After nearly two years of delays from its originally intended release date in 2019, No Time To Die recently underwent another push to a later page on the calendar. With October 8th acting as the new home for the 25th adventure in the James Bond franchise, it’s going to be really interesting to see how Daniel Craig’s final installment holds up after one of the longest delays in Bond history. And it looks like there’s already a problem with the timeliness of Cary Joji Fukunaga’s entry in the current era of 007, as there’s talk of reshoots being needed for a very unique reason: by the time the film’s finally released, the gadgets will be noticeably outdated.
We’re not talking about how No Time To Die’s various technical devices will age in the long run, but rather upon debuting after that near two-year gap. It’s something that, according to a new report from The Sun, has various sponsors that participated in product placement arrangements concerned. And now the current factors surrounding the release of this final Craig-era movie have posed the following problem, described by an anonymous insider:
The details of the gadgets and things are all kept tightly under wraps, but everyone knows that James Bond always carries the latest kit with him. The problem is that some of those things were the very latest models back when they started filming. But by the time the movie comes out now it will look like Daniel Craig and all of the other cast members are carrying something that has been out for ages. That isn’t really the point of these deals. The big tech firms want the stars to have all the new up-and-coming products to help promote them and sell them to fans. It means some of the scenes are going to have to be very carefully edited and looked at to bring things up to date.
There may be No Time To Die, but apparently, there’s even less time to sell. With most other films, this might not even be something that comes up in conversation surrounding delays in production and release. But as most James Bond fans will tell you, product placement is actually a pretty important piece of the 007 machinery.
The James Bond legacy has always sold a particular lifestyle to its fans, and No Time To Die is no exception. As this anonymous insider has highlighted, the tech that Bond is seen with on screen is stuff that 007 loyalists are going to want to have for themselves. This has been an especially crucial component in the Daniel Craig era, since the franchise’s previous home at Sony allowed their electronic devices to be shown rather prominently in Casino Royale through Spectre. When you watch those films again and see how many Sony phones and computers you can spot.
Of course, since Universal and MGM are picking up the tab for No Time To Die, there was a need to look for new sponsors to provide this latest round of cutting edge tech. One such vendor is cell phone manufacturer Nokia, who have gone as far as shooting an ad to promote their “latest” model with Lashana Lynch’s Nomi. However, the ad you’re about to see ran in September, in anticipation of a November 2020 release date; which means this phone is probably in the public’s hands, and doesn’t feel as exotic or Bond-ian.
Product placement is a surefire way to excite your fans, sell some merch, and offset a massive budget, should your film cost something in the ballpark of $200+ million to make. As No Time To Die is the most expensive Bond film to date, and the delays to the movie’s theatrical release cost roughly $1 million for ever month shelved, now’s not the time to be upsetting your sponsors. So it wouldn’t be surprising if Daniel Craig and the rest of the cast were to reassemble, in order to get some pickup shots of a sweet new Nokia phone being used in the field.
