Tenet has now been approved to play in China’s movie theaters. Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has been the talk of the film world for quite some time now, but unfortunately, that has been in large part due to Warner Bros. many attempts to find a suitable release date for Tenet. The mysterious action/thriller starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson was originally set for a July 17 release before moving to July 31, and then later to August 12. However, due to the rising coronavirus cases in the U.S., especially in major markets like New York and Los Angeles, where theaters remain closed, Warner Bros. pulled its August 12 release as well.
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Now Tenet is set for a staggered release date, adjusting to the new normal, and will open in 70 countries on August 26, and will then hit “select cities” in the U.S. on September 3. The rest of the world has seemingly got a better grip of the coronavirus, so that’s why releasing it in various European markets and Canada first makes sense for the film Nolan described as “most designed” for “the big screen experience.” However, due to Tenet’s 150-minute runtime, the film was seemingly in jeopardy of losing the China market due to the country’s coronavirus rules of showing films of 120 minutes or less. But now all seems to be well in one of Nolan’s favorite markets.
In a report from Variety, Tenet announced “it has passed government approvals for a theatrical release in China,” with an official release date “now on the horizon.” Variety reported that Tenet also released a poster in Chinese, replacing the English tagline of “time runs out” with a line that reportedly translates to “make every second count; invade theaters.” The report also stated that the previous request for screening films no longer than 120 minutes for theaters in China had also been contradicted by allowing films like Interstellar to re-release in theaters there.
The is great news for Warner Bros., especially considering the history Nolan’s films have in China, with the previously mentioned Interstellar grossing $122 million there. Of course, Variety mentioned only “around 44%” of theaters are operating right now in China, and with a limited capacity, it will be interesting to see how much Tenet can gross in China. Tenet reportedly needs to make $800 million just to break even, and with this new release plan, it’ll be interesting to see how many people feel comfortable to rush to theaters to watch Tenet, and if come September 3, places like New York and Los Angeles will allow theaters to open.
The film’s story certainly has a lot of buzz amongst audiences, as the star of the film, Washington, even admitted to constantly asking Nolan questions about the complex time-bending narrative. Whether this will be enough to entice audiences back to theaters remains to be seen, but with a China release now approved, it’s an encouraging step for Warner Bros. in their hopes of Tenet being a financial success during these unprecedented times.
Source: Variety
- Tenet (2020)Release date: Sep 03, 2020