The China Film Administration (CFA) has approved Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster Tenet for a theatrical release with a release date expected to be announced soon. The Chinese release will be promoted with posters swapping the original tagline of 'Time Runs Out' with a call for audiences to return to cinemas that translates to 'Make Every Second Count, Invade the Theaters.'
Despite finally getting a theatrical release date after a troubled schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic closing cinemas, Tenet fell foul of CFA guidelines for cinema releases due to its lengthy running time. However, Warner Bros announced on July 29 that Tenet had passed Chinese government approvals and can press ahead with a theatrical release.
China is a key territory for blockbuster releases thanks to being one of the biggest film markets in the world, but the current pandemic forced cinemas to close. In late July, the government allowed cinemas in low-risk areas to reopen, and at the time of writing approximately 44% of cinemas are running with screenings capped to 30% capacity. The initial opening weekend saw cinemas take in $12.6 million.
What held Tenet's Chinese release back was its running time of two hours and 31 minutes. CFA restrictions only allowed films of up to 2 hours to run in cinemas, wanting to minimize the time audiences spent together in the theater. However, Chinese authorities had also approved screenings for several films that exceeded that limit such as rereleases of the Harry Potter franchise and one of Nolan's previous films, Interstellar.
The long awaited Tenet has been an unfortunate victim of lockdown restrictions, seeing its release delayed several times. With a budget of over $200 million and an extended marketing campaign, it's estimated that Tenet would need to take a global box office of $800 million just to break even. A China theatrical release, even with capacity caps in place, could be make or break time for Nolan's futuristic spy thriller.
Tenet will be released in select U.S. theaters on Sept 3.
Source: ScreenCrush