The delay of No Time to Die received a bit of mockery on Saturday Night Live. Billed as Daniel Craig’s final outing in the role of James Bond, No Time to Die is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. The film stars Daniel Craig, in his fifth appearance as the title character, as well as Rami Malik, Lashana Lynch, and Ana De Armas. The 25th installment in the Bond franchise has received a fair amount of hype already. Previous characters, played by notable actors, will be returning. Several trailers have dropped, with the release month initially scheduled for April.
However, due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak, the premiere date has been pushed back to November. While the shift does line up closer to the release date of other James Bond entries such as Skyfall and Spectre, and even going back to GoldenEye, it has nonetheless garnered major headlines as MGM became the first studio to delay the debut of a movie in an attempt to discourage large crowd gatherings during a public health crisis. The delay of No Time to Die has caused ripple effects, in addition to speculation about which other big blockbusters might be forced to reshuffle their plans. But with Daniel Craig hosting Saturday Night Live for a second time over the weekend, attempts were made to find some humor in the situation.
One attempt occurred during the Weekend Update segment, when co-host Colin Jost brought up the delay. In his typically straightforward manner, Jost argued that it wasn’t the release date which should have been altered, but the film’s title. Watch the piece below, with the No Time To Die joke coming at roughly the 0:15 mark.
The SNL episode, which featured The Weeknd as musical guest, saw plenty of jokes dealing with the coronavirus. The cancellation of SXSW, for the first time in the festival’s history, was also touched upon by Jost.
Other movies, even big projects, appear so far to be moving ahead without any change. Some features have experienced changes in the schedule though, responding to the postponement of No Time to Die. The buddy comedy headlined by Dave Bautista, My Spy, is hitting multiplexes a full month later than planned. Trolls World Tour, on the other hand, moved up to debut a week earlier than intended.
Fans eager to see No Time To Die will have to wait longer. Still, the bigger question is perhaps what the coronavirus itself will look like closer to the end of the year. We can hope, for everyone’s sake, that it will be under control.
Source: Saturday Night Live