The Box Office Thread

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet has begun its offshore rollout, and while Warner Bros is keeping a tight lid on grosses until fully reporting Sunday, some international box office information is available on the highly-anticipated title.

In Korea, one of the key plays on Tenet, the Wednesday opening day was a little over $827K from 2,228 screens. The John David Washington/Robert Pattinson/Elizabeth Debicki-starrer dominated the market at a 79% share according to Kobiz. Thursday added another $596K on 2,179 for a 28% drop which is about the average Wednesday-Thursday decrease for major recent releases, and the numbers should rise again on Friday. The cume through two days is $1.42M. Factoring in previews that took place last weekend, the total is $2.14M so far, portending a debut around $6M-$7M (including previews) if it follows the trend of big recent titles — and if the market situation remains stable.

The daily per-screen averages have been relatively small. However, as we noted in the international box office preview earlier this week, Korea is facing a surge of coronavirus cases and recently tightened social distancing guidelines in Seoul to limit gatherings.

Today, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun evoked the possibility of moving to Level 3. Should that come to pass, cinemas would be shuttered. Per Yonhap, Chung said, “The government has made efforts to slow down the pace of the pandemic, but we haven’t had much improvement. Some call for raising the level, while others want a wait-and-see stance, citing insufficient preparation and the economic impact.”

Essentially, Korea is a wait-and-see market that, without the recent cluster outbreaks, might have seen Tenet do upwards of $15M on opening weekend.

Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” launched internationally this weekend, generating a surprisingly robust $53 million debut despite the ongoing pandemic.

The sci-fi epic, long pegged as the film that would restart moviegoing after prolonged cinema closures, had the strongest start in the United Kingdom, where it made $7.1 million. “Tenet” launched in 41 international markets this weekend, including France ($6.7 million), Korea ($5.1 million) and Germany ($4.2 million). Next weekend, the Warner Bros. film will touch down in the U.S., Russia and China.