Universal Pictures has dated the upcoming Untitled Danny Boyle/Richard Curtis Musical and Comedy and it’s coming Friday, September 13, 2019, in wide release. And that release date is almost a sure bet the picture will debut a few days earlier at the Toronto International Film Festival; the organizers tend to program big, mainstream crowdpleasers that arrive a few days earlier than the festival begins to create greater buzz.
READ MORE: Danny Boyle Reportedly May & Try & Direct Both ‘Bond 25’ & A Musical This Year
But perhaps more importantly, that release date is in major conflict with the next James Bond film, which Boyle has been in talks to direct. MGM’s next James Bond movie comes out on Nov. 8, 2019, just two months later and there’s absolutely no way he can do both. This means one of two things: Boyle, who has certainly been at least overlooking and consulting on the screenplay, won’t actually direct the movie and or Bond is getting pushed back to at least 2020.
Boyle seemed to confirm a few months back that he was definitely directing Bond (though not official) and perhaps that plan has changed. Fans may assume Bond will just wait, and they could, but the last James Bond film, “Spectre” came out in 2015. It would be four years between films if the movie came out in 2019, and five if it waited until 2020. MGM and all studios don’t like to see their lucrative franchises sit idol and Daniel Craig has already said this will be his last go-round, so it’s doubtful they’ll continue to wait, IMO. The last major gap between Bond films was in 1995 when Timothy Dalton exited the role, Pierce Brosnan took over, and there hadn’t been a Bond movie on screen in six long years. The handoff to the next actor and the franchise rethink was obviously the delay, but that’s obviously not a factor here.
Meanwhile, the new comedy, written by Curtis (“Love Actually,” “Notting Hill“), will be produced by Working Title stars Lily James (“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” “Baby Driver“), Himesh Patel (BBC’s “EastEnders,” “Damned“), Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live“) and reportedly, musician Ed Sheeran. U.K. gamblers love their oddsmaking on pretty much every subject. Bet this one’s going to happen?