Melinda Sue Gordon; ©2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.(LONDON) — Director Christopher Nolan broke his silence on Tenet‘s post-pandemic performance in an interview published in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

The thriller was delayed by the pandemic’s shuttering of movie theaters in the States, but the filmmaker was steadfast that the Warner Bros. film starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson get a theatrical bow and not be shunted to streaming services.

Nolan says he was “thrilled” with the film’s nearly $350 million worldwide gross, but worries major studios got the wrong message. “Rather than looking at where the film has worked well and how that can provide them with much needed revenue, they’re looking at where it hasn’t lived up to pre-COVID expectations and will start using that as an excuse to make exhibition take all the losses from the pandemic instead of getting in the game and adapting — or rebuilding our business, in other words,” he explained.

Nolan added, “Long term, moviegoing is a part of life, like restaurants and everything else. But right now, everybody has to adapt to a new reality.”

By George Costantino and Stephen Iervolino
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