Right. Thank you.
But is all this worthy of calling a halt to All groups and gatherings? Because what the duo should be suggesting is not just a delay to a Bond film, it is a delay to any form of gathering - even if they don’t say this in their open letter to a couple of film producers.
Cinemas, Theatres, Stadiums, Meeting Rooms, Flights… You get the idea.
It’s perplexing to me. Imagine if everyone had reacted this way to the SARs pandemic in 2002/3 or the Swine Flu pandemic in 2008/9. In both cases, the WHO was criticized for over reacting and causing panic - yet the film industry motored on and arguably had big years (Avatar anyone?). Now the WHO are cautioning restraint and common sense while solutions are found…yet…so it’s perplexing to me. Just my opinion.
Absolutely. The people over at the other place are of course largely interested in Bond - but in the wider scheme of things Bond doesn’t figure at all. The situation is such that we already have a pretty good idea NO TIME TO DIE’s box office will be affected. But nobody can say as yet how much. That’s a first torpedo under the waterline.
Eon/MGM/Universal are no doubt right now assessing the situation, looking to authorities for guidance.
Sadly, judging by today’s presser and events on a larger scale guidance is currently not to be had from the powers that reside in No 10. I’m no friend of its current resident but there are in fact much wider considerations to be made, namely that every intervention by the government has its resonance in the citizenry. Closing schools might be a good idea, maybe even call a halt to football/rugby matches, public gatherings and so on.
On the other hand we’ve already seen panic buying and - worse - panic selling on the markets. Indices are going wildly up and down, at the drop of a tweet or a smirk on the telly. That’s the downside of a populist climate and real-time social media, you just can’t tell any more when people decide to start acting wildly irrational. Much less can you prevent it.
Any measure now taken will give the economy a good kick where it hurts the most - and this in a highly volatile situation with an economy that’s already straining under various spats and vanity posturing. The problem is that nobody has the intention to keep calm and carry on.
Against this backdrop it’s understandable how, in mind of the larger picture, governments try to steer a steady course and choose from a catalogue of measures the ones currently seen as doing the least damage.
Ok, so now the wider picture has had some consideration, what are the ramifications to not releasing NTTD now?
An obvious solution is not shouting out at me. Anyone else?
A lot would depend on whether it’s Eon/MGM/Universal pulling the film or the authorities closing cinemas. In the latter case there’s probably some insurance stepping in, provided they bought it and didn’t save the money.
Currently it looks like in one month everything is possible, either that European theatres are closed or that only specific regions will suffer a restriction of public gatherings. From the studios’ point of view that’s particularly difficult since you can’t do much planning.
The slots might be not so much of a problem; one production wraps and simply has a longer period until it is released. It will probably be much worse for smaller productions which are not considered such a safe bank as Bond is. And if the economy really takes a hit that would mean job losses and consequently less money to spend on entertainment for part of the audience. The part of the audience that isn’t gig-economised already - they will just earn nothing so they need no sick-leave from earning nothing.
If a film is expected to break the $ 1bn limit that’s only possible if the economic situation allows so many people to spend so much. If the economy stutters that’s not likely to happen. And we’ve already seen even this relatively mild pandemic situation can cause massive stutter. The Fed just cut interest rates, unscheduled and unexpected…
They haven’t stopped promo-ing it yet so let’s wait and see - I guarantee you there will be no guidance to shut down theatres in America coming from Trump and co who are only interested in the stock market (hence the rate cut today) as a signifier of their success. It’s hard to say how serious it is as it is not being properly tested in America and health services are not being given the equipment to do so… so it will be on UA/Universal to delay it themselves I imagine - If there’s a massive downturn in theatre attendance I wouldnt be surprised.
Even without official word to shut down theatres and declare a ban on public gatherings, the fact remains that the market itself is significantly affected to different degrees in different regions. I don’t know about the specifics but I imagine there’s already a kind of impact assessment in the works for different scenarios, France closing, Italy closing, so on. From a certain point onwards it makes no economic sense any longer to place one of the major productions into a market cut down by outside interference.
