It’s understandable why Christopher Nolan would want people to see his new movie, Tenet, in the theater, but if one is thinking that it doesn’t involve making back it’s budget then they’re a tad bit naive since this is one of the primary goals of many movies, no matter the passion or desire to see people enjoy it on the big screen, which is equally real. It’s true that Nolan has a lot of clout as the writers at Looper mention, as he’s delivered some great and astounding movies in the past, but thinking that this puts him a step above anyone else is a fallacy that a lot of people tend to fall into when it comes to giving him leave to say and do what he wants. So far he hasn’t abused the ability he’s been given or the leeway that comes from having delivered so many top notch stories to the public, so it’s fair to say that his desire to see this movie hit the theaters and give people the experience he wants for them is genuine. As it’s already been noted there are movies that are just that much better in the theater and tend to lose a little something when they go to streaming or home video, so it might be that he wants the audience to really dig in to the full experience without distractions, which is another thing that the theater is good for when it comes to big movies.
But the downfall of this is that if theaters aren’t open by the end of July, hey it could happen, his wishes might not mean much since the release date will have to keep conforming to safety regulations in order to keep people safe. The main point of this of course is to get Tenet on the big screen, which should be the whole focus at this time, instead of worrying whether it will get in on the summer rush, or what’s going to be left of it when things finally, hopefully, settle. Thanks to the coronavirus and the world’s response to it (we can’t shirk the paranoia or our varied responses after all) theaters have been shut down for months now and aren’t likely to open up to fully capacity for a little while, meaning that numbers will still be down for some time to come as people will have to play catch-up in order to make the kind of profits that would normally be expected. In fact, the only theaters doing any kind of business at this time are drive-ins, and this is because they’ve taken to showing older movies that people still happen to enjoy since many big movies haven’t yet taken the leap to streaming as a few have. In this day and age the desire to see one’s movie on the big screen is still a priority apparently, though to be fair one can’t blame those that have worked so hard on a project and want to see it shown in all its glory.
How the theater situation is going to be managed will make a big difference in whether or not Tenet will be able to be shown in the manner that Nolan wants, though he does appear to be confident that this will happen. The worst case scenario however is that Tenet and many other movies will continue to be pushed back if the theater issue can’t be resolved, though one has to wonder just how long studios are going to hold out when it comes to giving people what they want versus trying to recoup the massive budgets for these movies. At this point to the average moviegoer it might feel more appropriate for a lot of movies to come to streaming or Video on Demand in order to try and make what they can, but to directors and studio heads it might feel that if they hold out just a little longer that they’ll be able to see their creations hit the theaters. Unfortunately, with social distancing still in effect and the very real probability of theaters operating at half capacity it’s not likely that the box office numbers will be that high, so waiting to release said movies might actually be more harmful in the long term than studios are thinking.
It’s easy to see how Nolan is thinking when it comes to releasing Tenet in the theaters, he wants to insure that people are given the full experience, and that’s not a bad thing, but there has to eventually be a compromise, unless of course the theaters do open and are able to somehow bring in the numbers they need. If that does manage to happen then it could be that this issue will be resolved at some point. If not, then it might be time to go to streaming.
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