‘Tenet’ to head to home release in Dec. after theatrical run

This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Elizabeth Debicki, left, and John David Washington in a scene from “Tenet.” After several months in pandemic-altered theaters, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” will head to home release on Dec. 15, Warner Bros. said Thursday. (Melinda Sue Gordon/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — After several months in pandemic-altered theaters, Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” will head to home release on Dec. 15, Warner Bros. said Thursday.

“Tenet” will be available digitally as well as on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K just before the holidays, potentially bringing an end to its turbulent but singular run in theaters. The film remains the only major Hollywood release to test cinemas during COVID-19.

“Tenet” has managed to amass $350 million in box office worldwide, but it struggled to kickstart domestic moviegoing after opening stateside on Sept. 3. Contending with limited capacity regulations and theaters that remained closed in some states, the Warner Bros. release has so far grossed $53.8 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office.

“Tenet” was never able to play in Los Angeles or New York, the country’s two biggest markets, which both remain closed. In its ninth week of release in the U.S., “Tenet” grossed $885,000 in 1,601 locations last weekend.

Nolan has argued that result, given the circumstances, wasn’t so bad. But following the release of “Tenet,” along with rising virus cases in the U.S. and Europe, other big-budget releases moved out of 2020.

“I am worried that the studios are drawing the wrong conclusions from our release — that rather than looking at where the film has worked well and how that can provide them with much needed revenue, they’re looking at where it hasn’t lived up to pre-COVID expectations and will start using that as an excuse to make exhibition take all the losses from the pandemic instead of getting in the game and adapting — or rebuilding our business, in other words,” Nolan told The Los Angeles Times.

Warner Bros. didn’t announce on-demand or streaming plans for “Tenet.”