The PR line from the exhibition industry in recent weeks, including the North American Theater Owners group in recent days, is that most cinemas will be open again on time for Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” on July 17th.
That messaging has been held onto like a barnacle stuck to a galleon, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues around much of the world. Indeed NATO’s figures this week, which suggests that 90% of theaters globally will be ready for the film, seem decidedly optimistic and not likely.
Now a new report at Collider indicates that according to their sources, Nolan’s film isn’t arriving next month and the reason it hasn’t been announced is that a new date has not yet been settled on:
“For what it’s worth, I’ve heard Tenet will, in fact, be delayed, and that Warner Bros. is just trying to find a new date, which is hard since the calendar is jam-packed with big movies. That’s why there was no date on the most recent trailer. But how many films could possibly be bigger than a new Nolan movie? Tenet could always swap places with WW84, or possibly Dune, which is slated to open in December – just three days before Tom Cruise‘s Top Gun sequel.”
If “Tenet” moves, that raises the obvious question as to whether Disney will also move “Mulan” or “Wonder Woman 1984” – in which case Summer filmgoing is essentially gone for the year with major movies not opening until well into the Fall.
A decision about what happens to “Tenet” is expected to be announced very soon.
