The upcoming No Time To Die was moved to October 8, 2021 earlier this month as another precaution of the coronavirus pandemic. This will be the final outing for Craig as the cinematic her, and James Bond bosses, MGM, want its release to be as big as possible. Because of this, its release date has moved multiple times in order to play to packed cinemas – but MGM has reportedly looked at releasing the movie on streaming services instead. Former Bond girl Valerie Leon appeared on Good Morning Britain this week to explain that she “opposes” this plan.
Speaking to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, Valerie announced: “I disagree totally that [films] should be streamed.
“The franchise is so special, so special. The anticipation of waiting for it to be released in the cinemas.”
She went on to add: “The cinemas will die if they don’t have major films in them. This pandemic will end at some point.”
Valerie played an unnamed lady during some scenes in the Bahamas in the 1983 movie Never Say Never Again.
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Valerie spent some time on-screen with Sean Connery, before their characters ended up in bed together.
Although Valerie isn’t keen on seeing No Time To Die arrive on streaming services – such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video – MGM were reportedly looking at selling it off exclusively.
According to reports from Deadline last year, MGM were looking for “between $600 million to $850 million” from potential streaming buyers.
The report claimed streamers “wouldn’t top $400 million” for the blockbuster, leaving MGM to continue pursuing a theatrical release.
Craig continued: “You know, cinemas all around the world are closed at the moment and we want to release the movie at the same time all around the world, this isn’t the right time.”
The 52-year-old star opened up in the same interview about when he first joined the series, saying: “I’d never drunk a martini before. I will never forget any of that time. It was the most exciting, traumatic time of my life.”
He also confessed he had “given everything I can” to the role.
He said: “I’m so glad I came back and did this last one. We had lots of loose threads that we hadn’t tied up. The story just didn’t feel complete.”
Craig went on: “I needed a break, I’ll freely admit it, I just needed to get my head away from it for a while.
“Once I had, and we started talking about storylines and things we could do and where we could take it, I was like: ‘I’m in, let’s do one more and try to the finish the story.’”
Craig’s replacement as 007 is also a hot topic, with many British actors in the running to take over from the star.
Some of the actors with the best odds on claiming the role are Idris Elba, James Norton, René-Jean Page, and Tom Hardy – who has an incredible 5/4 at the bookies.
James Bond No Time To Die is due out on October 8, 2021.
