I've written about this many times before -- besides actual physical contact with people, there's nothing I miss more than going to the movies. I made one sojourn out to do it during covd -- to see Christopher Nolan's Tenet at a theater in Jersey City -- but for the most part movie theaters across America are dead and dying and while it's far from anyone's priority at a time when the virus is spreading even more than it was six months ago, it would be a tremendous blow to American culture to lose this institution.
The latest sign that traditional movie theaters are in real peril is the efforts on Netflix's part to buy the rights to the highly anticipated new James Bond movie No Time to Die. The movie was first scheduled to be released in April, then because of covd it got pushed to November, and right now it's in limbo -- looking at April of 2021 (insanely a full year after its initial release date) and that may still be wishful thinking since despite all of Trump's promises, there's no vaccine in sight.
So here we are. The producers of the Bond film have likely already blown a fortune (on already costly release) launching two different advertising campaigns that had to be rolled back when it became obvious that theaters could re-open nationwide. Rumor has it Netflix has been willing to pony up as much as $600 million to acquire the rights to distribute the movie now on their streaming platform.
It makes perfect sense that Netflix would want the buy the new Bond. It's a huge marquee movie -- one of the most anticipated of the year -- the kind of movie that might draw in non subscribers or people who just don't normally spend a lot of time on Netflix to seek it out. And I'm not anti-Netflix mind you, they have made some incredible movies in the past couple years (The Irishman, for instance) and been able to get more eyes on some than they might have in theaters (Da 5 Bloods, for instance).
But No Time to Die is different -- it's the kind of movie that is meant to be enjoyed by as many people as possible in as many theaters as possible. The irony is that were the movie to be release internationally it would probably enjoy something akin to a traditional release. Tenet for instance has been horribly hamstrung here in the U.S., but it's a sizable hit around the world, where covd hasn't been wiped out but is clearly better under control than it here.
The Bond producers clearly would prefer a traditional release -- this film is an event, it's Daniel Craig's last go round as 007 and it's the first film in the series in what will wind up being 6 years, the longest gap between films since the gap between the Dalton and Brosnan eras from 1989 to 1995. And yet, the movie can't sit on the shelf forever.
BTW - as I wrote this news broke the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won WOOOHOOO OMG YASSSS GOOD LORD THANK YOU THANK U YESSSSS!!!!
I personally can't wait to see this movie -- so I'm a little torn -- but I desperately want to see it as it was intended on the big screen, preferably with an audience that I can enjoy it with. In a way if the producers of this film cave in to Netflix it might mean the death knell of the theater chains around this country that rely on big releases like this one to stay afloat.
There is no easy or obvious answer to this problem. I am just watching and hoping that the Bond folks hold out just a little bit longer.
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