Tenet Trailer Does NOT Mention July Release Date (But Reveals Time Travel Plot)

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The new Tenet trailer is now available online. Director Christopher Nolan's latest has been the most notable outlier during the coronavirus pandemic, standing pat in its original July release date even as all the other films around it altered their plans. The hope is it will be safe for movie theaters to reopen en masse by then, and Tenet can be the first major blockbuster to welcome audiences back to the multiplex. Still, with the ongoing health crisis remaining a fluid situation, many have been curious to see if Tenet's premiere would be pushed back.

In order for Warner Bros. to confidently move forward with Tenet's release, roughly 80% of the world's theaters need to be up and running (including those in big markets like New York and Los Angeles). Right now, it's unknown if that will happen, and that puts the studio in a precarious situation. As they wait things out to see if they can screen Tenet in July, they also need to raise awareness for the original film if it does indeed come out as planned. WB ramped up the marketing campaign with new Tenet TV spots teasing the release of a new trailer, and now that preview is here.

Today, WB unveiled the latest Tenet trailer, which strangely had its world premiere on Fortnite. Watch it in the space below:

Most interestingly, the new Tenet trailer does not mention the movie's scheduled July release date. Like the previous TV spots, the closing title card simply reads, "Coming to Theaters." That isn't anything new, as WB has already confirmed Tenet will NOT go straight to streaming (as is the case with their other tentpoles). However, it does raise the question of when audiences will be able to see it on the big screen. Choosing to not commit to a set release date in the trailer gives the impression WB is still trying to figure everything out, leaving the door open for the possibility Tenet is delayed. At the same time, if the studio can move forward with the July premiere, putting out a new trailer now allows the studio to generate hype and interest with casual moviegoers.

While there wasn't a release date, the Tenet trailer did finally reveal some plot details. Kenneth Branagh's character is Tenet's villain, looking to cause "something worse" than armageddon. John David Washington and Robert Pattinson's characters team up to stop him using a concept called time inversion (which is different from usual time travel). Of course, those are just the broad strokes, and there's bound to be a lot of nuance - particularly when it comes to the rules of time inversion. In the trailer, viewers see Washington catch bullets with his gun, though that surely just scratches the surface. All in all, Tenet looks to be an ambitious and extravagant work, combining Nolan's trademarks of heady themes and big screen spectacle. Hopefully, concrete information about Tenet's release date comes out soon, and cinephiles can see it at the multiplex in the not too distant future.

Tenet (2020)
Release Date: Jul 17, 2020