'Tenet' experiments on the global bets of theater industry revival

'Tenet' is now starting to test the appetite for movie-going despite pandemic. The thriller is hoping for reviving theater industry after the great lock-down has left indoor theaters closed for a few months, and movie-goers are not very reluctant to see the movies outside of their home. Potential ticket buyers have to consider about the safety before urging back to the screen.

Movie called "The New Mutants" from Disney generated fairly $7 million in box-office sales in the North America just a week ago. Nowadays, wearing a mask is required while viewing a movie. This makes movie goers not inclined to go to the theater. Additionally, theater has to adopt buffer-zone seating, the capacity of movie attendants declines about more than a half. There is no way for movie makers to profit. 

Reported about $200 million budget of making a film from Warner Bros., Tenet is betting against the pandemic and shutdowns hoping for revitalizing the theater industry, which took almost half-a-year to release the movie. The plot of movie is about the fate of humanity pivots on characters moving back and forth through time. It is an epic, brain-bending exploration of ideas the filmmaker has spent decades examining. The film is quite difficult to understand by watching at once. Since the movie might be confusing, there are lots of reviews about it; more of spoiling. However, Christopher Nolan, the director of the movie jokes, "It’s not a time to be precious about anything, 'Tenet' is so narratively complex. It’s not the kind of film you can spoil.”

Theater giant firms such as AMC, Cinemark, Cineworld and IMAX have all been betting heavily on “Tenet” to bring moviegoers back, so the strong international results were an encouraging sign ahead of the movie’s U.S. opening. Hollywood sighed of relief that $53.6 million were grossed from Europe and other markets (41 countries), which is a good sign that audiences are craving for new content even though social distancing and masks are required in theater. IMAX reported that $20,000 were generated per screen even though the capacity of attendance were limited to about a half or less. In fact, 'Tenet' had less competition as now since numbers of movie makers are delaying to open and most of movie theaters are re-releasing back-in-a day films.

"The long wait has elevated this film to the status of being very important symbolically, culturally and financially. It represents a turning point for the theatrical business which has been sidelined for five months," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

I have watched 'Tenet' twice despite Covid-19. It is very difficult to understand the plot since the story is quite complicated. I have watched the spoilers and interpretation of the movie through YouTube, which made myself more confused with it. However, the factors that I thought was very intriguing was the time twist between past and present. It is definitely a harsh endeavor to express the time lashes. The first time viewing was more of understanding; the second time was more of feeling the movie. The movie was great, I gave generous score in the review of IMDb. It is pity that this great movie could have attracted more audiences which is now overlapped with pandemic.

Source: NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/09/03/arts/03reuters-film-tenet.html

Source: WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tenet-suspense-builds-for-theater-chains-11598981394

https://www.wsj.com/articles/christopher-nolans-tenet-makes-a-global-bet-on-the-film-industry-11598640209