Last night I had a chat with a Warner Bros publicist. Some of the conversation revolved around Christopher Nolan leaving the studio and bringing his Oppenheimer/A-Bomb project to Universal:

“Jordan, we already knew last year, it was inevitable that Warner Bros and Nolan would part ways. The studio lost over $60 million because of “Tenet,” he practically forced their hands to release the movie during the thick of the pandemic.”

This comment surprised me. So, you mean to tell me that there was an actual net loss on “Tenet”? It was no doubt a bold move for Warner to release it in August of 2020, many theaters were still closed at that time including the top two film markets (Los Angeles and New York), and those that were open were operating at limited capacity. It was a big gamble which was done to please Nolan who insisted on a theatrical release, despite the limitations the pandemic would bring monetarily.

“Tenet” ended up grossing a tepid $58.5 million domestically, but an excellent $363.7 million overseas. I was unaware of a report released by Variety a few weeks ago that made the claim the resulted loss for Warner Bros was at least $50 million. I was told last night by the WB rep that it’s actually $60-70 million.

The release of “Tenet” was the final nail in the coffin between Nolan and Warner Bros, a relationship that lasted 20 years. “Tenet” was the first big blockbuster to be released after the March 2020 movie theatre shutdown due to the coronavirus. It was a gamble and it clearly didn’t pay off.