Fandom In Context: What Do Fans Think Of Tenet's Release

After nearly two months of delays and with coronavirus cases surging, director Christopher Nolan's latest sci-fi epic, Tenet opens in theaters in the US this weekend. Despite warnings from health experts, Warner Bros. and Nolan stood firm in their decision to release the movie theatrically in the US, as other studios dumped major releases on VOD. The film's release now puts the onus on moviegoers to decide if they want to risk a theater experience, making Tenet a flashpoint in the debate over how and when people can stop quarantining. This debate, which turned Nolan into the villain earlier in the summer, has left fans split: Would they risk contracting the virus to see their favorite director's latest?

Tenet won't be the first Nolan film complicated by tragedy. In 2012, a mass shooting at a midnight screening of Nolan's Batman sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, in Aurora, Illinois, left 12 dead and 70 injured. At the time, executives at Warner Bros. said that the shooting was "directly attributable" to the film's somewhat disappointing opening weekend (it only made $160 million). Ghoulish math aside, movie theater safety has been in question ever since. Last year, pundits and law enforcement feared a repeat event during the release of Todd Philips’ Joker. Now, another safety concern, in the form of coronavirus, rears its head.

The coronavirus made Tenet's release a nightmare for Warner Bros, who delayed the film three times since June. In a poll by the Morning Consult conducted in July, 72% of Americans said they weren't ready to return to theaters. With assumed buy-in from Nolan, Warner Bros. decided not to release the film on VOD and withhold the movie until it was deemed safe. Online, many blamed Nolan, an advocate of the theater experience, for moving ahead with the release at all. Despite the backlash, the studio landed on a release date: August 26th in 70 countries worldwide, including Russia, Italy, Canada and Germany; stateside, the film will premiere on September 3rd.

Christopher Nolan’s new movie Tenet is being marketed as “basically Inception, but if you watch it you will die”

— rock and roll photos (@rockanrollphoto) August 14, 2020

Unlike the internet at large, fans of Nolan were quick to defend the director. "Nolan wanted to release it everywhere simultaneously in solidarity with domestic cinemas," said a UK-based moderator on the /r/tenet subreddit via email. "It seemed to me that his interest was in supporting cinemas rather than picking up his paycheck." To fans, there's nothing like his work. "When you walk into one of his films, you know you're gonna see something you've never seen before[…]Fans have been buzzing with excitement. Naturally, people were disappointed by the various delays the film experienced, so fans are delighted that the film has finally been released in some territories." But that doesn't mean they are shrugging off concerns. The mod saw the film twice but took precautions, including wearing a mask, social distancing, and rigorous handwashing. He says it was a risk worth taking. "I appreciate that not everyone will agree with my actions," he wrote, "but I have left my home very little over the past few months, so I was confident that I wouldn't be spreading anything to other people. I'm a film enthusiast, but I am certain that Tenet is the only film that could have lured me out of the house during a pandemic."

With its international opening, the film pulled in more than $52 million in its first weekend, so fans are clearly taking the risk. "I've already seen Tenet in theaters, and yes, health concerns made it a rather hard decision, but in the end, it was worth it," said Benedikt Schleich, a /r/ChristopherNolan mod who lives in Germany. "I would say that it depends on the corona regulations you and your local theaters are willing to take." On the forum, Schleich notes that fans who did see Tenet praised both the movie and the safety precautions at their local theaters. But the release shows the vast chasm between the response to the virus in the US and Europe.

In the US, coronavirus deaths continue to rise, reaching more than 180,000 deaths this summer. While Warner Bros. says that they're releasing Tenet in places where "it's seen that it's safe to reopen," like St. Louis, Slate reports that COVID hospitalizations in the city are "approaching a record high." For some US fans, these risks are too great. Llim, a former /r/Nolan mod, said they haven't spoken to a "single person who has said they want to see Tenet in theaters." Most wished that Nolan would recognize the moment and release the film on VOD, like Trolls World Tour and Mulan.

"I think it's very careless of them to release it, and I think, in general, it's careless of movie theaters to open back up," Llim wrote via email. "Fans have been disappointed with the delays, but I think most are in favor of the delays because there's no safe way to release it in theaters."

Llim isn't alone. In mid-August, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a physician, epidemiologist and former city health commissioner, told the AV Club that going to the movies is "just about the last thing I'd do right now." She continues:

From what we understand, the virus is transmitted through aerosolized droplets that come out of our mouths, oftentimes when we talk or when we laugh or when we sing. And so, being in a room for two hours with a bunch of folks who are laughing at a movie, and where air is not being circulated in an efficient way, and where you don't know who has been in there before you, that's really hazardous exposure. I just don't think it's worth it.

More than anything else, the opening of Tenet shows how far the US needs to go in its coronavirus response. Furthermore, US theatergoers have more to worry about than just following theater safety regulations. With the anti-mask brigade, COVID hoaxers and the plain-old ignorant, many American moviegoers cannot trust their fellow attendees to follow best practices. As Llim notes, some "believe the coronavirus is a hoax, and don't want to wear masks, or just don't care about the virus, period."

During a global pandemic, everything is a risk. Whether you want a Big Mac or to watch a time heist in a crowded cinema, lingering in the background is the chance that you could contract a very deadly virus. It's clear to many that the US is not safe enough yet, and while everyone will make their own decision, for some fans, like Llim, the choice is simple: wait.

"The bottom line is, I love Nolan's films and can't wait to see Tenet, but I won't be seeing it in theaters, period. I will wait until I can download it to watch it."