New time for Bond
LIKE the rest of the world, Jamaicans will have to wait a little bit longer to see the latest instalment in the James Bond franchise, No Time To Die, as its release has been delayed again — this time to 2021.
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, said the 25th instalment for which segments were shot on location in Portland and sections of the Corporate Area will now open globally on April 2, 2021 because of the effects of COVID-19 on the theatrical business.
No Time To Die was originally set to open in April 2020 but was pushed back to November 12 in the United Kingdom and November 20 in the United States. It was one of the first Hollywood films to abandon its release before cinemas in the US shut down in mid-march because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The film, from director Cary Joji Fukunaga, stars Daniel Craig as 007, Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, as well as Lashana Lynch and Naomie Harris, both of whom are of Jamaican parentage.
Principal filming began on April 28 last year in Port Antonio.
Actor Daniel Craig sustained an ankle injury in May last year whilst filming in Jamaica and subsequently underwent minor surgery. The film wrapped October 25 last year Pinewood Studios in the UK with the filming of a chase sequence set in Havana, Cuba. This sequence should have been shot earlier but reports indicate that due to the injury sustained by Craig in Jamaica, it was rescheduled.
Jamaica and Bond have been linked for the inception of the beloved British spy. Writer Ian Flemming wrote a number of the stories in the series at his Jamaican retreat, Goldeneye in St Mary. The very first film in the franchise, Dr
No, was shot on location in Jamaica in 1962. The team returned to Jamaica in 1973 for Live and Let Die with scenes shot in Ocho Rios, Trelawny and Lucea, Hanover. Jamaican-born actress Grace Jones also starred in A View to a Kill in 1985.
In a nostalgic move, the producers announced the film at Goldeneye in April last year. The producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli flew in a cavalcade of stars including Craig, Lynch, Harris, de Armas and Lea Seydoux, for a launch event which was seen live across the world.
In a related move, Universal moved its F9, the ninth instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise starring Vin Diesel, to May 28. Its previous April 2 release date would have put it in direct competition with Bond.
Other major studios have made similar decisions over the past few weeks.
Ticket sales for Warner Bros’ Tenet, the first blockbuster to open in theatres worldwide after months of coronavirus-related closures, have not been as strong as hoped for in the US.
The Walt Disney Company last week delayed the planned 2020 releases of a handful of major movies until 2021. They include Marvel’s Black Widow and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Universal delayed Candyman to next year.
Some major releases are still planned for 2020. They include Wonder Woman 1984, which was pushed back to Christmas after multiple delays and Kenneth Branagh’s mystery Death on the Nile. It is now set for December 18.