No sooner did news of the postponement of Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman: 1984 leak out of the studio than speculation about the studio’s unhappiness with the box-office performance of its Tenet started in media circles, especially in Hollywood. But the fact is that as a studio, Warner is very happy with the performance of the Christopher Nolan film.
First things first. No studio would be so daft as to expect any film to perform as well as it would’ve, in the pre-COVID days. Warner took the bold step of releasing Tenet theatrically instead of opting for the OTT route for its own good. The studio has a number of films lined up for release, and hence wanted the audience to return to the cinemas. It is for this reason alone that Warner decided to take the risk with a big-ticket entertainer like Tenet. Otherwise, no studio would opt for theatrical release when cinemas in New York and California — where there’s a large film-going population — are still shut. The film opened in North America on 4th September only. It opened in other markets on 26th August. A first weekend gross of $20 million in North America may not be good when one compares the figure with opening weekend figures of films released in the per-pandemic days. “That’s exactly why Warner decided not to release box-office figures for the film,” informed a source from the studio, adding, “because we were aware that the media would compare apples with oranges and jump to the conclusion that Tenet was a flop.” The truth is quite contrary. Despite the North American collections not being as good as they would’ve been in normal circumstances, the fact is that the film has grossed $150 million so far. No doubt, it cost around $200-225 million to make but as the source says, “Whoever said, we were expecting the film to take a great opening? When we decided to go in for a theatrical release, we were convinced that the film would be a long-running film more than a huge opener. We knew, this was not going to be a sprint but rather a marathon.” The studio source goes on further, “Any comparison of Tenet with previous films and box-office records is not only baseless but also inequitable.”
Perhaps, that’s the reason why Warner did not pump in millions of dollars in promotion of the film at one go. Rather, the ad spend has been spread over the next five to eight weeks because that’s the duration the studio expects the film to be in the cinemas. “If cinemas in New York and California open soon, which is what’s expected, we would be getting handsome numbers from there too. Besides, the film, which opened on 26th August outside the North American market, is still in the cinemas two weeks later too,” reasoned the studio source.
Those who’ve been writing obituaries of the film, saying that it needs to gross $500 million at the box-office to be called a hit, which doesn’t seem possible, do not know two important points:
(i) that for this particular film, because of the extraordinary times the world is in, Warner’s average share from cinemas across the board is 65% of the collections instead of the usual 50%. So, in just two weeks, that too, with the limited release, the studio has earned a share of over $90 million;
(ii) that the studio will get huge revenues by selling the film’s satellite, digital and home video rights too.
That’s the reason why although some media persons would have the world believe the worst about the film, Warner is actually quite happy with its box-office performance. Explained the source, “What’s there in the coming four or five weeks for the cinema-going audience? Nothing. No Time To Die and Black Widow are still many weeks away. That’s why, we are confident that Tenet will keep running in the cinemas and will keep generating revenues for more than a month now.”
As regards the postponement of Warner’s Wonder Woman: 1984, there is no official confirmation of the same by the Holywood studio. But grapevine has it that the film has been moved ahead, not because Tenet has underperformed but because the studio would not like to cannibalise Tenet or Wonder Woman: 1984 by pitting one against the other. As mentioned above, Warner expects Tenet to continue in the cinemas for a month more or even beyond that.
Said the Warner source, “We would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we did not work towards reopening cinemas. That’s because we have a big line-up of films slated for release.” The studio is also ready to release Tenet in India as soon as the cinemas reopen here. Subject to our release conditions being fulfilled, we will offer our film to every single cinema that’s willing to screen the film — whether in English or in its dubbed version,” concluded the source.