Something changed during the last week. The COVID-19 pandemic was replaced in the 24/7 news cycle by the unfortunate and tragic death of George Floyd. The ensuing riots only moved us further away from the pandemic, as if a new event had finally sprung out and the virus was no longer a priority to report on. During this time, we have, in effect, been spared the fear-driven coverage of the virus and started looking at the future, a hopeful one, in which, possibly, just possibly, things could get back to some kind of post-virus normalcy in the coming months.
This normalcy includes movie theaters, which are, supposedly, set to reopen in July with Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” the big kahuna blockbuster for Warner Bros. this summer, figuring very much part of the conversation. We all know that the WB would love to release the film in July, but the studio has remained silent on whether it will be delayed or not. There have been rumors that it will be pushed back a month, but no announcement has been made as of yet.
With all that in mind, here comes hopeful information from the National Association of Theatrical Owners (NATO) who, according to Business Insider, claim that 90% of the world’s cinemas will be re-opened in time for the July 17 release of “Tenet.” This would make the Nolan epic the first major studio blockbuster to hit cinemas since March. Of course, the report also claims that the WB wants 80% of theaters opened by July to support the release, anything under that might warrant the film to be rescheduled until August or later.
We don’t really know how NATO came up with that 90% estimate, they wouldn’t say, but that would mean those uber-strict lockdown cities such as New York City and Los Angeles would have to reopen their theaters in a month. Good luck with that. Those are the two biggest movie markets in the country and opening a $200 million blockbuster without them would make absolutely no sense.
NATO joins AMC, Regal, and Cinemark in the market predictions of a July reopening for cinemas, obviously, NATO and those mentioned chains all have a major stake in getting every theater reopened as soon as possible since they have been losing money from this shutdown, which means these predictions from them could all be purely propagandous so as to push a narrative forward. Regardless, the WB will have to decide soon whether they stick with the July release date or not because they need to start marketing “Tenet” for full exposure.
The man doesn't stop. James Gunn has confirmed he's already hard at work writing his next film, even as ‘Man of Tomorrow’ makes its way toward theaters next summer.