So there is…

…a new poster for NO TIME TO DIE.

Optimistically states ‘November’. Supposedly, a new trailer is also expected for Thursday.

Honor Blackman dies aged 94

Honor Blackman, best known for her roles as Pussy Galore in GOLDFINGER and Cathy Gale in the tv series The Avengers, has passed away aged 94. Her family gave a statement to the media:

“It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman aged 94. She died peacefully of natural causes at her home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family.”

Blackman’s role as Goldfinger’s private pilot – and leader of an all-female deadly flying circus – has become iconic over the decades, a fan favourite and a blueprint for the cliché of the ‘Bond-Girl’. A girl that knows how to handle guns and sometimes is seen throwing Bond around in decidedly un-girly fashion…

But her career went on after 1964 to numerous film and tv roles. She appeared in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, SHALAKO and BRIDGET JONES as well as Colombo, Doctor Who and Coronation Street. Blackman also publicly supported the Liberal Democrats and was a staunch republican, who turned down a CBE so as not to become a hypocrite.

For many fans around the world today’s news of her death will be a sad loss. Crew and members of CommanderBond.net will fondly remember her.

A Message from the CBn Team

See you later…

To borrow fellow CBner Jim’s phrase, some light entertainment finds itself rescheduled. Bummer. This week the premiere of NO TIME TO DIE was moved to 12. November (UK) and 25. November (US) respectively. 2020, in case you wondered.

The Interweb immediately reported a combined heart-quake of 16.99 on the Bond fan scale. Fans wept. Fans ranted. Fans threatened to slash their wrists. Some even did it on camera and posted it to the channels of their vast media empires, freely admitting they may be hapless know-nothings but insisting to prove it for 20 minutes so even the last doubts quietly left by their backdoor. Oh well…

Did this come unexpected? Not exactly. Everybody who hasn’t been living under a stone in a deep deep well in an abandoned old ruin on the wrong side of the Borgo Pass, or at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, must have had at least a wee tiny little inkling that things were going on. Or make that things, sounds more ominous. Befitting a situation were surgical masks are suddenly harder currency than the dollar.

So in all fairness, one could have paused for a moment when China closed off Wuhan region. One might have hesitated when one heard about lockdowns in Italy, quarantines in Japan and cases popping up wherever authorities started to look. And one must have been aware of nasty things afoot once there was a COBRA meeting – that’s COBRA!!! for the initiated – scheduled 72 hours in advance. Now that’s a sure sign of perilous machinations; Britons only unpack their COBRA!!! gear when it absolutely cannot wait longer than a weekend.

So the shockwave that rippled the Interweb right after 007.com announced the decision to delay this premiere was curiously at once genuine surprise – How dare reality interfere with my – MY! – Bond film? I’ve got a Europe trip booked here! A Midori bursting at the seams with travel vouchers and lounge passes! Is Tyler Brûlé aware of this? Does he approve??? – and yet it fell into a conspicuously quiet atmosphere where Bond fans apparently had started to hold their breath for a few days already. Bond may be a fantasy pastime but most fans are still dimly aware there’s such a thing as a market. And that it’s unlikely NO TIME TO DIE can be that huge success hoped for in a market significantly cut to size. And this is just the reality of it, the part that’s measured in currency: with the outbreak of Covid-19 there’s simply no way a blockbuster can live up to its potential.

That aside there are the obvious health considerations. And the ethical ones, should your own health just not be all that important to you. Bond fans are famous for braving oceans, hazards and disease with aplomb, and their hands do not falter when disbursing cheeky sums. But they cough and sneeze and mop their beaks like ordinary mortals and their grannies want to celebrate a few more birthdays like everybody else.

So what can we take home from this series of unfortunate events? Apart from washing our hands. Properly. With soap. I’m looking at you, Pilatus; one more time!

Well, we know now how Fido must feel when we tease him with a Frankfurter. This is cruel and one should not do it. On the other hand…

The film is already there, shot and edited and marketed and ready to eat. View. Unlike the Frankfurter it’s not going to rot – not that Fido would mind a rotten Frankfurter; Fido would fight a Rottweiler about a rotten Frankfurter any rotten day. Rot my words. Whatever this film’s qualities may be, they are not going to change between now and November. Nothing is really lost, NO TIME TO DIE is simply waiting a little stretch down the river. We’ll arrive at its secrets in no time at all, hopefully all well and in good health.

And should some nasty creature have ideas about reaching up to that shelf where NO TIME TO DIE waits now, with intentions of spoiling it…it better be somebody who is not going to be missed. Because that shelf is inside a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.

That sign doesn’t lie.

New release date: November 2020

For obvious reasons…

MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced today that after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace, the release of NO TIME TO DIE will be postponed until November 2020. pic.twitter.com/a9h1RP5OKd

— James Bond (@007) March 4, 2020

‘Everything that was left unsaid…’ – Fukunaga on No Time To Die

Another brief NO TIME TO DIE feature – call it an invitation – was published on YouTube. Listen to Cary Fukunaga’s 100 seconds pitch while brief glimpses of the action whet the appetite for the main course…

How you dare the paradise, Billie…

No Time To Die’s title song, written and performed by Billie Eilish, was just released. And one can confidently say it broke out into the world on a wave of media buzz and delighted fans.

Judge for yourself – and tell us if it’s death or paradise for you here.

No Time To Die World Premiere at Royal Albert Hall – 31. March 2020

According to the official James Bond Twitter account, NO TIME TO DIE will celebrate its World Premiere at the Royal Albert Hall on 31. March. Royal Albert Hall’s website doesn’t yet sale tickets to this major event, but this is likely change soon. So if you are into the market for an exclusive adventure you should keep an eye on their link above.

Two days later, 02. April, the film be officially released in the UK, followed by its 10. April release in the United States. Previews on the nights to 02. and 10. April respectively are a matter for local theatres.

Everything she wanted – Billie Eilish will do the No Time To Die title song

While we all have been asleep, Billie Eilish quietly kept awake, wrote – together with her brother Finneas – and recorded the title song for NO TIME TO DIE.

Confirmation came through The Official James Bond 007 Website today. Media speculation has been going on since yesterday, but in fact not everybody else has been soundly asleep all this time.

Sharp sighted Bond-gazers spotted the connection as early as Christmas Eve 2019, when director Cary J. Fukunaga started following Eilish’s Instagram account and she posted a photo of herself in London. So, as news go this must be considered already slightly less than brand new.

However that may be, crew and members of CommanderBond.net are looking forward to the finished product. Best of luck and fingers crossed!

It takes a Hans…

…to furnish NO TIME TO DIE’s soundscapes. Or so claims the usually reliable Variety in a recent exclusive article. Multiple sources told them Hans Zimmer was going to replace Dan Romer as composer on Daniel Craig’s fifth James Bond film.

During the last month it has been rumoured Romer had supposedly left the production for some reason or other. Without any official word from Eon the speculations have been going on, with an increasing number of hints pointing to Hans Zimmer as the most likely replacement. Although there is still no definite confirmation from Eon, MGM or Universal it would seem the decision has been taken now.