Tremendous, so they say. Quite a thing. Quite a thing.
I must admit, I thought we’d have had official word of a further delay by now. Not sure if this reflects a growing chance of November happening or if they’re just really unsure how this is going to play out.
Perhaps they’re deep in negotiations and will have a bigger announcement to make soon.
It is odd. At this point they should have made a decision whether to go ahead with a release like they apparently try for TENET or to delay once again or partner up with a streamer.
Since marketing would have to ramp up in September we should get some idea how this will play out soon.
TENET is going to face a massive uphill struggle, local lockdowns and rising cases on a broad scale are going to see to that. They may declare it a success as much as they want, the only proof is in the earnings. By mid-September the cat will be out of the bag for better or worse, that’s when they will know how much or how little they will earn with it. Since the industry will observe this closely by then it should be clear whether to go the same route or not.
In the U.S., a Georgia school district had to quarantine 1,200 people after an outbreak, and an Arizona school district had to switch to virtual classes when teachers staged a sickout. One outbreak at one movie theatre scuttles everything, and sad to say, it will occur.
Film studios are doing what they always do - Try and bully their way out of a problem. As distributors, it is entirely their problem not, as they will try and push, Syncopy’s or EON’s. The production company made the product, it’s entirely up to distributors WB and MGM, respectively, to sell it.
Their job is distribution…hence the name. Nolan/Thomas and Broccoli/Wilson are done with their respective films as far as they’re concerned.
Quite.
I incorrectly foretold that the next delay would have surfaced by first week of August, for exactly the same reason you say. That of the marketing ramp up.
Maybe Tenet will be the touch paper that others Think by. And for this alone, one must thank profusely those that have committed to this release. And by way of (minimal) thanks, I will be going to see it.
I still believe that a World Premiere is required to kick off the Bond film and without this, the words ‘damp’ and ‘squib’ come to mind as to the subsequent effects if launched without.
And so, even IF Tenet is a success, I still believe the various teams will consider a later release to launch with some form of celebration. Quite how and when, must be the talk of the year.
They could be contemplating/negotiating VOD for all we know.
I have faith they have and will make the right decision. They proved themselves to me last March.
Who knows what will happen. If people don’t want to go to cinemas nobody is forcing them to. If the cinema option is available I’ll definitely be taking it. I’d love to think I could be seeing the film in about three months, but I won’t get ahead of myself. This year has gone by crazy fast.
The premiere thing: for many of us it’s really a big thing, THE major occasion for get-togethers, fan events, meet-and-greets, autograph hunting and whatnot. Some of us made it a cherished tradition to travel to London and meet with friends from all over the world to celebrate the new film. A highlight of the fan community and an adventure like few others.
But how important is the premiere circus really for the wider audience? Even among hardcore fans London or the other national premiere events are not accessible or affordable. And the public registers these parties at most by the 90-second clip in the news and its three sound bites amid the short trailer collage. I don’t really think it is that important any more to promote the film - if it ever was.
A traditional premiere, the way we we’ve come to expect it, will probably be out of the question for some time anyway. I can’t really imagine how one could be organised among all the current concerns. Simply releasing NO TIME TO DIE already seems like a Herculean effort.
Very much agree, Dustin. All eyes will be on Tenet.
They may have to figure out some way to do a virtual “premiere”, but having anything that resembles the event that we know as a premiere is almost certainly out of the question. It’s not happening until there is a vaccine, it has become widely distributed, and the cases begin to fall dramatically. We’re a long way from that, unfortunately.
Here‘s a thought: if they think a cinema release will get them kudos from the cinema chains, why not skip at least a premiere - and do one major celebration when the pandemic is over?
I don’t think that they really need to worry about getting any kind of kudos from the cinema chains. Given the way that AMC has conducted itself during the crisis, MGM and Universal certainly don’t owe them anything, and the cinema chains need the studios far more than the studios need the cinema chains.
I agree - but studios still walk on eggshells with cinema chains, and taking NTTD away from them would generate a lot of heat MGM does not need.
Oh, I’m not really talking about the excuse for fan get-togethers. In the same way as Cubby and UA were past masters at creating a circus and putting on a show, it was/is still all part of the razzmataz.
If the release date still holds, and if by October it is seen people are going to the cinema without falling over, I am sure some similar method of getting people into an auditorium for a premiere can be done.
As for whether it is required as part of the promotion, and would anyone see even a minor shift in viewing numbers, I am sure you are absolutely right. There would likely be no difference.
I cannot imagine what a virtual premiere might look like. Would they post the brochure to your home and ask for some Zoom presence at 8pm?
Zoom interviews with cast and crew. That is all.
They will surprise us with an extra new Bond film, shot in secret over the past six months. 
Indeed, if I think about it it doesn’t seem like something that would really attract many people. It’s not like a ‘live’ performance of a band or musician where the performance is the attraction. With NO TIME TO DIE the film is the attraction and the celebrities, as long as they are not physically present, are not a huge sensation. The interviews with cast and crew we could probably get on the Blu-ray.
So a virtual premiere, however it might look, will probably interest only a fraction of the audience that would shell out for the real thing. After all, that razzmatazz is as much about being seen as seeing who else needs to be seen.
Heart of Bondness: The nightmare production and release of No Time To Die.
I’m thinking they wait 'til mid-September before we get an announcement. There are two wildcards in the mix now–the fate of Tenet in the theaters, and the debut of Mulan on Disney+. We won’t hear anything before those unfold.