At long last, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet — a film many dubbed the box office savior — has made its way to some 2,810 U.S. theaters where it collected a not-too-shabby $20 million over the course of the Labor Day weekend, including $2.82 million from Imax locations. The film also pulled in $126 million overseas, bringing its worldwide come to $146 million. Obviously, one must keep in mind that some of the bigger filmgoing markets, i.e. Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, have yet to open. While that number might seem far too low for a blockbuster film directed by a man whose films have collectively totaled $4.8 billion around the world, bear in mind that Nolan’s time-travel action extravaganza was always going to be a bit bumpy as it charts the course for other future blockbusters to follow.
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Also, keep in mind that Nolan’s films typically bring in around $50 million or more domestically on their opening weekends and leg it out to around $200 million in the U.S. and $500 million+ worldwide. That was the case with his last three films not featuring Batman — Dunkirk (2017), Interstellar (2014) and Inception (2010). It’s hard to imagine Tenet surpassing Inception‘s $869 million worldwide total considering the circumstance, and also considering some of the negative reaction in regards to the film’s sound design, but something closer to Dunkirk’s $526 million is not out of the realm of possibility and must be seen as something of a victory for Nolan and Co.
That said, the numbers, according to Deadline, are actually quite solid and significantly better than the $7 million haul of The New Mutants last week; and the best box office showing of any wide release since mid-March. Considering the lack of competition in theaters until September 25 when both Wonder Woman 1984 and Greenland open, Nolan’s film seems poised to dominate multiplexes for quite some time.
The New Mutants came in at No. 2 with $2.9 million, down almost 60% from last week’s dismal opening. Clearly, the X-Men franchise ran out of steam a while ago and Josh Boone’s film is essentially another nail in a coffin already littered with nails.
Russell Crowe’s Unhinged dropped 36% for a $1.7 million haul and an $11 million total at No. 3. The Personal History of David Copperfield ($361,000), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run ($345,000), Words on Bathroom Walls ($282,370) and My Brothers’ Crossing ($12,941) rounded out the Top 7.
