Warner Brothers has taken ‘Tenet’ off its release schedule… for now. It had been scheduled (or rather rescheduled) to open on August 12. The studio states that it will announce a new date “imminently” and has also stated that it will adopt an “unconventional” release plan, which won’t be a global day-and-date release, which most major studios have adopted in recent years. Remember just a few short years ago when other countries got big-ticket pics like the Marvel series a week before us? That.
As Americans continue refusing to wear masks, prolonging shutdowns, theaters in China, Japan, South Korea, and parts of Europe are preparing to tentatively reopen. When that happens, they’ll get ‘Tenet’. We’ll keep getting drive-in showings of ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Zootopia’. Ya big dumb babies.
At this point, WB is reportedly eyeing a September 11 US release for ‘Tenet’, but probably not. But, hey, your riiiiiiiights! Right?
As I reported last week, ‘Tenet’ cost WB $400 million to make and market. So anyone expecting the studio to just release it as a PVOD is waiting in vain. It needs to make over $800 million to break even, much less turn a profit. According to sources, WB isn’t even considering a home video release without a major theatrical release first.
The rescheduling of ‘Tenet’ has impacted other studios a few times now. As WB moves ‘Tenet’ around, other studios have either shifted their movies to fill the sudden gap or have pushed their releases back to avoid it.
WB also announced that ‘The Conjuring 3’ has been postponed until next year.
In a statement, Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, announced:
“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. 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. Additionally, we will be moving the next installment from our most-successful horror franchise, The Conjuring 3, to June 4, 2021.”
Stay tuned for updates.
Source: Deadline
