MGM may not have sold the rights to “No Time To Die” to a streaming service, but it may be starting to feel the heat from sticking with a theatrical release.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest James Bond movie is costing MGM around $1 million per month in interest alone, which it won’t be able to recoup until the movie finally opens. That release likely won’t come for a while, since public health officials don’t think a vaccine will be widely available before the film’s spring release, and the audience for “No Time To Die” skews older.
It makes perfect sense, then, that MGM looked into selling Cary Fukunaga‘s Bond film to a streaming service before they decided to delay the film yet again. The Hollywood Reporter states that, out of the streaming platforms interested in acquiring the film, only Apple made a proper offer. According to the report, MGM was asking for $650 to $700 million, but Apple wouldn’t go over $400 for what would have been a 12-month license.
MGM could not go for under $600 million for the sale, according to the report, because in addition to making back the money spent on the film, compensating Universal Pictures for distributing the film internationally, as well as Daniel Craig and the producers’ backends, MGM needed to convince Bond-rights-holders Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. The Hollywood Reporter describes Broccoli as “seen as a staunch traditionalist who is very much in support of the theatrical experience.”
According to a similar report by Variety, matters get more complicated by MGM’s recent big spendings. We’ve written before about MGM Motion Picture Group Chairman Michael De Luca, who has managed to secure an impressive lineup of films for MGM, including projects by Thomas Kail, George Miller, Joe Wright, Kenya Barris, Ridley Scott, and Paul Thomas Anderson. The problem is that these projects have come with big expenses, including spending $10 million more on Anderson’s upcoming coming-of-age drama than other bidders, or spending $3 million for the rights to the upcoming “Project Hail Mary” which will star Ryan Gosling.
Both reports add that there has been plenty of talks about MGM selling to another studio or streaming service, but according to Variety, they were hoping for a bigger sum than streaming services are willing to pay. Whatever MGM’s future holds, it is becoming increasingly clear that it could be tied to the fate of “No Time to Die.”