The publicity tour for the twenty-fifth installment of the ‘James Bond’ film series, billed to hold in Beijing, China, has been canceled over fears of coronavirus.
There has been public disquiet in the Asian country ever since the “mysterious” disease broke out in Wuhan with the death toll said to have hit 1,665. Travel advisories have been issued. Medical experts are also desperate to create a vaccine.
Makers of ‘No Time to Die’, Daniel Craig’s fifth and final appearance in the blockbuster series, were forced to cancel their publicity tour of China as cinemas in the Asian country remain shut to contain the coronavirus.
According to The Sunday Times, an estimated 70,000 cinema screens across China have remained closed in a development that took a toll on the film business from Shanghai to London.
‘No Time to Die’, due for its UK release on April 3, had been projected to be the highest-grossing Bond movie but filmmakers began expressing their doubts with the cutback in Chinese revenues.
Are you ready? #NoTimeToDie releases April 2020. pic.twitter.com/zc9Ab96ynj
— James Bond (@007) February 15, 2020
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A new trailer for ‘No Time to Die’ was released on Saturday, featuring some new scenes.
A Chinese studio insider was also quoted by the news outlet as saying that cinemas in the country may remain closed until at least April and doctors may likely not allow publicity tours to go ahead.
The Chinese market has the world’s second-biggest box office takings, having generated over £6 billion in 2019, with Disney’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’ grossing more than £450m in the country alone.
‘No Time to Die’ is produced by Eon Productions and directed by Cary Fukunaga.
Africa recorded its first case of coronavirus on Friday as a foreigner who had been put in isolation at a hospital in Egypt tested positive for the disease.
Meanwhile, here’s all you need to know about the symptoms, treatment, prevention of the mysterious coronavirus.
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