No Time to Die, the much-anticipated James Bond film is hitting US theaters sooner than expected.
The film which was initially scheduled to release on April 10, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, has had its release date shifted around twice now. It was postponed to November 25 from the originally planned date in April, due to COVID-19 related disruptions and shutdowns of most movie theaters back in March.
It’s now been announced that the film, starring Daniel Craig in his final appearance as British secret agent 007, will hit US theaters on November 20, the weekend before Thanksgiving. However, the November 12 release date in the U.K. is unchanged.
The unexpected announcement came via the official James Bond Twitter account, and comes after Warner Bros shifted around its slate of upcoming films on Friday night; with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet pushed back to July 31, DC Comics’ Wonder Woman 1984 being moved from August 14 to October 2, and the fourth Matrix film being delayed by a year to April 1, 2022.
No Time to Die is now set to go head-to-head at the box office with Pixar’s Soul, which was also moved from its June 19 release date to November, with other films like Marvel’s Black Widow, John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part 2, also moving their release dates from summer to fall.
With an estimated budget of more than $200 million, the latest James Bond film will need the support of both U.S. and international markets to prove successful and make a profit. Forbes reported that while it may remain in a good position in terms of box office numbers, the film has missed out on setting the record as the biggest live-action Thanksgiving release of all time -hopefully it’ll still be an incredibly successful pre-Thanksgiving action movie!
What are your thoughts on shifting release dates for films? Are you excited for No Time to Die? Comment below!
