Bond 25 New Release Date, Director Cary Fukunaga Announced

The next James Bond movie – currently known as Bond 25 – has found its new director in Cary Fukunaga and a new release date of February 14, 2020. The Emmy-winning 41-year-old director is best known for directing the first season of True Detective, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, and the 2015 Netflix war drama Beasts of No Nation, which he also wrote, shot, and produced. His latest project, the Emma Stone-starrer miniseries Maniac, is out Friday on Netflix.

The announcement was made via the official James Bond Twitter account on Thursday, which read: “Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig announced today that Bond 25 will begin filming at Pinewood Studios on 4 March 2019 under the helm of director, Cary Joji Fukunaga with a worldwide release date of 14 February 2020. ‘We are delighted to be working with Cary. His versatility and innovation make him an excellent choice for our next James Bond adventure,’ said Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.”

Fukunaga takes over from Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, who quit in August over “creative differences”. A later report had claimed the next Bond movie might miss its release date owing to that, claiming the producers were looking to hire a new writer or a new writer-director. And that’s just what has happened: Bond 25 was slated to release October-November 2019, but it has now slipped a few months to February 2020. Fukunaga fits the writer-director bill; in addition to Beasts of No Nation, he contributed to the screenplay on Netflix’s Maniac and penned his 2009 feature debut Sin Nombre.

With this, James Bond has been pushed out of its traditional winter release slot (October-December), which had been the case for the last eight Bond movies, going back to Pierce Brosnan-starrer GoldenEye in 1995. Its new release date of February 14, 2020 puts it square on Valentine’s Day, though it’s fair to assume that Fukunaga isn’t planning to turn the franchise into a rom-com.