Warner Bros. on 20th July announced a further postponement of the release of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Earlier slated to release on 17th July, it was shifted to 31st July due to the raging coronavirus cases. It was further postponed to 12th August for the same reason. But the tentpole film has now been postponed once again for fear that people may not be willing to come to cinemas in view of the unabating COVID-19 cases. Although the new date has not been announced, know-alls say that the earliest the film would make it to the cinemas would be in September in the Labour Day weekend. The studio may consider opening the film two weeks earlier, in August-end, in countries where cinemas have reopened and are doing brisk business. Paramount Pictures’ A Quiet Place Part II is also slated for release in the US in the Labour Day weekend.
Looking to the action of Warner Bros., it is anybody’s guess that Disney would also feel inclined to postpone the release of its two films — The New Mutants and Mulan — from August to a later date. Warner said, its other big release, The Conjuring 3, would not hit the screens this year. It is likely to release in June next year. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman 1984 and Dune are likely to come on schedule — on 2nd October and 18th December respectively.
Tenet is a very costly film, having cost more than $200 million to make and a like amount to promote. Around 66% of the cinemas in the United States are closed and they include cinemas in areas which have reopened after the lockdown, and that’s because studios are not releasing new films.
The scenario which may be played out in India in the coming months may be quite the same as in the USA. While cinemas in the country are clamouring to reopen, like all other businesses are, the question is: where will they get playing programmes from? Around 20 films have already been committed for premiering on one or the other streaming platform. So, even if the cinemas are allowed by the government to reopen, the two questions which remain unanswered are:
(i) when will the public start frequenting cinemas, and
(ii) where will the cinemas get the software from?
