Melinda Sue Gordon; ©2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.(LOS ANGELES) — Director Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, once held by many as a last hope for a summer 2020 theatrical movie season, has finally waved the white flag. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of relenting in the U.S., Warner Bros. has pulled the movie from its August 12 berth, Variety reports.

“We will share a new 2020 release date imminently,” said Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich in a statement. “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.”

The time-bending thriller, which stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, had already been bumped twice as the COVID-19 crisis spread across the country and all the world.

Movie theaters remain closed in many areas of the U.S., but even in those states that had begun to relax their pandemic rules, the coronavirus continues to keep crowds away. Theaters in New York and Los Angeles, the country’s two largest movie markets, remain closed.

However, Variety notes that Warner Bros. is considering releasing Tenet first in foreign markets, many of which have begun reopening their theaters.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.