April 2020, clearly, wasn’t the right time to release Daniel Craig’s final James Bond film, “No Time to Die,” as the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to move to November. Now, with November fast approaching, the film has already moved to April 2021. And the actor is hoping that this is the final time fans will have to be disappointed by another change to the release date.
READ MORE: ‘No Time To Die’ Delayed Once Again, Moving To April 2021
Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on last night’s “The Tonight Show,” Craig talked about the decision to move “No Time to Die” out of 2020 completely. The actor chalks it up to the studio’s desire to open the film at the same time all around the world, and now’s just not the time for that to happen, as many theaters in the US are still closed.
“We just want people to go and see this movie in the right way, the safe way,” Craig said. “You know, cinemas all around the world are closed at the moment and we want to release the movie at the same time all around the world, this isn’t the right time.”
He added, “Fingers crossed April 2 is going to be our date.”
Of course, if you’ve been following along with the fall release date drama that hasn’t just affected “No Time to Die” but pretty much every other major film set to be released in the remainder of 2020, there’s a lot more going on than the desire to have a day-and-date release of the film. Theaters are still at partial capacities all around the world. And in the US, even with reduced capacities, tickets have been a tough sell, as many people have decided to just stay home instead of venturing out to the multiplex. (Look at the subpart, even by pandemic standards, performance of “Tenet” for that confirmation.)
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We’re not saying that Craig is lying about the reasons for delaying the Bond film, but there’s obviously more to it than just the studio wanting a day-and-date worldwide release. And while April 2021 seems awfully far away, there’s still no guarantee that next spring will see US theaters back to full capacities and people anxious to return to cinemas. So, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed, as well.