October.
On the other hand, the motto of the series is: "You know the name, you know the number." The plots of Bond films are rarely surprising.
They work a bit like circus programs, here an artistic act, there comedy, then powerhouse, now and then even wild animals.
The wit and charm of the films lies in the variations and details.
In that regard, if everyone else had shot up their ammunition, 007 still had a bullet in the barrel.
Or, as Daniel Craig says in the trailer, full of defiance with a crushing jaw: "The past is not dead." At least not that of 007.
Icon: The mirror
