Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has been delayed again. This time, Warner Bros hasn’t released a new premiere date for the film, though they say one is incoming “imminently” and also said that the rollout of the film will not be “traditional.”
What does this all mean? Well, it means that Tenet will likely open overseas before it opens in the US. That is something Nolan was hoping to avoid, he loves his movies to make their first splashes here in the United States. But, then again, he wasn’t counting on millions of people fighting mask mandates and spreading COVID-19 well into the fall. So, sorry about that one, Chris.
There are parts of the world that are starting to get back on their feet (South Korea and other Asian nations come to mind) so Nolan’s mind-bending thriller will likely debut there first before finding other parts of the globe that are safe. I imagine that WB is planning to play hopscotch with Tenet, allowing the film to bounce all over the world from country to country, as restrictions and local ordinances allow. Basically WB is looking to premiere Tenet in select markets when those markets are safe and ready to retain normalcy.
So I guess the movie will arrive in America in, oh, 2037?
When it does land in the states, I wouldn’t expect a normal release schedule. It is very likely that Tenet may be playing in certain parts of the the country before it moves onto an expanded release. Los Angeles, Dallas and pretty much all of Florida are a long ways from having open movie theaters. Meanwhile, it’s possible that other parts of our country will be up and running while others are not. Tenet could potentially be playing in, say, New York but not LA or Miami. The rollout of this film could be very, very different.
But Warner Bros and Nolan are still fighting any calls for the movie to be released on-demand, like so many other films in the age of COVID-19. This movie will be a theatrical release, even if it has to wait months or years.
Along with the depressing Tenet news, WB also announced that the next Conjouring film will open in June 2021 instead of September 11, 2020. There is now speculation that they’re eyeing September 11 as the beginning of Tenet’s rollout. So, if you reside in a safe part of the country, you should tentatively pencil in that date.
This is really disheartening and, honestly, embarrassing. There is no reason that America should be having so many new cases of coronavirus as other countries battle back the virus. There are far too many people who aren’t taking it seriously. Obviously it’s a huge bummer that their actions are delaying Tenet again but, way more importantly, their actions are also costing people their lives. For the sake of Christopher Nolan, movie theaters and your fellow Americans, wear a God damn mask.