Delay in Tenet movie release date delay a real setback for fans
This week’s news that there was no longer a release date for new time-bending spy caper movie Tenet is more disappointing than the endings of Lost and Game Of Thrones combined, Duncan Lay writes.
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Australia might be waving a less-than-fond farewell to lockdown restrictions but those of us who were hoping to get back into the cinema have just been dealt a shocking blow.
Tenet no longer has a release date and that is a plot twist more disappointing than the endings of Lost and Game Of Thrones combined.
Obviously the cinema experience is going to have to change while COVID-19 is hanging around like a weird aunt at a party who you just wish would go back to her house full of cats (or in this case bats) so everyone can get back to having fun.
It’s goodbye to the communal popcorn barrel for a start. We’ll probably be able to bring our own snacks, which is great for some but also infuriating if the bloke in the XXL trackies three
seats down has packed a three-course meal. Anyway, while Tenet was being promoted as hitting theatres on July 17, there was hope that they would reopen soon.
Tenet is the latest film from Christopher Nolan, the brilliant director who gave us the Batman Begins trilogy and Inception, which is one of my top three movies.
It’s a time-bending spy caper that looks incredible and every trailer announced it would hit cinemas on July 17.
Until this week, when a new trailer announced it would merely “open in theatres”. That says America won’t be ready to reopen its cinemas by then.
Tenet was seen as the first summer blockbuster that would get fans flocking back to the movies. Now who knows when it will be released and there’s a huge question mark over what will hit cinemas first and how to spread out their new release plans.
While I love the idea of being able to go and see a blockbuster movie every week, rather than having to wait months between them, I fear the production houses aren’t as keen on that idea.
It’s like they’re all too scared to dip their toe into the water, in case it gets chewed off by a shark. Or, in this case, an infected bat. Or, to push the metaphor to its logical conclusion, an infected bat that’s also mutated into an underwater predator.
Anyway … reopening cinemas is a bit Catch-22. You wouldn’t reopen unless there was a big movie to show but the big movies won’t commit unless the doors are open.
So what’s the solution? Well, I’m hoping it’s Mulan.
This big-budget Disney live action retelling of the 1998 cartoon was predicted to smash the billion-dollar box office ceiling thanks to the Chinese audience.
As we know, China is almost free of COVID-19. So Disney could release Mulan, safe in the knowledge the Chinese box office alone will make it a profit. That could get the ball rolling and see other movies released.
So, ironically, while China got us into this COVID-19 mess, perhaps China will get the movie business out of it.
It’s a thought happy enough to make me want to barbecue a couple of bats and take them along as my movie snack. It’s a bit extreme but it’ll guarantee nobody tries to sit near me.