I am dying to see Christopher Nolan’s new movie “Tenet”. But would I really die to see it?
These are the things we need to ponder over the movies now that the pandemic has turned Nolan’s $ 200 million show into a high-risk test case. After months of closing, theaters in many states have begun the tentative reopening process. Still, with the number of coronavirus infections increasing in the United States, it’s unclear whether those theaters can safely launch a possible summer box office hit like “Tenet” in just a few weeks.
A science fiction movie starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, “Tenet” was slated to come out on July 17, right in the middle of Hollywood’s most lucrative season. Then the pandemic hit the American shores, states like New York and California began issuing orders to stay home, and the creepy studios began dragging down their summer runner box office hits. Only “Tenet” stood firm on his date, the rare store pole that did not raise bets.
But as the July 17 release approached, Warner Bros. finally blinked, moving “Tenet” two weeks back to July 31. This date would also be temporary: As coronavirus cases continued to rise throughout the summer, the studio hit “Tenet” with another two-week delay, this time shifting the film to its current release date of August 12.
I’m skeptical that the date will stick, and I’m curious what the study thinks will change significantly during those two weeks. Infections continue to rise in many states, and there is no federal plan to stop that spread. Simple acts to contain the coronavirus, such as wearing a mask or staying home, have now become so desperately politicized that it is almost impossible to imagine our country flattening the curve by August 12, and analysts expect that daunting trend line. provoke more states to keep their movie theaters closed.
If Nolan expects some miracle to happen from time to time, I’m afraid the science fiction filmmaker is making more mistakes on the fiction side than on the science side.
It’s not hard to imagine where it might come from: a longtime champion of theatrical experience, Nolan surely hopes that a great action movie like “Tenet” will inject money into sold-out movie coffers, while also attracting Audiences that have turned to streamers like Netflix and Disney + during the pandemic. “Cinemas are a vital part of American social life,” read the headline of the Nolan’s Washington Post op-ed this spring. “They will need our help.”
In that article, Nolan made special mention of B&B Theaters, a Missouri-based family chain that had to lay off thousands of employees when their theaters closed. Those employees, Nolan wrote, were among those most affected by the pandemic and deserved our consideration.
But in a Los Angeles Times article published last week, B&B Theaters Executive Vice President Brock Bagby said the delay in movies like “Tenet” had left 16 of its recently reopened theaters in dire straits. With no entirely new summer movies to show, Bagby had to halt his plan to reopen the rest of his theaters, and the workers who had counted on those jobs were now tall and dry.
In their attempt to rescue theaters, did Nolan give them false hope? And as he hung the glisteningly expensive “Tenet,” for which he will receive 20 percent of the film’s first gross dollar, did Nolan encourage theaters to reopen before we were ready to return?
It is becoming increasingly clear that people are more susceptible to the coronavirus when they congregate indoors, and a recent chart from the Texas Medical Association viewed movies as a riskier activity than traveling on a crowded plane. We simply cannot do communal things at this time of the pandemic, and continuing to pretend that we could soon is unrealistic at best and irresponsible at worst.
Yes, movie theaters have touted new health and safety measures, like disinfectant sprays and reduced audience sizes, but major chains like AMC and Cinemark were inclined when they initially announced that wearing a mask would be up to viewers. After a protest on social media, the companies changed course and promised to demand the use of masks, but their initial message remained loud and clear: security is not guaranteed.
With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine a large-scale return to the cinema anytime soon, and Warner Bros. is unlikely to release “Tenet” if many of the major markets continue to keep their theaters closed. (In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo won’t even include movie theaters in a phased reopening plan.) A roving presentation strategy, where “Tenet” would make its way through states and countries as they conquer the coronavirus, is so unrealistic: A movie that was anticipated would surely be hacked in its first weeks of release, while China, rich in theater, has promised to show so far no more than two hours. “Tenet” exceeds that in 30 minutes.
So what’s the best move in this movie? Although some midsize summer movies have opted for a digital debut, that’s not a route “Tenet” will likely take: blockbusters costing as much as “Tenet” aim for a billion-dollar gross worldwide income that simply not possible with a digital launch. Warner Bros. is much more likely to delay “Tenet” once again, but the time for halftones has passed. If Nolan and his studio commit to doing the right thing, they’ll pull “Tenet” out of the summer season entirely.
Delaying the film for several months, or even taking it until 2021, would have great consequences for this year’s already reduced release schedule: Other important films such as “Mulan” (August 21) and “A Quiet Place Part II” (4 of September) have been largely following his lead on “Tenet,” and without the lead-loading Nolan movie, they might also be inclined to move. With August and September almost imminent, movie theaters may have to close once again, a potentially devastating situation for a business sector still trying to recover from the brink.
Still, in their laudable attempt to help theater owners, Nolan and his studio have only continued to prolong their pain. With the clean slate of the summer movie, perhaps a more realistic rescue plan can be forged. It won’t be easy, but if Hollywood really hopes to deal with this pandemic, it will take more than two weeks delay to figure out what to do next.
