Warner Bros. Puts Wonder Woman 1984 And Tenet Back

Reacting To The Ongoing Climate

Warner Bros. have just announced that they have put back Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman sequel, Wonder Woman 1984. Here’s a few details from Variety…

Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated espionage thriller, has pushed back its cinema debut by two weeks, ending months of speculation about whether or not the $200 million tentpole would hold onto its mid-July release date.

The Warner Bros. film, which stars Robert Pattinson and John David Washington, was initially slated for 17 July and will now debut in cinemas on 31 July. On the date that Tenet was expected to open, cinemas will re-release one of Nolan’s biggest hits, Inception, in honour of its 10th anniversary.

Warner Bros. also postponed Wonder Woman 1984 nearly two months, from 14 Aug to 2 Oct. This marks the second shift for the superhero sequel, directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot. The film was originally set to kick off summer on June 5, but was delayed until August once cinemas began to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re especially thrilled, in this complex and rapidly changing environment, to be bringing Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet,’ a global tentpole of jaw-dropping size, scope and scale, to theaters around the world on July 31,” said Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. “It’s been longer than any of us could’ve imagined since we’ve seen a movie on the big screen, and to acknowledge Chris’ fans as we count down to Tenet’s” opening day, we are also excited to offer his masterpiece Inception in theatres for its 10th anniversary on 17 July.”

Nolan, one of the most ardent supporters of the big-screen experience, was hoping Tenet would usher audiences back into theaters, which have been mostly closed across the country since the middle of March to help curb the global health crisis. Though some states have started to reopen cinemas, major movie cinema chains like AMC, Regal and Cinemark don’t have plans to resume business until later in the summer. When they are able to restart shop, it’s unclear how willing audiences will be to return to the movies. Though Tenet was only slightly shifted back, Warner Bros. believes more cinemas will be open by the end of July. It is also uncertain when UK cinemas will open again so the extra two weeks give Tenet a greater chance of a UK big-screen release.

While every other major Hollywood studio has shifted, delayed or amended plans to premiere its movies, Warner Bros. long held firm that Tenet would maintain its release date. However, the studio reignited doubts that Tenet would debut as planned when it launched a new trailer last month that conspicuously lacked an opening date.

“We are excited that our partners at Warner Bros. will offer a new generation of film fans the opportunity to enjoy Inception the way it was originally intended to be seen — on the big screen,” the National Association of Theatre Owners, the exhibition industry’s trade organization, said in a statement. “Over these last months we have been keeping Warner Bros. closely informed of our work towards reopening our theatres in accordance with governmental health and safety requirements, and we are looking forward to audiences enjoying Tenet in our theatres all around the world on July 31st.”