James Bond has never fought a more uphill battle than the quest to get No Time To Die into theaters. The movie was delayed multiple times long before the COVID-19 outbreak, and so far it’s been held off from its initial April release to November to April next year. And at this rate, 007 fans will only believe they’re actually going to see it when they’re sitting in cinemas in front of a big screen.
But maybe it will never come to that. A bold new report states that MGM is seriously considering skipping a theatrical release and dropping Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as the iconic spy on streaming. Binged claims that the studio is being inundated with offers from the biggest streamers around, including Netflix and Apple TV+, who are willing to give up huge sums to exclusively host the blockbuster on their respective platforms.
The outlet writes that MGM is “under tremendous pressure” to sell the film to the highest bidder as it’s looking more and more likely that cinemas are not going to be in any better shape next spring than they are now. NTTD‘s recent delay, for instance, caused Cineworld to close their entire chain across the US and the UK until 2021. With a significantly impacted box office haul practically guaranteed, then, a streaming release is not as out of the question as it once was.
The underwhelming performance of Tenet last month really spooked the studios, too, and the same goes for Mulan‘s poor returns in China. Meanwhile, the Disney remake is believed to have done exceedingly well on D+ despite its premium price tag. Still, will MGM elect to break with a nearly 60-year tradition and have the latest James Bond film skip cinemas and go straight to streaming? That’s the multimillion dollar question.
Published: Oct 23, 2020 04:19 pm