The most anticipated movie of the summer is still set to be released in July. Christopher Nolan is hopeful that his latest mindbender “Tenet” will be the movie event that relaunches a lagging film industry. At the moment, we are still mired in the unpredictable when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, will cities deem it safe enough for audiences to go back to theaters? Will sitting in a darkened room with coughers and sneezers going to cause a panic? Those are questions that just don’t have answers at the moment.
We don’t know much about “Tenet,” this latest trailer doesn’t really give away any new tidbits, but, from what we can gather, the plot seems to involve international spy rings, time travel, evolution, World War 3 and Russians. What we do know for certain about the film is that it is one of the most expensive productions ever. A reported budget of nearly $250 million was dished out on the film, which was shot in seven different countries.
“Tenet” has Nolan re-teaming with his “Interstellar” and “Dunkirk” cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. The film stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh.
Of note, this new “Tenet” trailer just says “coming to theaters” with no actual release date mentioned, this tells me that Warner Bros. may be balking now at a July release date. As social lockdowns in the U.S. start to ease up a bit, we are getting a clearer picture of just how July might look like in terms of social distancing restrictions and, sadly, right now, it’s not looking very good for a total reopening of movie theaters. The governors in the two major American markets (California and New York) also happen to have the strictest lockdowns— the industry is good as dead as long as these two States are closed for business. The always-reliable Anne Thompson had a nice tidbit of insider info in her 05.11.20 IndieWire column titled “Waiting for ‘Tenet’: As July 17 Looms, Hollywood Prays That Summer Can Be Saved” where she claimed that the WB is now positioning ”Tenet” as an August release. Expect a confirmation on that very soon …
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.