No Time to Die Delayed Yet Again, Final Daniel Craig Bond Film Now Moved to Oct. 2021

For the—count it—fourth time, we can write the following: No Time to Die has had its release date delayed. The final James Bond film starring Daniel Craig as the legendary super-spy was originally scheduled to be released in April of 2020, before the nascent coronavirus pandemic first moved that date to November of last year. The date then got changed again, to later in November, before then moving to April 2021. That date is still a few months out, but it seems MGM has seen enough anyway—they’ve just bumped it again to Oct. 2021, in the hopes that the pandemic will finally be behind us by that point.

Meanwhile, another wave of notable delays and floating release dates is underway. Ghostbusters: Afterlife was also pushed back five months to Nov. 2021, while the Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland has lost its 2021 berth entirely—it will now arrive at some point in 2022.

No Time to Die, though, will remain the focus of many because of its status as a franchise tentpole and the fact that its development has been so intimately associated with delays caused by the pandemic. MGM seems extremely committed to a wide theatrical release around the globe, where Bond films have historically always performed well—back in 2012, Craig’s Skyfall crossed the $1.1 billion mark at the global box office. MGM has dabbled with the idea of selling No Time to Die to streamers, according to Deadline, but no one has been willing to meet their price.

But wait, we’re still not done. Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho has also been pushed back, to Oct. 22, 2021, while Sony’s Cinderella is now July 16, 2021. Could we be looking at another summer movie season bereft of tentpoles, even with more Americans receiving the COVID-19 vaccine every day? Hopefully some part of the busiest filmgoing season can be salvaged, or American theaters are likely to be in a world of hurt.