The 25th James Bond movie, No Time to Die, has become one of the few big-screen releases during the Covid-19 pandemic to cross the $700 million mark. A Cary Joji Fukunaga directorial, the Daniel Craig-starrer has accumulated $708 million. It is only the second Hollywood film after F9 to achieve this feat. Now, only F9: The Fast Saga ($721 million), Hi, Mom ($822 million), and The Battle at Lake Changjin ($874 million) are above No Time to Die.
But in terms of purely overseas (outside North America) earnings, the film has grossed more than F9, and is thus the biggest overseas earner in Hollywood during the pandemic. The film was made on a hefty budget of $250 million, so great performance at the box office was essential. Craig has received a lot of praise for his swan song performance in No Time to Die, with some saying it is the best performance of his career. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the film follows a jaded Bond who has retired from MI6 but gets recruited by the CIA to rescue a kidnapped scientist. Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, and Ralph Fiennes return from previous films. Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah join the franchise with No Time to Die.