Collateral I’d add to that. It’s a film that makes use of Cruise’s rep to make sure the villain is terrifying.
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Agreed. But unfortunately (and to be fair on Cruise it’s not for the lack of trying) they’re the exception that prove the rule. As throwaway as it is, I’m always a fan of stuff like Tropic Thunder, where he comes, scene-steals and leaves. That said, it’s the curse of the movie star I suppose. Will be a challenge for DC as he transitions away from Bond, though working with Johnson and Soderbergh in off-beat roles proves he’s going to be fine and won’t have to wait for a karoake movie…(oooh, that was uncalled for. Calm down all…!!)
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There is the pleasure offered by the formal elements as well.
Exactly. I know the plot of DAF well, and have plumbed in depth its cultural and Bondian contexts. Yet on each re-viewing, there is the pleasure of Hamilton’s direction to savor again and again.
I know these closing minutes as well as any in world cinema, and yet each time I am moved to tears:
Upon watching it, a young Cahiers du Cinema critic named Jean-Luc Godard wept, later adding, “How can I hate John Wayne … and yet love him tenderly … in the last reel of The Searchers?”
Mise-en-scene; framing; editing; two simple dissolves connecting three scenes; movement within the frame; actors’ gestures; the timbre of Wayne’s voice; Steiner’s score; Monument Valley–formal elements so precisely and intricately arranged that profound pleasures arise.
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Just got an update from Amazon;
We are pleased to report that the following item will dispatch sooner than expected:
Hans Zimmer “No Time to Die [VINYL]”
Previous estimated arrival date: October 12 2021
New estimated arrival date: October 05 2021
Possibly showing confidence in the new date?
…almost 2 years after initially planned, But we got Knives Out because of delay 1 so
I’m not complaining
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Well, the product is ready, and the panic is undeniable: WE GOTTA OPEN NOW!!!
Flash forward to September: We regret to inform you…
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One basic thing I do not understand during this pandemic:
Why do so many people desperately demand to do things that will keep the pandemic to go on and threaten everybody’s life?
Cinema attendance is not safe. We have the technical means to watch them at home. Just do it.
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My school district just announced they are returning full time after Spring Break in April. Why do we even teach science?
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The sad thing is: around this time last year much of the world went into lockdown. And right from the start scientists predicted if we don’t keep it up long enough it’s bound to result in a stop-go circle. Cue the lobby groups, various players acting with their own - often understandable - agenda about opening up and back to normal.
And here we are, what a surprise.
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To open schools safely, literally everyone who would attend that school (all students regardless of age and ALL staff need to be vaccinated). The moronic governor of Texas lifted all COVID restrictions including mask mandates before mass vaccinations could be completed. The cynical view (which is probably true when you gauge today’s super partisan political environment and well a post-45 GOP) is that the GOP probably expects and hopes that it will lead to a massive super outbreak that they can blame on Biden.
I will say, that I totally get that people are sick of this pandemic and are tired of their homes feeling like prisons. I never thought I’d come to the day where I would yearn to have the option to go into the office. However, this pandemic isn’t over. Yes, the end is in sight. But everyone should know by now what happens when you take your foot off the gas (28-3 anyone?). Many thousands of more will die and this pandemic will be prolonged for who knows how long, unless we exude patience and properly see this through to the end.
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I don’t come on here very often any more, chiefly because I have very little to say on the subject of Bond at the moment. The saga of NTTD has been torturous right from the word ‘go’.
I couldn’t give a monkey’s when they released it. So much more is happening in this world, so much is uncertain, that I’m not even sure I’ll go and watch it in a cinema when it is released. [That would be a first for me since 1979.] My personal opinion - and that’s worth nowt to any one - is that given the tremendous gestation period of this production, they may as well shelve it until October 2022 and have a retro-celebration of all things sixty.
I believe someone posted a few pages back that the real question isn’t when will NTTD be released - we know it will - sometime - but when is the NEXT James Bond going to be cast, written, filmed and released…
I’d be much more excited about that !
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Even our rare guests are welcome, @chrisno1!
You are certainly not alone with your musings. Especially for us older fans the ‘when’ isn’t as important as the ‘in what kind of health’ - and in the greater picture NO TIME TO DIE is an amusing detail at best. The most important thing now is that we hopefully soon see an end to the pandemic’s hold over all and everything. And that we avoid further victims as much as possible.
If that is achieved - HOORAY and the rest will sort itself.
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I would agree with the idea presented of shelving this thing until October of 2022. What’s another year of waiting for this film anyway. We’re already to the point where there have been just as many people to play Bond as this film has had release dates, so what’s another year of waiting? MGM isn’t going to make the money they need to make in October. It’s not going to be safe enough by then for the big time box office that they need, so another delay is almost inevitable and something we’ll probably hear about over the summer.
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With most things I have the mindset of ‘there won’t ever be a perfect time, so just do it’. I don’t see this climate magically going away regardless of any delay length, be it 12 months or even 12 years. Therefore I say get the film out there and move on. It’s going to make what it’s going to make.
If individuals don’t want to enter cinemas that’s their individual choice to make, and I respect their choice. But I think it’s time to put it out there for others. Streaming doesn’t look likely. If concerned individuals are okay with waiting until 2022 regardless, the countdown for the DVD can begin sooner.
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I agree that the expected box office results won’t be possible this year. But I don’t think they will be achieved at all anymore.
