Given this lists the US date release date rather than the UK one in their blurb, following listing the UK one at the start, then has it released last November in the press release bit, I suspect this was posted by an unpaid, but very hopeful, intern.
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Some people at these agencies might not be fully in the loop on the varying US/UK dates. And the Sept 30 UK release is actually quite a recent development, when the October move was first announced the UK was due on the 8th also.
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Both are used;
released in cinemas on the 30th September 2021; premiere now confirmed for 28th September 2021 - with the afterparty at the Natural History Museum.
Daniel Craig will make his final appearance as 007 on 8 October.
then have
Release Date: 12th November 2020
I think itâs much use of copy and paste without having been bothered to read it.
Obviously a hoax. Why would someone use a SPECTRE poster to advertise a NTTD premiere?
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Imagine finally sitting down to watch NTTD, the gunbarrel starts but you feel something is very wrong. Suddenly the screen goes black, and the words âthe dead are aliveâ appear.
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49 days awayâŚso close, but with an ever looming threatâŚ
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In the words of many people lately, if not now (or end of September), when? Are the circumstances ideal? No. Will they be ideal any time soon? Who knows.
How long can MGM keep sitting on this before they eventually throw up their hands and say enough? Next year? We could have a vaccine dodging new variant mutation to contend with by then.
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Just so.
There will now always be some kind of significant infection activity affecting at least part of the market, thatâs just a fact weâll have to deal with. The question is whether to insist on illusory box office results or attack the situation head-on with an innovative first stage release. And since the film looks increasingly unlikely to turn a solid profit I know what I would argue for.
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The cost of sitting on NTTD for longer will raise the bar for it to break even higher.
But the previous release delays indicate that the powers who decide are confident there will be a time when they can make the intended and necessary profit.
Well, who knows, maybe the film can reach the 2 billion mark before the last AVATAR sequel is releasedâŚ
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Exactly! This is a problem that is unlikely to resolve itself in a timeframe that will ever allow for a guaranteed return on the investment thatâs been made. And every week/month that passes only keep accruing more interest charges.
Iâd like to think at some point pragmatism and logic will prevail that sometimes ensuring the ongoing future and validity of an enterprise is more important than an immediate financial loss.
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It really is a terrible conundrum EON is in.
They have one of the most valuable properties in the business. But in a media landscape with a rapidly increasing hunger for narrative content and audiences which are not as loyal to brands anymore (except Marvel) a property that is not fed regularly to the masses anymore loses its appeal.
Adding the changing generational aspect of movie audiences by decade, EON had to remind their target customers again and again who James Bond is and why their grandfatherâs idea of a hero is still relevant.
Try this when you only offer movies every three - five years.
With NTTD they got several additional problems:
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a main actor who at least gave the impression that the last film, SPECTRE in 2015, was his last, with the movie even offering a clean ending to his tenure
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then, an announcement of Craig returning⌠in a film slated for two years later
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then a high profile director stepping down
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and with a new director apparently making a great film (judging from the trailers), another release date change
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and then the pandemic, with three release date changes so far.
Granted, the pandemic could not have been foreseen by EON. But it highlighted the attitude of âWe have all the time in the worldâ which came to haunt them and cost them dearly.
Another hubris-related problem: Bond movies have become much too expensive. The fact that they simply must be mega blockbusters turns them into a huge cruise ship which can only maneuver very slowly and unspontaneously.
The bitter irony: NTTD could be the best Bond film ever, a perfect end to the Craig era, but it is impossible now for the film to have the originally intended effect.
The next film, should there be one, really has to be different and to be made very differently.
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I agree with a lot of this, but do feel the need to disagree re the budget thing, as a lot of people are saying the film cost far too much and there is no need for the next one to cost the same. Now, I think we all know the next one will have a significantly reduced budget, but thatâll be due to Covid.
