Warner Bros. Pictures has delayed the release date of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “Tenet” from July 17th to July 31st.
The delay comes as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is refusing to budge on lockdown restrictions, especially when it comes to movie theaters, having yet to announce reopening plans, which remain stuck in phase 4 next to Broadway theaters.
It was earlier reported that Nolan’s upcoming movie has a budget of nearly $250 million. The cast of the movie includes John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Pattinson, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh, and, of course, Nolan regular Michael Caine.
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 could reopen next month. We all know that the WB would love to release the film in July, but, until today, the studio had remained silent as to whether or not “Tenet” would be delayed. There have been numerous rumors around the industry that the release of “Tenet” would be pushed to August, which, in all likelihood, will happen soon.
EDIT: And a domino effect has already started. Right after the “Tenet” announcement, the WB went on to push back the release date of “Wonder Woman 84” from August 14 date to October 2. How about them apples? Suffice to say, it’s not looking very good for the theatrical experience at the moment, you must be a glass-half-full kind of person to truly believe we will be having any sort of summer movie season in 2020.