MGM taking $30 Million+ loss for moving release date for No Time To Die

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The marketing blitz for the latest Bond film, NO TIME TO DIE, was likely to really ramp up given we were less than a month away from its April 10 release date. Trailers have been running ahead of many films, TV spots were starting to trickle out and promotion for its IMAX screens was definitely heating up. This all came to a halt on Wednesday when it was announced that NO TIME TO DIE was delaying its release until November 12, 2020 in the U.K. & November 25, 2020 in the states due to the coronavirus pandemic and its effect on the global box office marketplace. This is the kind of move that can't be cheap and we're now learning just how pricey that move actually was.

According to "The Hollywood Reporter", MGM will likely take a $30 million to $50 million hit by moving the film's release back by seven months when it's all said and done. Despite the film not going full steam ahead just yet with its marketing campaign, MGM still put in significant marketing spend with just four weeks to go before the release, including a $4.5 million Super Bowl spot that ran in February. MGM is also scrambling to salvage ad buys it already had made for the coming four weeks and move them to the fall. So far, the studio’s partners have been accommodating but purchases like the Super Bowl ad, can't be recouped. Shifting the release date to fall also has expenses attached, especially since broadcast ads that run in the fourth quarter of the year are typically more expensive than the spring, given that the quarter coincides with the kickoff of the new TV season as well as football. Not to mention, NO TIME TO DIE will also have to share ad space with other high-profile releases during that period such as ETERNALS & GODZILLA VS. KONG as well as prestige films that begin their Oscar campaining during that time of the year.

MGM believe that the $30 million+ hit is worth it for the Cary Joji Fukunaga-directed 007 installment. NO TIME TO DIE reportedly has a budget on par with SPECTRE'S $245 million and given what coronavirus concerns have done to the global box office, the film likely would've taken a big loss staying out in April while the box office is in flux. Based on previous stats, SPECTRE made $84 million in China, representing roughly 10 percent of its $881 million worldwide total. Smaller Asian markets are also being impacted due to the virus, and there’s a growing concern that the outbreak in Italy could spread across Europe. The U.K., where the fictitious Bond originated and which appears vulnerable to theater closures, is another big market for the franchise and a loss that MGM couldn't take a rise on. The studio believes if they launced the film in this current climite, it could have resulted in a minimum of 30 percent being knocked off the final box office results which is a possible $300 million out of a likely $1 billion global gross.

Given that China has seen 70,000 theater closures since January with no positive sign of them reopening anytime soon, MGM likely made the right move shifting the film from a purely financial standpoint. Judging from the online response, I know some fans were upset but this is a business and money needs to be made, especially since this is Daniel Craig's last outing as the character which could result in inflated box office from those who want to see his last hurrah. So far other big films like BLACK WIDOW or FAST & FURIOUS 9 have not announced changes in their schedules but I'm just all major studios are looking at these matters very closely.

Do YOU think it was smart to move the release date? NO TIME TO DIE now opens November 12, 2020 in the U.K. & NOVEMBER 25, 2020 domestically.