Tenet (2020) (1 Viewer)

[Mikael Soderholm]

It was shown before SW here in Stockholm, looked fairly generic, but then again, only five minutes of any thriller basically does ...
Will definitey see it, after all, it's Nolan.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

So, a completely new trailer in front of 1917 here in Stockholm today, not one scene from the prologue, looked like a completely different movie.
Even more intrigued, now.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Hopefully this does make it into cinemas in the near future. It would be a shame if this is only available streaming.

It was revealed last week that the Inception director was fighting for the 17 July release date of his expensive new thriller to remain unchanged despite other Warner Bros films being delayed until 2021 due to strict lockdown guidelines.

“Chris really would like to be coming out with the film that opens theatres,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said in a company conference call, adding: “I don’t know anyone in America who is pushing harder than Chris Nolan to have the theatres open and to have his movie released in July when it’s scheduled for."

Christopher Nolan's new film is one step closer to making history following Vue announcement

Inception director is relying on cinemas to open in time for new film release

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Sam Posten]

Good luck wit that

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It won’t be streaming only but it won’t be July, no matter Nolan’s stated preference.

He wants it to screen on film: 35mm, 70mm, and IMAX 70mm film. Those formats cost the most to exhibit a film in and require an infrastructure that is now dormant. It adds a tremendous cost to the release, which in normal times wouldn’t be an issue. But if theaters open this summer, we’re gonna be seeing limitations like 25% of seating capacity only. And there’s simply no viable way to screen actual film prints with that as a ceiling on earnings. The cost of making the print, shipping it to the theater, taking the projectors out of mothballs and the re-installation and maintenance efforts, plus the cost of hiring projectionists, simply isn’t recoverable at 25% capacity.

 

[Worth]

I don't understand why he's fighting to keep the release date. Pushing it back will ensure that more people see it in the cinema in his preferred formats.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I have to admit that when I saw this thread bumped up to the top of the forum, I thought, "Oh, Warner Bros. must finally have delayed the movie."

My local arthouse can screen both 35mm and 70mm and does so as often as possible (which is usually a few times a year.). Last year, I saw Joker in 70mm and there was a Tenet trailer before it promising that it would appear in 70mm as well. It would not be an issue for them to screen it that way in July either, assuming they are open.

However, they can only do this on one of their three screens, and right now the maximum capacity for that room is 370 seats. Cutting that to 25% would mean a maximum number of 92 people per screening. And because it can't be shown that way on multiple screens at the same time, that means less people would be able to see it in his preferred formats. The same is true for IMAX, which of course only has one screen in each theater.

I understand that Christopher Nolan loves the movie theater. I do too, and I wish everything would be fine and we could go back there as soon as possible. I understand his desire for his film to help the industry rebound from this terrible crisis. But I don't think this is the right time.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't understand why he's fighting to keep the release date. Pushing it back will ensure that more people see it in the cinema in his preferred formats.

I think he’s a movie guy and he understands the value of a communal experience especially at this time and genuinely wants to give a big audience something fun to do, and his desire to provide relief is making him look at the situation with rose colored glasses. I don’t think he’s stupid or callous and just wants the movie out even if people die seeing it.

 

[Jason_V]

I don't understand why he's fighting to keep the release date. Pushing it back will ensure that more people see it in the cinema in his preferred formats.

Being the first out of the gate, literally, will create a lot of publicity. And if it's the first theater movie in four months, it has the potential to dominate. Nolan is a great filmmaker, but he always seems to have a certain...superiority to him, to me. Like he films on film or in different formats and his films are all important and that jazz (kinda like Scorsese).

The real question is does Warner want to alienate him by pushing Tenet to later in the year? If they do, they risk a relationship which has been lucrative for them. If Nolan walks and sets up at a new studio, they lose a marquee name who brings A LOT of star power with him in most of his movies.

Here's the thing: you can't keep pushing everything. Eventually, someone has to go first and be willing to take the hit. It won't be Universal since they just moved the new Purge movie. If Warner moves Tenet, the next major release (I think) is Disney's Mulan. If all of those are pushed, what's next? Wonder Woman 1984 in August? New Mutants at the end of August? Or do we keep pushing until Black Widow in November?

 

[Jake Lipson]

The real question is does Warner want to alienate him by pushing Tenet to later in the year? If they do, they risk a relationship which has been lucrative for them. If Nolan walks and sets up at a new studio, they lose a marquee name who brings A LOT of star power with him in most of his movies.

