No, Bond Isn't Heading To Streaming

Mr Bond, I've been expecting you in cinemas but not on Netflix or Apple TV+

Daniel Craig in 'No Time to Die' (CREDIT: Universal/MGM)

                     by Jack Linsdell

This week, the British tabloids had a field day taking an alleged rumour about the upcoming 007 blockbuster No Time to Die and turning it disproportionately into "it's happening" fact. This all came about when it was rumoured that MGM had apparently been ascertaining the idea of selling the 25th James Bond flick to streaming giants like Netflix and Apple TV+ for a whopping $600 million price tag. That would indeed be a record for any studio acquisition, and frankly out of everyone's price range, even Netflix. Now, with the current pandemic and related cinema closures and delayed films putting the sheer notion of theatrical release in question, it's understandable that MGM would have done some window shopping so to speak. However, what the press incorrectly assumed (or deliberately played upon) was that this was actually happening. And, I can tell you right now that MGM may have looked, but they certainly have never and will never touch a move for Bond to streaming. 

Universal (who are on hook for global distribution) have little vested interest beyond having their names attached to another big blockbuster. They have the likes of Halloween Kills, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Jurassic World: Dominion and F9 to keep them busy over the next year. But, for EON and MGM, Bond is their only crown jewel, one that in recent times only comes round every three to five years. So, as much as MGM could have been enticed by a $600 million instant cash trade in this perilous theatrical environment, it was never going to happen. Bond is made for the cinema and when it opens in April next year, is bound to be one of the first movies to crack $700 million worldwide. So, a steaming debut is off the table. 

This is very different to what Paramount and Sony have been doing this year, passing off questionable theatrical releases that were always a coin toss at breaking even anyway to streaming services. Paramount sold the likes of The Lovebirds and Aaron Sorkin's recent drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 to Netflix because they were mid-budget, counter-programmers, the sort of movies that audiences stopped seeing in theatres even before the pandemic began. The $50 million deal for the star-studded Sorkin picture was able to cover the $35 million budget, plus marketing costs and give the studio a small profit when such a thing was always questionable in the first place. The same for why Apple paid Sony $70 million for Tom Hanks' U-boat thriller Greyhound, covering the $50 million budget and giving the studio some instant money. However, unlike No Time to Die, a surefire sequel to blockbuster hits (Skyfall, Spectre) in a decades-popular action franchise, neither The Trial of the Chicago 7 or Greyhound were expected to earn even $150 million worldwide. 

Bond is one of the biggest blockbusters around (with a budget of $250 million) and expected to make a lot of money from the biggest screens possible around the world. The Cary Fukunaga-directed flick is also partly shot on IMAX cameras, making it's theatrical release almost unquestionable really. The reason MGM asked for $600 million was not only to approximate what No Time to Die was going to earn worldwide at a minimum, but also to price the competition out of the game. This is similar to what Disney did when they moved Mulan to Disney+ when they added a plus $20 PVOD charge to paying consumers. They wanted to make sure customers didn't get used to seeing big, intended for theatrical release blockbusters going straight to streaming and thus priced many casual consumers out of the game. MGM has done a similar thing here. 

So, no Bond isn't going to Netflix, Apple or any other streaming service even contemplating shedding out over half a billion on one movie. Sure, Greyhound may have become more of an event on Apple TV+ than as a Sony theatrical release (reportedly being Apple's most viewed original yet), but Bond is not a $50 million slow-burn, WWII thriller. No Time to Die, the highly anticipated swansong for Daniel Craig and a $250 million, globe-trotting, shot in IMAX action epic, needs to be seen on the big screen, not your laptop at home. And, for that reason, MGM will be releasing Bond into theaters. It's just up to us wearing masks and the governments getting themselves sorted to know exactly when that will be.