'Tenet' Continues Mild Returns With $3.4 Million Weekend
Uncertainty continues to hover over the United States box office as Christopher Nolan’s new film, Tenet, has failed to live up to expectations that it would be the savior of an American box office ravaged by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Variety reports that Tenet earned $3.4 million over the weekend, a 26 percent decline from its third weekend take of $4.3 million. The Christopher Nolan film has now earned $41 million in the United States over four weekends.
Around the world, Tenet pulled in $19.2 million as it played in over 50 markets. Besides the United States, Japan was where Tenet earned the most, in its second weekend ticket sales coming in at $3 million dollars, a 30 percent decline from last week’s $4.3 million take.
Other films in the top ten of the United States box office aren’t faring any better. Superhero movie The New Mutants made $1.1 million on its fifth weekend, while the Russell Crowe starred Unhinged only made $1 million.
It also doesn’t look like Tenet is going to have an easier time in theaters moving forward. According to Deadline, the audience’s hesitation to go to movie theaters has resulted in movie theaters refusing to reopen even when allowed by the government.
The continued closure of big markets like New York and San Francisco also does not bode well for Tenet and its chances at the box office. Deadline notes that while California has okayed the opening of movie theaters in San Francisco, the county’s health division has ordered that they remain closed.
Deadline also quotes sources as saying that state health officials in New York are impressed with the safety protocols in place. However, it has not translated into the state announcing a definitive date of when movie theaters can reopen.
Tenet’s underperformance in the United States, despite its huge international box office take has also had a ripple effect among other distributors, with other big studios moving the launch of their tentpole offerings.
Warner Bros, the same studio behind Tenet, has moved the superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 to Christmas Day. The movie was originally going to premiere on Oct. 2. Disney’s Black Widow has already changed its Nov. 6 premiere date to May 7, 2021.
Things are unlikely to get better as the global coronavirus pandemic continues to rage in the United States. The Sept. 27 update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pegs the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States at 7,059,087 people. The number of people that have died from COVID-19 is now at 204,033.