I don't think it's a question of alienating Nolan. I think it's a question of safety, and as much as I like Nolan's work, there are just things that are more important. There is no way Warner will attempt to release this film if theaters are not open all around the country, and that is very much still in question. I also don't think he will dissolve his enormously successful partnership with Warner if they move Tenet. He might be annoyed, but he's not going to bite the hand that feeds him. When the virus is over and things are normal again and he's ready to release another movie, I'm sure it will be with Warner Bros. regardless of when they put out Tenet.

And to answer your other question, yes, it would not surprise me at all if Black Widow ends up being the movie that turns the lights back on. Hopefully we'll be in a safer position by November. Hopefully.

 

[Jason_V]

Sure it is. He has been very public with wanting his movie to be released in two months. If Warner says nope and pushes (which is their right, unless he was given control of the release date), Nolan is well within his rights to finish whatever contract he might have at Warner and simply move off the lot to another major studio. Any would be thrilled to have him because of his pedigree.

There's no way American theaters stay closed until November. Some international theaters are making plans for a summer reopening. American theaters have to be doing the same thing with an eye to mid-summer.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think the next month will be very instructive for where we’re going. Because of the long latency period with covid, it can take two weeks from catching the virus to falling ill, and people can spread it during that extensive period before they know they’re ill.

So either we’re all overreacting and we’ll see that in a month, or things will look very, very bad.

I think it is noteworthy that countries that initially were doing well like South Korea are now having problems again, and it’s back in Wuhan too after being completely eliminated.

My personal belief is that this year is done. I find it much easier to exist knowing that I will not be doing any normal things this year, than to keep telling myself normal is around the corner and then feeling like Charlie Brown when Lucy takes the football away.

 

[Tino]

There's no way American theaters stay closed until November

They should. And Tenet will definitely be moved. Especially with the Covid spikes that are most certainly coming.

 

[Tino]

I’ve gotta admit, I’ve lost a ton of respect for Nolan. Shame on him for pushing.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’ve gotta admit, I’ve lost a ton of respect for Nolan. Shame on him for pushing.

I’m not quite there yet because I don’t think he’s doing it as an “f you” to the world, I think he — like so many others — simply can’t wrap his head around the reality of the situation. And he’s a big movie theater guy and he’s worried about the thing he loves most going away forever, which was already a theater industry concern pre-covid. Is any of this rational? I don’t think it is. But I don’t think it’s coming from a bad place.

How many of us have at least one person in our orbit who are perfectly reasonable and kind and intelligent people who Just. Don’t. Get. It. ? I feel like we all must know at least one person like that. Nolan is that guy.

 

[TravisR]

I’m not quite there yet because I don’t think he’s doing it as an “f you” to the world...

Yeah, Nolan's definitely not some moron screaming in the face of the police so he can get a haircut. As has been said, he loves movies & everything about them but that love is probably blinding him to the real world situation.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I want the movie theaters to come back as badly as Nolan does. I love them so much, and I hate that I haven't been there in over two months. I want be able to go to the movie theater safely as soon as possible, so I completely understand Nolan's advocacy for them. I agree with him that theaters are an important backbone of our collective culture, and he knows that his movie will be a big draw. So I don't blame him for wanting to use it to help theaters out in these strange times when they are on life support.

But theaters only have one shot at this, so they can't afford to risk doing it yet. If a new outbreak of the virus is traced to a movie theater because they opened too early to show Tenet, or Mulan, or whatever, that will do significantly more damage to the industry than waiting longer to reopen will.

Nolan is well within his rights to finish whatever contract he might have at Warner and simply move off the lot to another major studio.

Well, yeah, he could, but I don't think he would be that petty. His relationship with Warner has been too long and too beneficial to throw it away just because of a release date delay during a pandemic. I would think Nolan values those relationships more than he values a particular release date.

There's no way American theaters stay closed until November.

Of course they're all making plans. But they also made plans to screen Mulan on March 27 and No Time to Die on April 10 and Black Widow on May 1 and Soul on June 19 and so forth. Plans change. If it is not safe to reopen, they shouldn't. Also, remember this is an issue of governance. My arthouse (which was planning to book Tenet in 70mm) voluntarily closed a week or so before the big chains did because they felt it was the right thing to do, but now they are under orders from the city to remain closed until further notice. It is entirely possible that theaters in at least some parts of the country may still be under orders to remain closed further than midsummer, and no studio will put out a big tentpole movie until they can put it out everywhere. If the situation with the virus is not under control, the closure absolutely could last much longer than any of us would want.

It pains me to take this view because I really love going to the theater. But this virus is a much bigger issue than when movies can start to play again.

 

[Tino]

Edit. Wrong thread.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Edit: Reply to Tino's above post that was in the wrong thread.

 

[Sam Favate]

I want to see this movie as much as anyone. But if it opens in the theater before I am comfortable going to the theater, I will simply wait for blu-ray. That's it.