The Bond films make a significant portion of their profits from international markets. The last film, Spectre, made more than $679 million from overseas theaters in 2015 with more than $84 million of that total coming from China.
In a statement, Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said the decision was made 'after careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace'.
The closing of more than 70,000 Chinese theaters for the past several weeks, has devastated the world's second largest movie market. Releasing No Time To Die as scheduled could have shaved 'a possible $300 million out of a likely $1 billion haul at the worldwide box office'.
Publicity tours in China, Japan and South Korea for Daniel Craig's final outing as 007 had already been scrapped before the decision to delay. And earlier this week, influential fan website MI6-HQ posted an open letter which said it was time for MGM and Universal 'to put public health above marketing release schedules and the cost of cancelling publicity events'.