People have to remember, for NTTD, a significant amount of money will have gone to Craig to return and, unusually for a Bond film, Lea Seydoux, Christopher Waltz and Jeffrey Wright to return also. Itâs feasible at least two of those 3 knew they could insist on a much higher paycheque as their presence was needed (and may not have been accounted for in their original Spectre contracts).
On top of that, as soon as Malek won his Oscar heâll have been able to insist his fee be significantly higher than it would have been before. What Iâm trying to say is the budget isnât necessarily huge because the producers are throwing bigger stunts at the screen or gallivanting to countries they donât need to, a lot of it gets spent in other ways. Is it wasteful? Well, I suppose weâll know when we see the film.
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But is the naturally rising talent fee a sustainable model? Thatâs exactly what I am driving at. At some point the films just have to become bloated and, yes, duller than they have to be.
Scaling back on everything will do the films a lot of good.
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Well indeed, the writers / producers wrote themselves into a very expensive corner with the retrospective recton. Not only was it a bad creative decision (in my opinion) but it necessitates higher actor payouts and, yes, as you say, it probably will result in a film that is bloated and expositional and which fights to give too many characters their time in the sun.
Maybe when they get a new actor in itâll get stripped back. Back to Bond the loner. It would certainly be cheaperâŚ
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Interestingly, with NO TIME TO DIE they manoeuvred themselves into just the position they were post DIE ANOTHER DAY. Back then, the potential return fee of Brosnan was at least part of the reason why his tenure ended.
NO TIME TO DIE now had a whole cast of people who had every right by industry customs to insist on bigger paycheques, almost like a tv series after season seven. No previous Bond film depended so much on a whole host of characters and continuity. Which of course also influenced the budget.
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Waltz would need a pay rise. Other 2 seem just happy to be back!
âŚhe says optimistically
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I think the budget thing isnât just a Bond problem. Itâs an entire movie industry problem overall now. The industry has changed so quickly in the space of 18 months. People are now used to being at home and being fed things to them in an easy way. Want to watch a brand new movie? Chances are itâll be on a streaming platform of your choosing. You donât even need to leave the comfort of your own home. Safety guaranteed.
I had this hope that people would flock to the cinemas at the first opportunity to bring the viewing numbers back to pre-pandemic levels, but I canât see that happening this year. Maybe not even next year. We donât know what weâre going to be dealing with 12 months from now. Youâd like to think weâd be in a better position, but⌠who knows?
Add to that a shortened theatrical window. People donât need to go to the movies now when they know itâs going to be available anywhere from 17 to 45 days later. Thatâs going to have a knock-on effect to box office grosses. Future movie budgets are going to have to be seriously looked at for the next few years. Youâre never going to have a billion dollar hit any time soon.
Letâs just say that quoted $928M box office needed to break even story is even remotely true for NTTD. Thatâs not happening this year. Itâs not happening next year. Itâs not happening if it goes to streaming. You delay it until next year, the required amount goes up again. Before you know it, you finally release it and you need over a billion JUST TO BREAK EVEN. MGM/EON are just going to have to accept that theyâre not going to make money on this movie, cut their losses and do something with it.
The pandemic has done a number on the business. The business needs to adapt now. $150M+ budgets just arenât feasible any longer.
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I wonder what the combined salaries of Jill St. John, Lana Wood, Charles Gray, Putter Smith, Bruce Glover, Jimmy Dean, Norman Burton, and Bruce Cabot were in terms of percentage of total production cost. M and Moneypenny each had one scene (Moneypenny barely that), and Q three. Connery earned a mint (for the times), but then he was what brought people (back) into the theatre. Whatever percentage it was, DAF brought in sixteen times the amount it cost to produce it (GOLDFINGER a whopping 41 times production costs; SKYFALL 5.6).
MCU, the Star Trek franchise, and the Fast/Furious series have conditioned audiences to expect/desire the return of the same cast, not just the same lead actor. I also think todayâs audiences expect returning characters to have more screen time than one or two scenes.
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The solution: good but cheaper because less known actors⌠
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Like Craig or ConneryâŚyou know where it goes from there
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