James Bond film No Time To Die's release date has been delayed again - here's the latest

Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die, which has now been delayed by a total of 18 months thanks to Covid-19 (Photo: Universal Pictures)Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die, which has now been delayed by a total of 18 months thanks to Covid-19 (Photo: Universal Pictures)
Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die, which has now been delayed by a total of 18 months thanks to Covid-19 (Photo: Universal Pictures)

No Time To Die – Daniel Craig’s long-awaited final outing as James Bond – has been delayed once again thanks to continued disruption caused by the pandemic.

The latest 007 movie will now arrive in UK cinemas Friday 8 October, the official Bond Twitter account announced.

No Time To Die finds Bond after he has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica when his old friend Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright, from the CIA turns up asking for help.

As well as Craig, 52, No Time To Die stars Lea Seydoux, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and Ana De Armas and is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, with a script co-written by Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Here is everything you need to know about it.

Why has No Time To Die been delayed again?

No Time To Die was originally set to be released in April 2020, but became the first major film to fall victim to the pandemic when its release was pushed to November as the virus swept around the world.

That release date was then altered for a second time, with a tentative release date of April 2021 set following multiple pandemic-enforced delays.

But now, as Hollywood studios scramble to protect their films from certain box office doom with cinemas remaining closed in markets around the world, its release has been delayed for a third time.

The latest delay comes as no surprise and it was a question of when it would be pushed back, not if; the film is hoping to release around the world on the same date.

While the situation is also dire in the UK, in the US, more than 400,000 people have died from Covid-19.

Which other films have been affected?

Bond's delay has affected a number of other blockbuster released, including Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway Ghostbusters: Afterlife Cinderella, Uncharted, and Morbius (Photo: Universal Pictures)Bond's delay has affected a number of other blockbuster released, including Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway Ghostbusters: Afterlife Cinderella, Uncharted, and Morbius (Photo: Universal Pictures)
Bond's delay has affected a number of other blockbuster released, including Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway Ghostbusters: Afterlife Cinderella, Uncharted, and Morbius (Photo: Universal Pictures)

After MGM released the Bond news, Sony said Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway was moving from April to June, Ghostbusters: Afterlife was pushed from June to November and Cinderella, which stars singer Camila Cabello, will now arrive in July.

Video game adaptation Uncharted has been shifted from 2021 and moved to February 2022, Sony said, while Jared Leto superhero flick Morbius, which did have the October 8 slot now occupied by No Time To Die, is now slated for January next year.

Morbius has been pushed backs several times due to the health crisis and was once due to arrive in March.

Earlier this month Warner Bros announced it was delaying the release of Sopranos prequel The Many Saints Of Newark, which has been pushed back from March to 24 September.

In streaming, WarnerMedia announced late last year that its entire slate of 2021 films will arrive on the HBO Max streaming service at the same time as in cinemas in the US, and Netflix recently revealed it will release 70 films over the course of 2021 – including a new movie every week.

As well as the film industry, the wider entertainment world has been battered by the pandemic. On Thursday it was announced the Glastonbury music festival had been cancelled for a second successive year.

A version of this article originally appeared on our sister title, the Yorkshire Evening Post

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