New James Bond movie No Time to Die's China press tour has been postponed to contain and prevent spread of the coronavirus. No Time to Die is Daniel Craig's last movie as agent 007. James Bond has been recruited to rescue a kidnapped scientist from the grasp of a mysterious villain. The 25th James Bond movie was set to be a big hit with 4-time Grammy-winning artist Billie Eilish's new theme song and the boost of the extensive Chinese press tour. The new Bond movie will now have to rely more heavily on its UK release on April 2nd and US release on April 10th.
The coronavirus has had a detrimental effect on the Chinese entertainment industry. 70,000 cinema screens have gone dark after movie theaters were mandated to shut down. Not only are citizens unable to catch a movie, they can no longer visit Disneyland Shanghai, visit museums, or get their hair cut. Certain cities like Wuhan have been put under a government-ordered lockdown. The effects of the coronavirus are even spreading outside of China. Families from the U.S. and UK have been infected with the virus on cruise ships, causing ship guests to be quarantined for weeks. The economy is also taking a hit due to coronavirus, as are video games. Production on the new Nintendo Outer Worlds switch port, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X has been delayed. Movies are also starting to feel the effects on an international level.
According to The Times, the closure of cinemas is what caused the No Time to Die publicity tour to be postponed. The film team was hopeful that theaters would begin to reopen by that point, but it seems unlikely. This comes very shortly after news broke of the Beijing film premiere being canceled. Daniel Craig was meant to attend the Beijing film premiere as well as tour several Chinese cities to promote the film. Even if Chinese cinemas were to reopen in time for the original April premiere date, other important members of the film and press tour like co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Naomie Harris, who plays Miss Moneypenny, would not be given clearance by doctors to travel to China.
Not only will Chinese citizens be deprived of the opportunity to meet James Bond himself, the film itself will suffer. The James Bond crew pulled off its first successful Chinese press tour in 2015 for the premiere of Spectre. The tour allowed Spectre to be the most successful Bond film in China, bringing in more than $60 million. The No Time to Die team was hoping to be the first Bond film to make over $1 billion internationally. That dream unfortunately has had time to die now that theaters won't likely reopen until the summer. While the film still has the opportunity to profit when theaters reopen, it will have plenty of competition with films like Dolittle, Little Women, and Jojo Rabbit, all of which also postponed their premieres.
No Time to Die will undoubtedly suffer without the help of China's profits. China has become increasingly more influential in the film industry. Additionally, movies are already experiencing unimpressive domestic box office lows in 2020. 2020 is shaping up to be a rough start for movies nationally and internationally, and the latter won't be resolved until the spread of coronavirus is halted. More importantly, the virus needs to be eradicated for the safety of Chinese citizens and international parties, though No Time to Die fans are likely still disappointed by this news.
Source: The Times
