Isn’t this interesting? Variety reports that Warner Bros. is giving Christopher Nolan‘s 2020 time-looping actioner “Tenet” a re-release in theaters, IMAX and 70mm next month as part of the build-up to “Dune: Part Two” on March 1. “Tenet” will run for one week only starting on February 23 in the US and select international markets with exclusive footage of Denis Villeneuve‘s sequel attached. That’s big news on a few fronts. Read on to explore the reasons why.
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Reason #1: the “Tenet” re-release marks a reunion between Nolan and the studio he ditched to go make “Oppenheimer” at Universal. Nolan left behind Warner Bros. after two decades of working together when the studio announced it would release its remaining 2020 and 2021 release calendars concurrently in theaters and on streaming. At the time, Nolan called WB’s decision to shift to streaming “a great danger,” and soon set up shop at Universal to work on “Oppenheimer.” But despite the damaged relationship, Warner Bros. and Nolan have smoothed things over the past year or so. Warner Bros. sent the director a seven-figure royalties check for “Tenet” after he jumped ship. And then Nolan did some post-production audio mixing on the WB lot while finishing up “Oppenheimer.”
In other words, a reunion between the director and the studio isn’t a big surprise for people in the know. And in a press statement about “Tenet” returning to theaters, Nolan sounded positive above both Warner Bros. and plugging Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” “Seeing the way audiences responded to our large format presentations of “Oppenheimer,” I’m thrilled that Warner Bros. is giving audiences a chance to see “Tenet” the way it was intended to be seen, on the largest IMAX and large format film screens, and I’m honored to have our movie warm up the film projectors for Denis’ jaw-dropping “Dune: Part Two,”” said Nolan.
Now for Reason #2: the “Tenet” re-release foretells an event that may become a regularity in 2024. Post-guild strikes, the 2024 theatrical release schedule is, let’s put it this way, iffy. After myriad production delays and release date shifts, there are lots of empty pockets for weekends where there should be at least two or three new releases. It wouldn’t be a big surprise for Warner Bros. and other studios to pad things out by re-releasing other films whose initial releases were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Pixar already did this with “Soul,” granted to little fanfare, but Marvel‘s “Black Widow” is another possibility. And don’t be surprised if new remasters of fan-favorites also receive big theatrical pushes as 2024 wears on.
And Reason #3: if Nolan and Warner Bros. are on good terms again, what does this mean for the director’s future? Nolan is coming off arguably the biggest movie of his career, making nearly a billion dollars for Universal and becoming a favorite this awards season. But the director told Variety late last year that his conflict with Warner Bros. is now “water under the bridge,” with Film Group co-CEO Michael De Luca pronouncing, “We’re hoping to get Nolan back.” So what works best for Nolan post-“Oppenheimer”? Is it returning to a studio he enjoyed two decades of success with, or to the one that let him make what may be the apex of his career? Nolan has stated he doesn’t know what he’ll make next, but after the success of “Oppenheimer,” he can do whatever he wants. Where he plans to do that is, as of right now, a complete mystery.
Now, to freshen up reader’s memories about “Tenet.” The actioner stars John David Washington as an ex-CIA agent who gets thrust into a secret, time-bending conspiracy which sees objects from the future traveling back in time to the present. Robert Pattinson co-stars as the Protagonist’s trusty cohort, with Kenneth Branagh as a shadowy Russian billionaire who may be behind the weird happenings, and Elizabeth Debicki as his troubled wife. “Tenet” didn’t do well at the box office, in no small part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also because it alienated critics and audiences with its heady, convoluted concepts. All told, the 2020 film made just $365 million in theaters. It’ll be curious to see if “Tenet” fares better a second time around, or at least better than “Soul” and Sony‘s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse,” which audiences couldn’t have cared less about upon re-release.
As noted earlier, “Tenet” will hit theaters, IMAX, and 70mm screen again for one week only, from February 23 to March 1. Watch the re-release trailer for Nolan’s film below.