Nearly two weeks after pushing Christopher Nolan’s Tenet back from its initial release date of July 17 to July 31, Warner Bros. has shifted the film back again—this time by a week and a half to Wednesday, August 12.
A 10th anniversary re-release of Christopher Nolan’s Inception, slated for July 17th after Tenet moved away from that date, has now been pushed to July 31.
Said a Warner Bros. representative in a statement:
“Warner Bros. is committed to bringing Tenet to audiences in theaters, on the big screen, when exhibitors are ready and public health officials say it’s time. In this moment what we need to be is flexible, and we are not treating this as a traditional movie release. We are choosing to open the movie mid-week to allow audiences to discover the film in their own time, and we plan to play longer, over an extended play period far beyond the norm, to develop a very different yet successful release strategy.”
Warner Bros.’ decision comes shortly after New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, pulled movie theaters from the state’s Phase 4 of reopening. (Depending on the region, different areas in New York State are currently in Phases 2 or 3.) Los Angeles has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases, urging Mayor Eric Garcetti to renew his advice to stay home.
With Tenet‘s shift to August, a handful of studio releases currently remain in July, though the previous release date change resulted in several other changes in its wake. As of now, Solstice Studios’ Unhinged comes out July 10; Sony’s The Broken Hearts Gallery comes out July 17; and Disney’s Mulan comes out July 24.
When Tenet was still scheduled for release on July 17, major cinema chains across North America organized their reopening plans around early-mid July. Regal will begin opening on July 10, AMC will have its first wave of openings on July 15, and all of Cinemark’s theaters are scheduled to be reopened by July 10. With Tenet moving out of mid-July—and, potentially, other films following—theaters may have to fill additional theaters with repertory content for additional weeks.
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