007 to save the world… and the Odeon

SAVING the world is usually at the heart of any James Bond mission.

Now it looks like 007 will be the saviour of a cinema industry left reeling by the pandemic when the latest movie in the franchise is released on Thursday.

No Time To Die, with Daniel Craig, 53, as Bond for the last time, is set to be the biggest opening for the cinema giant Odeon since The Lion King in summer 2019.

The chain has sold more than 175,000 tickets in the two weeks since they went on sale – 40 per cent of them to moviegoers visiting cinemas for the first time since they reopened in May.

The film has also attracted the strongest level of demand from an older audience for more than 18 months, with more than a third of tickets bought by those over 46.

Odeon said attendance at its cinemas this month was set to be 10 per cent higher than in September 2019, boosted by demand for the 25th Bond film.

Cineworld also reported that No Time To Die is now its highest pre-selling film since Avengers: End Game in April 2019.

The new Bond outing will enjoy a starstudded world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London tonight, attended by the cast and guests including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It was originally scheduled for release in April last year but was pushed back to November 12 and then to this month because of the pandemic.

No Time To Die is the longest Bond film to date, running to two hours and 43 minutes. It is 15 minutes longer than the previous record-holder, Spectre, at 148 minutes.

The film, co-written by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, will see the return of Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny and Ralph Fiennes as M.