21 Jul – Just last week there were talks of "Tenet" being delayed yet again, as cinemas in the US resumed temporary shutdown. As feared, the inevitable has happened. The John David Washington and Robert Pattinson-starrer is now postponed indefinitely, as reported by Variety. Warner Bros. has removed the spy thriller from its release schedule, though chairman Toby Emmerich assured that it would still open in cinemas this year. "We will share a new 2020 release date imminently for 'Tenet,' Christopher Nolan's wholly original and mind-blowing feature," Emmerich stated. "Our goals throughout this process have been to ensure the highest odds of success for our films while also being ready to support our theater partners with new content as soon as they could safely reopen." Originally slated for release in North American cinemas on 17 July, the movie was pushed to 31 July and later 12 August, as the COVID-19 pandemic showed no sign of slowing down and cinemas worldwide continued being temporarily shuttered. "We are not treating 'Tenet' like a traditional global day-and-date release, and our upcoming marketing and distribution plans will reflect that," Emmerich added, suggesting that it will have a more flexible theatrical roll-out and most likely overseas audience will be able to watch it in cinemas first ahead of US audience. It remains to be seen how the studio plans to release the movie in China. Even though Chinese cinemas have started reopening now, the movie's 149 minutes and 59 seconds prevents it from being eligible for screening in the country as China prohibits its film exhibitors from showing any movie with a runtime of over 2 hours.
Another WB title, "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It", will also be delayed. It has been pushed back nine months from its original 11 September date and will now open next year on 4 June. The Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga-starring horror movie was scheduled for additional reshoots last April but this was, of course, unable to be carried out due to the pandemic. There's no telling when production on the James Wan-produced movie can resume, hence the decision to postpone it to 2021. Currently, there's no news yet on whether other 2020 tentpole films will be delayed. Disney is still keeping "Mulan" on its 21 August date, while WB's "Wonder Woman 1984" is still set for 2 October.