Uncertainty continues to hover over the film and movie theater industry in the United States as the predicted blockbuster success of the Christopher Nolan film Tenet has failed to materialize.

Variety reports that Tenet’s current domestic haul of $29.5 million is not an encouraging number to movie studios, who reacted immediately by moving the premieres of several blockbuster films to later on in the year or even in 2021.

Theater owner Mike Sodano told Variety that this does not bode well for movie theaters in the United States. According to him, movie theaters need profits, people, and products to survive. The dismal returns of Tenet and the lack of blockbusters in the upcoming months have deprived them of all that.

Remaining open during the coming months would mean incurring more fixed expenses without earning any profit, said Sodano. The new expenses brought about by the global coronavirus pandemic include extra cleaning measures, training staff for new health protocols, and implementing new safety measures.

The costs are further compounded by the fact that theaters are unlikely to make a profit or even break even as current health and safety measures require theaters to only take in up to 25 percent of their capacity. No new movies also make it less likely for audiences to even head to the theaters in the first place.

Entertainment Weekly also had a similarly negative assessment of Tenet’s performance, saying that it only proves that American audiences are just not ready to go back to theaters due to the still ongoing global coronavirus pandemic.

The publication also interviewed Exhibitor Relations’ senior box office analyst Jeff Bock, who said that the industry is now caught in a dilemma. For theaters to survive, there is a need of movies for them to show. However, the performance of Tenet has made studios hesitant to release any potential blockbusters.

That said, there are still analysts that believe that the box office result for Tenet is positive. According to Eric Wold, an analyst for B. Riley, the box office results for the film is an “encouraging and positive” sign. According to him, Tenet performed at the high end of their predictions with the pandemic and lowered theater capacity taken into account.

One thing's certain is that the global coronavirus pandemic will continue to heavily affect the film and movie theater industry.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s update on Sept. 16, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States is now at 6.571.867. The number of people that have died from COVID-19 is now at 195,053.