Tenet To Begin Opening Internationally On August 26th, In Select U.S. Cities On September 3rd

Variety reports that Tenet is set to open internationally starting on August 26th, followed by opening in select cities in the United States on September 3rd.

On August 26th, the film will open in Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

On August 27th, the film will open in Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia, Middle East, New Zealand, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates.

On August 28th, the film will open in East Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and Vietnam.

Big movies usually open in the United States first since it is the world’s biggest movie market, but since the U.S. is still facing massive COVID-19 outbreaks, Warner Bros. made the decision to go ahead and open the film internationally in countries that have more theaters open first before opening in some U.S. cities that have theaters open.

It remains to be seen which cities in the United States will get Tenet on September 3rd.

Korea recently had a new film, Peninsula, open and generate $21 million at the box office in two weeks, a sign that audiences in some countries are ready for new film releases.

Releasing Tenet in a staggered fashion in the U.S. is risky, since Christopher Nolan movies usually feature major twists, and those spoilers will end up being widely available before the movie is even open in many, many cities. On the flip side, pent up demand to go watch a major new release in theaters could lead people who otherwise wouldn’t have even watched Tenet to head to the theaters to see it.

Warner Bros. has not announced when the film will open in China since they have not been given the go-ahead yet due to initial concerns over the film’s long runtime (initially, theaters that reopened in China had to keep movies under two hours). Recently though, theaters in China have booked Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as well as Inception, an indication that China has moved on from the two hour time limit.