Tenet has grossed just shy of $350 million at the worldwide box office since being released in September, with a little over $50 million of that coming from the U.S. While the movie being released in the midst of a pandemic meant it was never going to earn a huge amount of money, that's not a good result, and almost certainly means Warner Bros. will lose money on the sci-fi epic.
The movie's performance has caused real uncertainty in Hollywood, and we've since seen a number of blockbusters - Black Widow and No Time to Die, for example - vacate 2020 in response.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, director Christopher Nolan has opened up about Tenet's theatrical release and why he believes studios are looking at the film's box office performance in the wrong way.
"I am worried that the studios are drawing the wrong conclusions from our release — that rather than looking at where the film has worked well and how that can provide them with much needed revenue, they’re looking at where it hasn’t lived up to pre-COVID expectations and will start using that as an excuse to make exhibition take all the losses from the pandemic instead of getting in the game and adapting — or rebuilding our business, in other words."
At this point, Nolan's attitude is bordering on being naive, as it's clear moviegoers do not feel comfortable heading to theaters and that studios can't make money from blockbusters right now (many of the locations the filmmaker appears to be referring to have now had to close theaters due to the virus).
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