Tenet - Box Office Autopsy

Christopher Nolan's time inverting spy film that follows a protagonist fighting for the survival of the entire world.
Posts: 104
Joined: December 2015
I'm a John G wrote:
August 11th, 2019, 11:24 am
Sharkboy wrote:
August 10th, 2019, 5:09 am
Batman's Batman wrote:
August 8th, 2019, 1:47 pm
I think, after giving my own question some thought, I know the answer: no! If you look at the current state of Hollywood, it's clear that you can't expect an original project with no name or franchise recognition to make a billion. No, not possible, even if Nolan directs it. The Dark Knight and its sequel made billions because they were movies about the biggest superhero the world has ever known besides Superman and Spider-Man. You had something to build from there. In this case, there is nothing outside of Nolan's name. Not even the cast sells this movie, because, outside of Pattinson, there are no leading people who have proven themselves to sell tickets for big blockbusters. When was the last time an original movie made over 700 million worldwide? All I'm thinking is Gravity. And that was seven years ago. This movie will be lucky to do Inception numbers. But even then it won't be as impressive, because its budget is said to be on 60 million higher than Inception's.
Avatar says hello.
This. What avatar did so well, besides appealing to kids, was world-building. Cameron created a universe that could be expanded upon by him and others, much like Star Wars, Mad Max, James Bond, Matrix...

I think Inception had that potential, but Nolan may have resisted in the expansion of that universe or simply missed the mark a tiny tiny bit in the film to make it distinguishable from any other filmverse.

With Tenet I expect WB to push this as not just a one-off movie but a filmverse or landscape that can expand to other mediums... Not that it certainly will, but windows will be there. Tenet seems like an investment, not necessarily a project they believe will make a fortune by itself. This is an investment in a filmmaker and a new filmverse that they can turn into future endeavors. I think the teaser trailer indicates this with it's "time has..." Repetition, which is also clearly an indicator of the time-centric narrative and devices
I don’t think Tenet is that kind of movie. Nolan loves experimenting with film structures and pushing the envelope in terms of film storytelling. He did that with his entire film catalogue, and I don’t expect Tenet to be any different.

User avatar
Posts: 916
Joined: February 2012
I'm a John G wrote:
August 11th, 2019, 11:24 am
With Tenet I expect WB to push this as not just a one-off movie but a filmverse or landscape that can expand to other mediums... Not that it certainly will, but windows will be there. Tenet seems like an investment, not necessarily a project they believe will make a fortune by itself. This is an investment in a filmmaker and a new filmverse that they can turn into future endeavors. I think the teaser trailer indicates this with it's "time has..." Repetition, which is also clearly an indicator of the time-centric narrative and devices
Nope. Nolan doesn't work that way.

User avatar
Posts: 26414
Joined: June 2011
Vader182 wrote:
August 10th, 2019, 5:16 pm
Dolby has stolen a lot of IMAX's power in the States. It's honestly usually better, too.


-Vader
What even is the Dolby theater? There's literally none in my state so I've never been.

Nicolaslabra wrote:
August 10th, 2019, 10:18 pm
Disney+'s solo2001 wrote:
August 10th, 2019, 9:56 pm
imax used to literally be the best thing and now it's literally the most deceptive and that upsets me
This makes me curious, could you enlighten me ?
i mean here we only have 1 IMAX screen, and its digital imax, its still the best screen in the country, and has the best audio, but our standards may be understandably lower than over there.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=39955&p=1189221#p1189221

User avatar
Posts: 19209
Joined: June 2012
Location: stuck in 2020
Bacon wrote:
August 11th, 2019, 3:59 pm
Vader182 wrote:
August 10th, 2019, 5:16 pm
Dolby has stolen a lot of IMAX's power in the States. It's honestly usually better, too.


-Vader
What even is the Dolby theater? There's literally none in my state so I've never been.
oh nothing vader182 just spreading fake news as usual :P

User avatar
Posts: 357
Joined: February 2011
Location: Limbo
Looking at 2020's July lineup, Tenet has a solid chance to dominate right after WW 1984. Nothing really big "yet" on the horizon aside from Jungle Cruise and Morbius. I don't think it will do Inception numbers due to lack of the Dicaprio star power and Nolan coming off the TDK hype but it could surpass Interstellar's numbers.

User avatar
Posts: 674
Joined: August 2019
It must surpass interstellar or else I would say Nolan is losing his charm. Ideally, it should surpass inception numbers.

Ideally speaking, I would love a filmmaker to come with an original movie every three years which makes 1B+ on box office.

Nolan is smart to go for a bigger budget since even Apple is now making an original series with each episode costing fifteen million dollars. If they are sure to make profit on such expensive TV shows why shouldn't filmmakers have the confidence to do better given that they have the luxury of theatrical exhibition and staggered realease.

User avatar
Posts: 2643
Joined: January 2016
This has the potential to be a major box office hit

User avatar
Posts: 142
Joined: March 2017
brickarts295 wrote:
August 13th, 2019, 4:40 am
Looking at 2020's July lineup, Tenet has a solid chance to dominate right after WW 1984. Nothing really big "yet" on the horizon aside from Jungle Cruise and Morbius. I don't think it will do Inception numbers due to lack of the Dicaprio star power and Nolan coming off the TDK hype but it could surpass Interstellar's numbers.
I think it'll probably surpass Interstellar, which was not only released in the fall, but also had really stiff competition at the time.

Next year also has Godzilla vs. Kong, Minions 2, Mulan, Bond 25, Fast and Furious 9, plus Marvel's Black Widow and The Eternals... most of these will probably end up exceeding Tenet's box office.

User avatar
Posts: 26414
Joined: June 2011
But...Bob's Burgers

Post Reply