After that mind-bending, reality-altering, time-skewing trailer, you may be wondering what Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is all about. If you are, you’re going to be waiting a bit longer to find out.
Once the stalwart of fixed-release-date attitude, the film (starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Himesh Patel and Clémence Poésy) was eventually forced to shift from its 17th July release date and moved to August. but as of today the film is now off the schedules completely with no immediate signs of when and where it will re-appear – though the studio hopes it will be this year. A sign of the times and the the fact that recent, if widely predicted flare-ups, have put a dent in the most optimistic of cinema re-openings, it’s now largely unclear when any of the major films of 2020 will actually make it to the big screen. Most cinema chains are currently closed because of health restrictions and the cold reality of very little new product to show and the few that are opening the doors are restricting the audience capacity, making it less-than-appealing to the distributors who would prefer big numbers for their opening gambits and are prepared to wait to get them.
“We will share a new 2020 release date imminently for Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s wholly original and mind-blowing feature. We are not treating Tenet like a traditional global day-and-date release, and our upcoming marketing and distribution plans will reflect that,” read a statement from Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich, perhaps indicating that when the film does appear it may not be released in every territory at the same time. “Our goals throughout this process have been to ensure the highest odds of success for our films while also being ready to support our theater partners with new content as soon as they could safely reopen. We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from exhibitors and remain steadfast in our commitment to the theatrical experience around the world. Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to proliferate, causing us to reevaluate our release dates. Amidst all this continued uncertainty, we have decided to vacate the current dates for our next two releases.”
The second film to which Emmerich refers is The Conjuring 3, the latest part of the superior horror franchise and which has now moved to 4th June, 2021 from its previous 11th September 2020 date.
As of now, Wonder Woman 1984 and Dune (currently set for 2nd October and 18th December 18 respectively) remain in place, but the studio may have to decide in the next month whether those releases will be any more viable.
