Tenet Kicks Off With $20 Million

After months of delays, Christopher Nolans sci-fi epic Tenet finally arrived in U.S. theatres and generated $20.2 million over Labour Day weekend. Ticket sales, though difficult to dissect given the uncharted waters of the coronavirus era, are roughly in line with expectations for a new release during a pandemic. The espionage thriller is already nearing the $150 million mark globally, thanks to a stronger showing at the international box office. Overseas, Tenet earned another $78.3 million this weekend, bringing its worldwide haul to $146.2 million.

Warner Bros., in a note Sunday afternoon to press, said the studio was “very pleased” with initial results, stressing that the rollout of “Tenet” will be “a marathon not a sprint” — meaning it doesn’t need splashy inaugural weekend grosses to justify its release.

“There is literally no context in which to compare the results of a film opening during a pandemic with any other circumstance,” the studio said. “We are in unprecedented territory, so any comparisons to the pre-COVID world would be inequitable and baseless.”

The domestic debut for Nolan’s latest includes ticket sales from preview screenings that started on Monday in the U.S. and Canada. In pre-coronavirus times, “Tenet” would have seen much more substantial opening weekend figures. reuters