If there is a movie that became the face of the covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the cinema industry, it’s Tenet. Its constant defiance of medical concerns gave way to delay after delay, only to finally release to…well, not exactly the “saviour of cinema” box office numbers Christopher Nolan may have hoped for. But now, you can see what the fuss was about for yourself.
Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has officially announced that Tenet will receive its home release on December 15, with pre-orders going live next week. The film will be available digitally, as well as on Blu-ray and 4K and DVD. Watch it on your TV! Watch it on a phone or a tablet! Project it on the side of your house! You could do anything you want with your copy of Nolan’s time-turning spy-fi thriller, as long as, of course, it’s within safe and sensible social distancing practices. Only watch it on that phone with more than one person if they’re part of your social bubble, friends.
No doubt Warner Bros. and Nolan will be hopeful that the truncated gap between the movie’s questionable box office debut in August will help recoup some of the losses the film faced basically being the only tentpole release keeping theatres open in parts of the U.S.
Arriving at the height of multiple risky state re-openings as coronavirus cases continued to rise across the nation, Tenet flouted medical advice that theatres specifically were not ideal places to be to avoid contact with covid-19. In its wake, there was only a mess; the box office numbers weren’t there, something Nolan chose only to discuss very recently (y’know, while other things were going on this week!), while movie chains across the country are still facing the dire ramifications of a massive decline in audience as people choose to stay at home and wait out the uncertain movie release market.
At least you’ll be able to see for yourself soon enough just what Nolan was going for. Will it be worth the wait? Ehhhhhh.
Editor’s Note: This release date is currently unconfirmed for Australia. Stay tuned for news of a local release.