The Bond film “No Time to Die” is again delayed.

You know it’s bad when James Bond still can’t get out of the house.

‘No Time to Die’, the 25th film in the Bond franchise, was delayed for the third time Thursday night, the surest sign yet that Hollywood doesn’t think the masses will be ready to return to theaters. anytime soon. The $ 250 million film will now arrive in theaters on October 8, according to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

He was due to make his debut last April. As the coronavirus continued to mount, this plan was scrapped for its debut in November. Most recently, the anticipated blockbuster was set for an April 2 landing.

Studios, worried about complicated vaccination efforts in the United States, were already (again) postponing big movies. Universal and Amblin Entertainment, for example, pushed “Bios,” starring Tom Hanks on a post-apocalyptic Earth, from August 13 through April 16.

But the retirement of “No Time to Die” could lead to the fall of additional dominoes. It was the first mega-film planned for the post-vaccine era. That honor now goes to Marvel’s prequel “Black Widow” (May 7), followed by Universal’s latest installment “Fast & Furious” (May 28). The problem: No one is particularly keen to test the market by going there first – especially not after what happened to Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet”.

Warner Bros. had tried to restart filming in September by releasing “Tenet”, although many cinemas were still closed and others were operating at limited capacity. The film raised $ 363 million worldwide, a very respectable total under the circumstances, but one that disappointed Hollywood nonetheless. (Mr. Nolan’s films typically collect more than double that amount.)

More recently, “Wonder Woman 1984” took in an anemic $ 143 million worldwide, with its instant online availability in the United States decreasing ticket sales, as well as fears of the virus resurgence.

Shortly after MGM announced the new date for “No Time to Die,” Sony Pictures reshuffled its schedule, pushing “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” back to November 11 from June 11, and “Morbius,” starring Jared Leto as Marvel’s pseudo-vampire. January 21, 2022, from October 8, where he would have competed with a certain British superspy.