A new report reveals the loans MGM took out to make No Time To Die will cost them $1 million in interest every month until the movie is released. The 25th film in the franchise, and Daniel Craig's final in the role of 007, No Time To Die will reportedly tie up all of the loose plot threads from Craig's five Bond films, which started with 2006's Casino Royale. No Time To Die also stars Rami Malek as the villain Safin, Lashana Lynch as Nomi and Ana de Armas as Paloma. Lea Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes and Jeffrey Wright also appear, reprising their roles from earlier Bond films.
Initially scheduled to release in theaters in April, No Time To Die was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, first to November and then again to April 2021. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, the movie has a reported budget of over $250 million. Recently, there were reports that delays had become so expensive for MGM, the studio was attempting to sell No Time To Die to a streaming service like Netflix for a number in the region of $600 million.
A new report reveals just why MGM was so desperate to sell. THR reveals that for every month of delay, MGM is incurring $1 million in interest charges. The studio financed No Time To Die with a large loan, something typical of many movies, but the delay means that interest has come due, and won't be able to be paid off until the movie is released. The report quotes Hal Vogel, CEO of Vogel Capital Research, who says "MGM is suffering" and the loan repayment was one of the main reasons the studio explored a streaming sale. You can read his full comments below:
MGM is suffering. Every major distributor at this point has a pile of unreleased expensive movies. The pile grows larger by the day. These films are inventory. They are sitting there with no return on their investment. Even with low interest rates, the interest costs are piling up. So going the streaming route is not that crazy. You’ve spent the money. And you’re not getting it back anytime soon.
MGM's financial troubles are not unique of course. Warner Bros. took a massive risk by releasing Christopher Nolan's Tenet in theaters in September and that ended up being a failure at the box office. Disney, too, has had to realign its priorities, deciding to release Mulan and Soul on Disney+ instead of in theaters. Both of those studios have the benefit of their own streaming services, though. For MGM, the problem is compounded by the fact that they would have had to sell No Time To Die to another company for a huge price tag in order to make any money on the project.
The problem with No Time To Die's release delays further lays bare the fundamental problem at the heart of cinema at the moment. Namely, how can movie studios justify massive budget films at a time when audiences are unwilling to leave the house, let alone to go and watch movies indoors. If a long-running franchise like Bond is battling, then it seems that no studio is safe at the moment. Whether cinemas will survive in the end is a question for another time, but this situation is further proof that the pandemic has thrown the movie business into complete disarray.
Source: THR
