No Time to Die gets a later release date amidst coronavirus concerns

The release date for No Time to Die has been pushed back to the fall in lieu of the increasing concerns surrounding coronavirus.

The increasing anxiety surrounding the spread of coronavirus has affected just about everything from travel to the box office, and concerns about the latter is seeing films and festivals take a hit. One of the biggest surprises came yesterday, when Eon and Universal announced that the release date for the 25th Bond movie, No Time to Die, was getting pushed to November. Originally, the film was scheduled to release in the UK on April 2 and the US on April 10, but given that the global box office isn’t doing so well, the UK will see the film hit theaters on November 12, with the US getting a new release date of November 25.

In a statement obtained by Deadline, the studios behind the film — MGM and Universal — along with its producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, explained that this decision was made “after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace.” With any luck, the Thanksgiving weekend release date will draw more traffic to the theater at the national level — and pushing the movie to November might help the global box office, assuming that the health crisis is a bit more contained by then.

Of course, the Bond franchise isn’t the only one struggling because of the coronavirus outbreak. Just last week, Mission Impossible 7 delayed production due to the virus spreading in Italy, where the movie is currently filming. Entertainment events like SXSW are also seeing major corporations like Netflix and WarnerMedia cancel plans, likely not wanting to risk travel with the virus spreading.

While No Time to Die won’t be hitting theaters until we all — hopefully — have a clearer picture of how serious the outbreak is, many films are carrying on in spite of the crisis. Disney’s live-action Mulan is arriving on May 27 as planned, and the studio stated it won’t be delaying the release of The Eternals or Black Widow either. Blockbusters like Fast & Furious 9 and Wonder Woman: 1984 are also remaining on schedule for the time being, making No Time to Die one of the only blockbusters to actually change release dates in lieu of everything happening.

No Time to Die will be Daniel Craig’s final adventure as James Bond. Are you looking forward to seeing how his story ends?