The much delayed James Bond movie No Time To Die is costing MGM around $1 million per month in interest, according to reports.

• Read more: James Bond is too cowardly to save cinema – but that’s the government’s job anyway

After being delayed from its original April 2, 2020 release date, fans were expecting to be able to see the next instalment in the spy franchise in the UK on November 12 and in the US on November 20.

However, as coronavirus cases in the UK rise and cinemas in key markets in the US remain closed, the studio announced earlier this month that No Time To Die will be delayed once more.

“MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of No Time To Die, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April [2021] in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience,” a statement issued on October 2 said.

“We understand the delay will be disappointing to our fans but we now look forward to sharing No Time To Die next year.”

Now, a new report by The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that the delay of the Daniel Craig-starring film is costing MGM Studios around $1 million in interest per month on the money it borrowed to make it, which it won’t be able to recoup until the movie opens in cinemas.

“MGM is suffering. Every major distributor at this point has a pile of unreleased expensive movies. The pile grows larger by the day,” Hal Vogel, CEO of Vogel Capital Research said.

“These films are inventory. They are sitting there with no return on their investment. Even with low interest rates, the interest costs are piling up.”

The report also claimed that Apple offered to licence the film for 12 months from MGM for somewhere in the region of $350 million to $400 million, which was reportedly far short of the $650 million to $700 million – one source told THR that even $800 million was mentioned – that MGM was hoping to get to make such a deal worthwhile.

The delay of No Time To Die has impacted the cinema industry in a huge way, with Cineworld choosing to close all of their cinemas and Odeon switching to weekend-only opening times for a quarter of their venues.

Discussing how the Bond delays forced Cineworld to close cinemas, one London staff member told NME:  “I’m extremely disappointed in [007 studio] MGM as No Time To Die could have saved the cinema industry. It’s what we were all holding out for.

“They could’ve been known as the studio that saved cinemas as opposed to the studio that condemned them.”

As well as No Time To Die, a number of major blockbusters have also been pushed back to 2021 and 2022. Dune, Jurassic World: Dominion, Black Widow and Eternals, F9 and Top Gun: Maverick have all been postponed.

Meanwhile, Rami Malek has opened up about how difficult it was psychologically to play No Time To Die Bond villain, Safin.