Tenet Takes an Impressive $50 million in Its Opening Weekend

Tenet, the long awaited time inversion thriller from blockbuster auteur Christopher Nolan, has pulled in an impressed $50 million dollars in its opening weekend – despite the fact it is yet to open in all major territories, including the US.

$7.1 million of the gross came from British movie-goers, who were seemingly unperturbed by the ongoing pandemic and decided to head out to their local cinemas regardless (albeit with lots of sanitiser and face masks).

The film, which stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson as two temporal agents tasked in preventing World War III, was delayed three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was the first major Hollywood blockbuster to be released since way back in March.

Given the ongoing pandemic has put a huge dent in the film industry at large, Tenet is being viewed by many as a means of testing the water and gauging the public's appetite to return to movie theatres. On the basis of its opening weekend gross, though, Tenet appears to have a very good chance of recuperating its reported $220 million budget and “reigniting” the box office.

Critically, Nolan's film has been met with mostly warm reviews on the basis of its ambition and visual grandeur, though many – us, included – found its barmy narrative convoluted and unnecessarily confusing. Many movie-goers have also complained about Tenet's incomprehensible dialogue.

Tenet will be released in the United States in select theatres on September 3, before being rolled out to further theatres over the coming weeks. It will be released in China on September 4.

Tenet is now showing in UK cinemas everywhere.