No Time to Die delays are costing the studio millions

As the pandemic continues, many films have been delayed to 2021, with the next James Bond instalment, No Time to Die, among them.

Originally set to release in April 2020, the movie was first delayed to November, then pushed all the way back to April 2 2021. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that this delay is costing MGM millions of dollars.

MGM took out loans to finance No Time to Die, and the interest accruing on that money is a massive $1 million a month. Considering the film already had a hefty budget of $250 million, James Bond’s next outing is proving to be very pricey for the studio indeed. MGM needs a theatrical release to recoup these costs.

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No wonder, then, that MGM tried to license the film to streamers, though no deal (the studio wanted a reported $600 million) was ever reached.

Disney released Mulan as a PVOD title on Disney Plus in September, a film which the studio probably hoped would net a box office result in the $1 billion range like The Lion King and Aladdin live-action remakes. We don’t know how much Disney made from the Premier Access release model, but considering Soul is releasing free on the streamer this Christmas Day, it’s easy to speculate that the release wasn’t quite what the studio hoped it would be.

Then there’s the fact that Cineworld temporarily shut all their sites in the US and UK following No Time to Die’s delay to 2021, indicating how much cinemas were relying on a tentpole release. It’s not a good situation all round, so we’re hoping things can change soon. For now, check out our list of all the movies still coming to cinemas in 2020.