I find it absurd that people criticize the WHO for overreacting to these pandemics instead of praising them for quick responses to snuff it out before it gets worse. Compare this to today with COVID-19, in which, pretty much every world government has horribly botched its response to the outbreak: China tried to suppress any mention of it instead of addressing it, allowing the virus to spread from Wuhan, Japan quarantined people on a cruise ship instead of in port, greatly expanding the outbreak, Iran’s health minister clearly showed symptoms of it on national tv whilst trying to downplay its significance, the US named the leader of the task force to investigate it to be a man who allowed an HIV outbreak to flourish because he needed to pray on whether to allow needle exchanges or not. It’s ridiculous that this is what the world has come to in 2020.
In all fairness, the basic knowledge which measures would be necessary in our interconnected world to respond quickly and adequately to such a challenge is already there - it’s just that, when there’s a period of relative tension ease on the health front, governments start spending their funds otherwise and ignoring the expert advice. Because ‘people are fed up with experts’ - only later they find that it’s not a good idea, because there hasn’t been a fire recently, to close the fire department and send fire fighters into other jobs.
But that’s what’s happening on a large scale in many countries. The effort for a reliable and effective health system is seen as too expensive, even and especially in developed countries. Everybody hopes for the best and the longer that tactic works the easier it is to tune down efforts exclusively to hoping.
I was amazed how fast and decisively Italy cracked down on two clusters of the infection, even in spite of their ailing economy. If other countries had followed that example the spread might have been caught at least on European soil - but Italy likely wasn’t the first foothold on Europe, maybe not even the third or fourth. By now its spread covers 68 countries IIRC, many of which have not the means and expertise to face this situation like western countries could.
Please feel free to catch it and let us know 
Just go to costume night and you’ll be fine.
In the U.K. I’m getting the feeling that Bojo (Prime Minister) is obfuscating and delaying preventative action in order to preserve the economy as long as possible. All the washing hands rhetoric sounds a lot like a line to make us feel in control, so we don’t do the sensible thing and avoid transport etc until the tide turns. That would no doubt mean the vast majority stopping going to work immediately.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary was asked on radio 4 this morning at what point do they shut schools etc - what’s the tipping point? Hancock had no answer and imo it’s because that point has come and gone, yet they still don’t act decisively. It’s pretty transparent where the priorities are (£). In more spin, Bojo said that one-fifth of workforce may be off work. Strange, since scientists have predicted up to 80% getting the virus. Obviously it’s not as simple as that; 80% might not all have it simultaneously, but it’ll likely be a lot, lot more than Bojo’s 20%. He’s all out telling us it’s all fine, nothing to see here, keep calm and carry on working because the treasury needs its coffers and my sponsors need every penny of potential profit.
Of course no one wants a recession (though I imagine Bojo’s reasons stem from pressure from corporate Tory donors, but what do i know), but, saving lives is a little more important, just evidently not to the torys. The result is forever reactive, always too late. With the huge dilemma of the ‘pensions time-bomb’ just over the horizon the tin foil hatters might be forgiven for suspecting this pandemic plays nicely into the hands of a money-before-lives government.
If this virus makes you rant off topic, then I fear I might have it! I do feel a bit better now, though 
Here in the US, the Trump administration is spewing out random bs as usual that distracts from the actual issue. Not to mention, placing Pence in charge is maybe the dumbest thing Trump could have done. Pence allowed an HIV outbreak to spread in rural Indiana when he was Governor because he refused to allow a needle exchange program. Instead he “prayed” on what to do and only after months of prodding from officals and doctors did he finally sign an executive order allowing needle exchanges to end the outbreak. As per usual, Trump only cares about how people talk about his reaction to the virus and just makes up things that have no basis in reality such as trying to compare the coronavirus to the flu. Just listen to doctors, that’s what I’m gonna do.
BOO to the political talk…
You’re right, we’re getting off topic and it’s partly my fault.
Good man 
