‘Tenet’ Has Now Been Delayed Indefinitely by WB
By George Robbins
As we are going into August, there are a number of films that are originally supposed to have released. Unfortunately, as we get closer to these films’ release dates many have changed their release dates due to a second wave of the coronavirus. Those that have not moved their release dates already will more than likely end up moving those dates around as even the hold-outs are now forced to do so. Although there are still films with August releases, many films that are supposed to release over the next few months have moved their dates into some time next year. There are a number of films that were finished and ready to drop into theaters at some point by the end of the year, but the situation with the new Covid-19 cases has left many of those films no choice but to release in a hopefully calmer climate next year.
Theaters aren’t really considered a safe place right now considering the fact that states are once again being forced to shut down many public places. Without the ability to properly open their doors to the public again, theaters don’t even have an incentive to open their doors up again even if they could. For instance, many states were allowing the reopening of theaters again before the second wave hit and the chain theaters decided against opening. They said that they only want to open up again if and only if they can open up all of their theaters again nationwide to make sure their is coordination between all of their theaters. On top of that, they also don’t want to open unless they have new content to show the public because this is the reason theaters exist in the first place.
There is no telling when theaters will end up opening their doors again, but it would appear that it will not be any time in the near future. One of the movies that theater reopening dates have been chasing down is the movie ‘Tenet‘ which was directed by Christopher Nolan. Nolan himself has been advocating that his film should not have its date pushed back so much and should be the first film that is available in theaters. He believes that by having the film be among the first new films available in theaters, the theater economy can be revitalized. However, it is easy to see why the studio would be hesitant to release the film in the current climate. They originally only pushed the film’s release by two weeks, but eventually had to relent and push it another two weeks to the middle of August.
Considering how much money they would apparently need to make on the film to break even due to production and marketing costs, it is not a surprise that they want to find a proper release window for the film. It would seem that with everything currently “going south” so to speak, WB will be pushing off the release date of the film indefinitely moving forward. Due to the United States not having a good handle on the virus compared to many other countries worldwide, Warner Bros. will more than likely upend the current release model by releasing the film abroad first. They will then release the film in the U.S. when the virus has been controlled better and theaters can open up their doors properly. Everything that happens in the movie industry from this point forward will more than likely be handled the same way if the containment of the virus ends up like this again.