Tenet' Posts Modest Opening in Key Test of Covid-19-Era Moviegoing
September 07 2020 - 1:30PM
Dow Jones News
By R.T. Watson
U.S. movie theaters enjoyed their best few days since the
pandemic shut down much of the economy, as the first major film in
months opened with modest box-office returns.
Sci-fi spy film "Tenet," -- distributed by AT&T Inc.'s
Warner Bros. studio -- grossed $20.2 million in the U.S. and Canada
through the long holiday weekend, according to preliminary
estimates.
Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring John David
Washington, Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki, the $200
million film was regarded in Hollywood as having a solid chance of
reviving the moribund theatrical business. Mr. Nolan's last movie,
"Dunkirk," grossed $50.5 million in its opening weekend in
2017.
Movie theaters around the world had closed their doors as
governments moved to contain the spread of the coronavirus; in the
U.S., that happened in March. Hollywood's biggest studios canceled
plans to release big-budget movies and almost overnight the few
theaters still open lacked the high-profile films it takes to sell
a significant number of tickets.
Theaters waited anxiously as Warner Bros. repeatedly changed its
release plans for "Tenet" and public-health authorities shifted
their guidelines for public gatherings. Walt Disney Co. canceled
plans to release its live-action remake of "Mulan" in the U.S.,
opting instead to ship it directly to its Disney+ streaming
service, where it also became available over the weekend. The
company hasn't said how many viewers watched it, at a cost of
around $30 on top of a monthly $6.99 subscription fee.
"We always knew this release plan would be a marathon not a
sprint as we await openings in more markets and theaters," Warner
Bros. said. The studio cautioned against judging "Tenet" against
other film debuts, saying "any comparisons to the pre-Covid world
would be inequitable and baseless."
Many nations have outpaced the U.S. in terms of reopening their
economies and public spaces, so "Tenet" initially made its debut a
week earlier in more than 40 international markets, where it made a
total of $53 million in its opening weekend.
Major theater chains began reopening their U.S. locations last
month, though they remained closed by government orders in several
major population centers, including New York and California. Around
two-thirds of domestic theaters have reopened, according to a
recent estimate from Disney.
The movie earned another $58.1 million in overseas markets
Friday through Sunday, according to Warner Bros., for a total
$146.2 million globally. "Tenet" performed best in China, the
world's second-largest theatrical market behind the U.S., where it
made $30 million its first weekend, according to data provided by
Comscore. China began reopening theaters in July.
Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said it is nearly impossible
to assess the performance of "Tenet," as "traditional metrics
simply do not apply."
Pandemic-driven closures have obliterated the year's box-office
returns. Heading into the weekend, with only four months remaining
in 2020, domestic box-office revenue for the year so far stood at
about $2 billion, according to Comscore data. Last year, theaters
in the U.S. and Canada sold $11.4 billion of movie tickets.
Most U.S. movie theaters that have opened are operating at
reduced capacity, meaning fewer people can attend screenings. To
compensate, many theaters are showing "Tenet" on more screens than
they normally would.
If California and New York allow theaters to reopen, it would
almost certainly provide a boost for "Tenet." Metropolitan markets
such as Los Angeles and New York City typically account for a
significant share of domestic ticket sales.
Warner Bros. is also requiring some multiplexes to show "Tenet"
for as long as 12 weeks in the hopes that more people will feel
safe to return to cinemas in the coming weeks. The majority of
theater chains require moviegoers to wear face masks.
Disney's "The New Mutants" ranked a distant second at the
domestic box office, grossing $3.6 million over the Labor Day
weekend, the studio estimated. Through the holiday weekend, the
X-Men spinoff, which has received lackluster reviews from critics
and audiences, grossed just $12.4 million in total after two weeks
in North American theaters.
Disney had better luck abroad, where "Mulan" opened in smaller
Asian markets where Disney+ isn't available. The movie topped the
box office in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand on its way to
grossing $5.9 million internationally through Sunday. "Mulan" opens
this coming weekend in China, where the legendary folk hero
originates.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 07, 2020 13:15 ET (17:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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