Why You Should See Tenet In Theaters, According To Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan is a prestige-level director, and not just because he literally directed a movie in 2006 called The Prestige. As far back 2000, when Nolan shot his reverse-narrative indie smash Memento, we all knew his would be a name we'd hear again and again.

From his Dark Knight Trilogy to the brain-bending Leonardo DiCaprio-led Inception, Nolan's place in the cultural zeitgeist has only become more and more secure. He knows it, we know it, and, most importantly in this case, the studio heads at Warner Bros. know it. Given Nolan's clout, he has a lot of control over his latest opus, Tenet. It seems what Nolan wants to do with that clout now is make sure the movie gets a worldwide theatrical release in July 2020, despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Tenet's release date has already been moved once from July 17 to July 31, with rumors that Warner Bros. were looking to delay further while the industry struggles to find a way forward. Despite all the conjecture and speculation online about whether the movie will actually be able to hit the big screen before the end of the summer, there's been very little concrete information about Nolan himself thinks about Tenet making it to theaters. Recently, that situation finally changed.

Debates over audience safety aside, the big question is what Christopher Nolan really thinks about all of this. We finally have our answer, thanks to a prerecorded message the filmmaker sent to the online CineEurope conference on June 17.

According to an article from Deadline, Nolan's message made it very clear how he feels about both Tenet and releasing the film theatrically as soon as possible.

"I think of all the films that I've made, this is perhaps the one that is most designed for the audience experience, the big screen experience," said Nolan. He went on to say, "We've made big films in the past, but this is a film whose global reach and level of action is beyond anything we've ever attempted before."

Nolan made it clear in his statement that Tenet is in "the final throes" of post production. It seems that this statement confirms he does not want to wait longer than July 31 to see Tenet released into theaters.

While the hype machine is strong for Tenet, there's only so many ways star John David Washington can tease audiences by shooting down theories like "Tenet is a secret Inception sequel." And, while it's very funny to hear co-star Robert Pattinson admit in an interview with GQ that he has "no idea" how to explain Tenet, there's only so long that kind of bemusement can last. From that perspective, if no other, it's understandable why Nolan is so keen to get Tenet in theaters as soon as possible.