Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in “No Time To Die.”
MGM
MGM reportedly has laid off around 7% of its staff as the coronavirus pandemic had made basic job duties impossible to perform while movie releases are delayed and theaters are shuttered.
Variety reported Friday that around 50 jobs at MGM had been cut across all departments including scripted and unscripted TV and feature films.
The studio’s marketing and distribution arm United Artists Releasing also furloughed one-third of its staff, the publication reported.
Additionally, senior management at both companies are expected to take salary reductions.
“In the face of these global economic and industry business challenges, we have undertaken certain actions to mitigate the current financial impact on our business and to ensure MGM is well positioned for the future,” MGM brass wrote in a memo obtained by Variety. “Unfortunately, these changes necessitate some permanent reductions of our workforce. All impacted employees have been notified.”
MGM’s big tentpole feature of the year is “No Time to Die,” the 25th James Bond film in the franchise. It was originally set to debut in April 2020, however, it was pushed to November due to the coronavirus.
The studio is taking a financial hit, as its marketing and publicity campaigns were already in full swing by the time the decision came to move the film on the calendar.
Some United Artists Releasing employees are expected to return as early as August for the release of the Keanu Reeves film “Bill and Ted Face the Music.” MGM also has Jordan Peele’s “Candyman” and the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect” on the 2020 calendar.
Read the full report from Variety.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC. Universal is releasing “No Time To Die” internationally while MGM handles the domestic release.
Source: Business - cnbc.com
