‘Tenet’ Will Be Released in About 70 Countries, Including China
By George Robbins
Much of the world is currently in a state of discord and unrest due to both the pandemic and numerous other issues that continue to plague countries all over. During these troubled times, businesses are still trying to thrive or at the very least, keep their heads above water. Among those is the movie industry which has been struggling ever since the pandemic started back in March of this year. The biggest issue they have been having as of late is the distribution and showing of new films due to theaters having been shut down. As time goes on, this is becoming a bigger and bigger issue because they lose money the longer they don’t show anything. That being said, many studios have still opted for delaying their films until they can have their proper theatrical releases.
When the U.S. began getting a large spike in new cases starting last month, states became even more weary of actually opening up public venues. With many public places reopening, the number of cases jumped tremendously and things had to either start being shut down again, or they would have to wait longer before they could reopen their doors. Not being able to open their doors back up again, many theaters are thus unavailable and this makes it pointless to really try and release new films. While many theaters are still going to be keeping their doors shut to the public for some time, AMC has decided that by about mid-August, they would open up as many theaters as they can domestically. Even though they are opening, the current social climate is too dangerous for studios to release any new films.
Among the studios that have been pushing back their releases as much as possible is Warner Bros. who have been trying to pick good release dates for their films ever since all of this started. One of those films that they have been trying their best to release has been one many people have had on their minds as of late due to its mysterious nature, ‘Tenet.’ The upcoming Christopher Nolan film is one that, like some of his other previous works, is mostly shrouded in mystery. Nolan is known for making interesting films that seem to bend the current reality that we all reside in and turns our heads upside down. We have no idea what the film is about and this secrecy is what has people hyped to see the movie, but unfortunately the release date has kept getting pushed back.
Eventually, after pushing back the theatrical release date for ‘Tenet’ multiple times, Warner Bros. decided to delay its release in the U.S. indefinitely until they know they can release it with no trouble. That being said, they will be instead releasing it internationally in 70 other countries and a few select cities in the states. They even managed to get approved for a release in China which was unexpected given the length of the movie. Movies that are shown in Chinese theaters can only be shown if they are under 120 minutes long, but ‘Tenet’ hits at 150 minutes so they weren’t sure if they could get into the market. They managed to do what they wanted and the film will get to show, but the U.S. will not see a full release for the film until they get better control of the virus situation.