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When Warner Bros. opened Christopher Nolan’s TENET in theatres Sept. 3, 2020, the pandemic had nearly destroyed the movie business.

The sci-fi thriller was Hollywood’s first tent-pole to hit theatres during the Covid crisis. Its Labor Day weekend release at 2,810 theatres did $11.6M for the four-day holiday period. That wouldn’t have been anything to shout about normally, but it was now enough to show that moviegoers would return to the multiplexes to see films they really wanted to see.

TENET, starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson & Elizabeth Debicki, was exhibitors’ best news in several years. Produced for $205M, it grossed $365.3M globally, a number that seemed huge given the pandemic’s death grip on cinemas. It was the first indication that streaming wouldn’t kill the movie business as Wall Street had been insisting.

Every studio responded to the streaming threat its own way, but WB’s  approach was the most extreme. It chose to open all its theatrical films day & date through 2021 on its HBO Max streaming channel. That response was vigorously denounced by many A-List filmmakers — including Nolan, who in September 2021 announced that after 19 years at WB he and his production company, Syncopy, were leaving to make his next film at Universal.

That “next film” turned out to be OPPENHEIMER, which cost $100M to produce and after opening July 21, 2023 did $975.8M worldwide. It also won seven Oscars, including best picture, directing (Nolan) & adapted screenplay (Nolan). Universal and OPPENHEIMER catapulted Nolan to a glittering awards status he’d never enjoyed at WB.

Nolan had taken over five years, starting in 2014, to write TENET’s screenplay, but had been thinking about its story for about 20 years. He began pre-production on TENET in late 2018 and did casting in March 2019. A fast moving six months of principal photography followed in the U.S., U.K., Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy & Norway.

WB originally planned to open TENET domestically July 17, 2020 in IMAX, 35mm & 70mm. The pandemic delayed it to July 31 and then to Aug. 12. The film’s international release in 70 territories finally began Aug. 26 followed by its domestic launch Sept. 3.

Although TENET made a big impact at the multiplexes by proving theatrical movies weren’t dead, it got very little love at the Oscars. It was nominated only for Production Design and Visual Effects, winning for effects.

Reports at the time said what may have kept it out of prime races like picture & directing was that WB didn’t screen TENET on the Academy’s membership streaming platform or send out DVD screeners for home viewing. So Academy members, an older audience that wasn’t yet comfortable returning to theatres, just may not have seen TENET before they voted.