“Tenet” announced Wednesday that it approved government approvals for a theatrical release in China, an indication that an official release date is now on the horizon.
The film has released a poster in Chinese, swapping the English slogan “time is running out” for a clarion call to return to theaters which roughly translates to “make every second count; invade theaters.”
Chinese theaters reopened in low-risk regions for COVID-19 on July 20, raising $ 12.6 million in its first weekend. Currently, about 44% of their cinemas are back in business, but they have been required to operate with only 30% of their capacity to allow for social distancing, as well as reducing their total number of screenings to half their usual account.
Further, Reopening guidelines published by the National Film Bureau request that theaters not screen movies that are more than two hours long, which could pose problems for “Tenet,” which lasts two hours and 31 minutes.
However, this directive was soon contradicted by the subsequent approval by the Chinese authorities of numerous films of more than two hours for release in national theaters. These include “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” and Nolan’s own “Interstellar”, currently slated for a theatrical replay starting August 2, as well as local blockbusters already on the line as “Operation Red Sea.”
Until the guideline is more formally lifted, it appears that theaters in different regions under different levels of COVID-19 threat have been given a variety of leeway, or at least have been willing to push themselves and schedule longer movies.
The eight “Harry Potter” films last over two hours, but are currently being screened as part of the Shanghai International Film Festival.
However, at least two theaters in Beijing said Wednesday in private chats posted on social media that, due to confusion, they currently did not dare with the show’s approved titles, available for more than 120 minutes, including the success of Patriotic box office “Wolf Warrior 2”, running 123 minutes
Elsewhere in China, however, the replay of the film has already made $ 1.1 million since theaters reopened on Monday.
“Tenet” had to reschedule its release numerous times due to COVID-19 before Warner Brothers this week settled on the unconventional plan to debut internationally before it reaches North America.
It is now set to open in around 70 countries abroad starting August 26, including the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Russia. It will then premiere in select US cities during Labor Day weekend beginning September 3.
China is by far the most important foreign market for the films of director Christopher Telan, Christopher Nolan.
The Chinese box office for almost every film he has made as a director or executive producer has cut profits from other territories by a wide margin. The only exceptions are “Dunkirk” and “The Dark Knight Rises”, for which China was the second largest market worldwide behind the United Kingdom, and “Batman Begins”, which arrived in the Middle Kingdom in 2005, when its box office it was still relatively nascent.
Of the Nolan-directed films, “Dunkirk” earned $ 51 million in China in 2017, while “Interstellar” grossed $ 122 million there in 2014. “Dark Knight Rises” grossed $ 52.8 million in 2012 and “Inception” $ 68.4 million. in 2010.
The executive films produced by Nolan have also had strong projections in the country. They include “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” with $ 96 million, “Justice League” with $ 106 million, “Transcendence” with $ 20 million and “Man of Steel” with $ 63 million.