Even before the pandemic grosses were down or inflated with higher prices because audiences rather stay home and watch what is available. The younger demographic might rush out to see a film on opening weekend - but anybody else will gladly wait.
To delay Bond once again would not help anymore, only make the average moviegoer less interested in a franchise which has become more of a nostalgic reminder of its significance in previous times.
If a new actor had taken over in NTTD people could be lured in easier. Also if there had been a steady stream of interconnected entries, Marvelesque.
At this point, however, NTTD is not gaining anything from being held back. It is the end of an era which does not seem to be allowed to end, its conclusion being dragged out. In that case its title is all the more fitting.
So, the best solution is to stop the hesitation and end it in October in order to make room for its rebirth which hopefully will allow for a steadier reincarnation.
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I don’t think this takes into account the survival instinct that MGM is almost assuredly operating under at this point. Bond is what keeps them afloat. If it doesn’t make money, then they don’t make it to the next film, in all likelihood. But, as long as they hold a valuable commodity like a finished Bond film that has the potential to make some cash at the box office, then they are still able to hold on to that tiny piece of string that is keeping them from falling into the abyss, no matter how thin and frayed that string has become after six delays.
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Something I hadn’t considered before but which occurs to me reading these recent comments – the reviews will be all important for this film. If they rave, people on the fence about visiting a cinema may end up going and be reminded of the joys of the cinema experience that most people have not had for some time, pleased that they watched this great film on a big screen… If the reviews are bad, that could very well have a huge negative impact on the box office – a much bigger impact than the same bad reviews would have had pre-Covid (the extended wait for the film I’m not sure will help either). This could very well cause a much smaller profit than Eon are anticipating and this may very well cause further financial issues for all concerned parties.
Basically this film needs to be good.
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Ignoring the wanting an objective fact on what can only ever be subjective for a bit…
It would only affect MGM and Annapurna in that regard, Eon, and every member of the cast and crew for that matter, have already been paid and delivered what MGM/Annapurna asked for and invested it. There will be some who could’ve got an extra bit of back end profit added into their contract, but for them that’s just a bonus on top of the fee they’ve already received.
Besides, reviews and financial success have never had any relationship.
Rotten tomatoes count of best reviewed films counting the widest range of positive reviews;
| 1. | 99% | It Happened One Night (1934) | 95 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | 96% | Black Panther (2018) | 519 |
| 3. | 99% | Lady Bird (2017) | 394 |
| 4. | 97% | Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) | 433 |
| 5. | 96% | BlacKkKlansman (2018) | 443 |
| 6. | 98% | Get Out (2017) | 392 |
| 7. | 97% | Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) | 427 |
| 8. | 97% | Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) | 388 |
| 9. | 98% | Moonlight (2016) | 389 |
| 10. | 93% | Wonder Woman (2017) |
Now the most profitable films “adjusted for inflation” 
| 1 | Gone with the Wind | 1939 | 202,286,200 | $1,895,421,694 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Star Wars | 1977 | 178,119,500 | $1,668,979,715 |
| 3 | The Sound of Music | 1965 | 142,485,200 | $1,335,086,324 |
| 4 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | 1982 | 141,854,300 | $1,329,174,791 |
| 5 | Titanic | 1997 | 135,549,800 | $1,270,101,626 |
| 6 | The Ten Commandments | 1956 | 131,000,000 | $1,227,470,000 |
| 7 | Jaws | 1975 | 128,078,800 | $1,200,098,356 |
| 8 | Doctor Zhivago | 1965 | 124,135,500 | $1,163,149,635 |
| 9 | The Exorcist | 1973 | 110,599,200 | $1,036,314,504 |
| 10 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
Note that NO film appears on both lists. What MGM are actually relying on is how good their marketing is.
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With regards to MGM and it’s proposed sale, of course MGM has a card up its sleeve with NO TIME TO DIE. But it’s entirely not sure it’s an ace. May not even be a knave or a nine.
The Bond franchise is only ever worth what a possible buyer thinks it’s worth. This is a long game projecting events of the next two or three decades. In effect that would mean the next ten films minimum and a possible maximum of 20 films.
But what do I get as buyer of MGM? Half the Bond franchise. Everything I would like to produce I have to clear with my partners at Danjaq. So there will be no Bond streaming shows, no Expanded Bondverse or whatever else one might think without the consent of the Broccolis.
The key to the sale of MGM is very much the chemistry between the potential buyer and the powers that be: Do they agree on the big and the small of it? Is there a clear understanding where the creative authority lies? How do we proceed from here - here being some point in 202x - with a clean slate and what’s going to be the grand picture for Next Generation 007?*
With all of these considerations the actual performance of NO TIME TO DIE is not unimportant. But it’s far from the deciding factor. I’d say it probably makes little difference if the film is out on screens or streaming, if it’s grandiose or grandiosely failing. It makes no sense to buy MGM if you don’t get along with Eon house, regardless if you buy for a King’s ransom or if it’s a steal.
Conversely, if you already know your plans are going down well with your partners at Eon, then you can easily spend half a billion more or write off whatever sum NO TIME TO DIE‘s title ends up as on the final bill. We’re not talking about players whose funds are limited anyway.
*Most of this goes far beyond who is cast as Craig’s successor or what kind of script which director tries to turn into a film in nine months time.
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