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Until a couple of weeks ago, directorChristopher Nolans mystery-wrapped-in-an-enigma thrillerTenetfaced a daunting responsibility.
And on Thursday, the studio postponedTenets release an additional two weeks to August 12.
Of course, nobody expects a cumulative summer gross anywhere near last years $2 billion July-August box-office haul.
The movie theater is transitioning from the pure hospitality business and concession business to a health- and safety-conscious environment.
There are so many layers to this.
What that will look and feel like, nobody knows until it actually happens, he says.
It might not be a big opener.
It didnt cost a lot to make.
So they dont need to break the bank at the box office.
Coming off record-breaking profitability year last year, Disney watched its profits sink a reported 92 percent last quarter.
We have to disabuse ourselves of the notion of the importance of the opening weekend.
So lets sayMulandoes X, Y, Z dollars on its opening, he continues.
People will say, Thats so much less than the last Disney movie.
Well, that was a completely different environment with no constraints on theater capacity, no COVID fears.
Christopher Nolan, hes Mr. Movie Theater, says Dergarabedian.
Directors like Nolan can be the draw.
On its surface, it doesnt look like a particularly commercial film.
But having Christopher Nolans name on it made it commercial.
But it doesnt have to be the first.
The New Mutants Ill believe it when I see it.
I want to root for them as the first superhero movie [to come out during the pandemic].
But is it enough to overcome the delays and negative buzz?
Thats anybodys guess right now.
In post-coronavirus Hollywood, its fair to say that uncertainty remains the only certainty.
Everythings changing, Dergarabedian says.
How we perceive success, how we report the numbers, all of that is going to be different.
