Christopher Nolan's TENET and Disney's MULAN Are Projected to Have Low Box Office Openings

Warner Bros. has made it clear that they are sticking to their guns with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and they still plan on releasing it in theaters in July. Disney is planning to release Mulan later that month as well. These will be the first big movies to be released since theaters shut down over the coronavirus, and the movies are both expected to have a low box office opening.

In a recent interview with Variety, National Association of Theatre Owners’ CEO John Fithian revealed that plans are in place to open up major chains such as AMC and Cinemark by mid-July. Tenet is set to be released on July 17th, and Disney’s Mulan is set from July 24th.

Despite the high anticipation of these films, they are not expecting either of these films to have a massive opening. But they hope that the new landscape and great word-of-mouth could bring in strong box office returns. They will also do everything they can to try and help them make money. Fithian says:

“Our members are motivated to make sure that these films do as well as possible. We feel like Disney and Warner are demonstrating their belief in the theatrical model by doing this, so we’re going to go the extra mile. I think that traditional windowing will make sense for these movies. They will play a lot longer in theaters than they would have a year ago. They won’t open to the kind of numbers they would have a year ago, but there’s going to be tremendous word-of-mouth. People are going to love ‘Tenet’ and share that on social media.”

It definitely makes sense to keep these films in theaters longer, and hopefully, word of mouth helps get people into theaters. These theaters do have a plan in place to make people feel safe while at the theaters. Fithian explains:

“We’ve put together a task force of our members, as well as experts on health and safety and supply chains. We’re planning for how we open up our seating so we can adhere to strict social distancing guidelines. We’re encouraging companies to lean in on reserved ticketing and to train their staff to prevent congestion in the lobbies. Members are staggering showtimes so everyone isn’t arriving at the multiplex at the same time. We are considering innovative ways to sell concessions in order to reduce human contact. And we’re making sure that employees stay home if they feel sick.”

It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out when movie theaters open back up. I miss going to the movies and I’ll definitely be showing up when these movies are released!