It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why the WB delayed “Tenet” from July 14th to July 31st yesterday. They relayed all the pressure of being the first studio to release a major blockbuster over to Disney and “Mulan,” which is set for release on July 24th. Expect it to be delayed very soon, though, and the pressure to shift back to Nolan and the WB.
The NYT is now reporting that Nolan has been fervently adamant at getting his movie released this summer, despite the WB insisting that it be delayed beyond the summer.
Warner, concerned about its Tenet investment, was leaning in favor of delay, while Nolan, a fervent advocate for preserving the moviegoing experience, was more eager to press ahead. The discussions were a fraught moment for Warner: Nolan is a proven moneymaker, and the studio wants to keep him happy
Nolan is scared that this dry summer is going to kill theaters and cinemas. The WB knows that “Tenet” isn’t going to make as much money as it could under normal circumstances. Much of the studio’s problem in releasing this film next month lies in a big chunk of the target audience wanting to stay home rather than risk their health in an enclosed theater. There's also going to be limited capacity and staggered seating, which would surely diminish box-office revenue. However, Nolan couldn’t care less about that. As he wrote in a WaPo op-ed back in March, “When this crisis passes, the need for collective human engagement, the need to live and love and laugh and cry together, will be more powerful than ever.”
The next few weeks will be incredibly important in determining not just whether or not we will have some semblance of a summer movie season, or whatever’s left of it, but also whether much of the movie year will just be canceled, and going to watch movies in the dark, with a packed audience, will have to wait until a vaccine is developed.