Come Aug. 26, ‘Almost every road in the lucrative cinema market in the UK and Ireland leads to Warner Bros.’ “Tenet.” In most country cinemas on that date, you can watch any movie – just as long as it is “Tenet.”
At the Omnimax cinema in Limerick, Ireland, customers can choose from 19 showtimes for Christopher Nolan’s waiting and awaited magnum opus. At the Cineworld in Wolverhampton, England, audiences have a choice of 29 “Tenet” shows on August 26, while the Odeon in Cardiff, Wales offers 16 shows, and the Vue Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh, Scotland, has 19.
For European cinema giant Vue, which opened at Tenet on Tuesday at midnight on Tuesday afternoon, the film has so far shown 60% of the tickets sold on Wednesday in the UK. Vue CEO Tim Richards tells Variation that those numbers are only bound to get bigger.
‘You’ll see a slow start and then it’s going to pick up very, very fast in the week before release [as more venues open], ”Says Richards. Vue has 91 cinemas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and all but two, which are being renovated, are set to open in time for “Tenet.”
The arrival of “Tenet” is a welcome boon for a territory devoid of blockbuster entertainment, and who felt the urge of Disney’s game-changing premium VOD game for “Mulan” acutely. Movies like Russell Crowe’s thriller “Unhinged” have soaked up the UK office, so far $ 231,871, but the market has been desperate for a tent pole to attract audiences.
We had bought tickets for ‘Unhinged’, but decided to skip the trip to Cineworld [at] The O2, as many restaurants on site were not open to make a day of it, and we felt it was a movie we could easily wait for, and watch on our TV screen as a laptop, Ashanti Omkar, presenter on the BBC Asian Network, and Akin Aworan, her husband, told Variation.
” Tenet ‘, on the other hand, was the biggie we were waiting to see on the Superscreen at The O2, which is one of the widest screens in Europe. And this movie is one that Christopher Nolan intended to see on the big screen, ”said Omkar and Aworan.
The key words here are Christopher Nolan, who keeps an enormous cash register in his home country. His 2010 Mindbender, “Receive”, for example, now on its 10th anniversary release in the UK, raised $ 56.5 million for its original release, while the 2017 “Dunkirk” raised $ 80.8 million on the ground .
For many local fans, “Tenet” will be their first cinema tour since closing, and the director is the only reason to return.
“His ability to place the audience at the center of the spectacle that creates his worlds means that his films demand to be seen in a real cinematic environment,” says Cameron Longer, who will be watching “Tenet” on the Cineworld IMAX in Watford. “For me, only a filmmaker with the sense of greatness and vision of Nolan would convince me to go back to the cinema.”
Nolan’s drawing also helps in some cases to overcome health and safety concerns. Christina Tencheva has booked to watch “Tenet” at the BFI IMAX in London, which is operated by Odeon. The film is “probably the only one I’m willing to take a risk on, and if I’m satisfied with the safety of the cinemas, I’ll go to others,” Tencheva says.
Others are not so singing really. The British theater sector remains closed, at least until September, due to concerns about social distance. Stage director Alex Packer, whose credits include “13” and “Ballistic”, tweeted: “Would love to see IMAX TENET. BFI ticket fee: £ 23.75 Congestion charge £ 15 Parking approximately: £ 15 Plus no single info on “ODEON website about safety measures or distance seats. Nothing. Like everything is normal. All in all: No. Just no. Unfortunately.”
However, Odeon lists a security statement on its BFI IMAX website which reads: “We are pleased to announce that this ODEON will reopen its doors on August 21st, and you can reserve tickets now. We have made many changes to make a new one create safer cinema experience for you, and we look forward to welcoming you back. ”Further navigation leads to the full set of safety measures.
‘I’m just completely surprised and frustrated that the locations that may be opened, especially something high and relevant and [exciting] and that all feels very, very unprepared and sly, ”Packer said Variation.
Other fans have a different perspective on the cinema experience. Jacob Cakes, who is watching the film at the Vue in Scunthorpe, said: ‘The manager of my theater has noticed that the right measures have been put in place to make it as safe as possible. Restricted rows [and] sitting, cleaning equipment, maintaining masks to wear, etc. ”
Overall, the mood is one of unbroken excitement. “We’ve been looking for ‘Tenet’ because we’re all big Nolan fans and we can not wait to experience the thrill of seeing a new movie in theaters again,” said Chloe Fanning Variation.
Jacob Chatwin watches “Tenet” on one of Cineworld Birmingham’s IMAX screens during the opening day – a journey he has been waiting for since he clocked a preview of the movie last year for “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker “.
“There’s no other director like him,” Chatwin said solemnly. “You just have to watch his movies on the big screen – where they belong.”
Manori Ravindran contributed to this report.
