Christopher Nolan’s Tenet Finally Has a Release Date: What to Know About the Film

Tenet, the sci-fi thriller starring the likes of John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, is hitting international theaters ahead its U.S. debut. See the release date below!

By Allison Crist Jul 27, 2020 10:47 PMTags
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Tenet is officially set to be released at the end of August—just not in the United States. 

The highly anticipated Christopher Nolan film—which has been subject to numerous delays because of the coronavirus pandemic—will open internationally on Aug. 26, followed by its U.S. debut in select cities over Labor Day weekend.

Warner Bros. announced the news on Monday, giving a statement to E! News saying, "Today, Warner Bros. announced that Tenet will open in over 70 countries worldwide starting on August 26. Major territories will include: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, Spain, and the UK. The film will open in the United States over Labor Day weekend in select cities."

There's currently no telling which U.S. cities will be included in the roll-out, especially since many movie theater chains have yet to announce or delayed their re-opening plans.

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But even with Tenet's postponed release, fans of Nolan-directed films like Inception, Dunkirk and Interstellar are surely still excited to see the acclaimed director's latest project. 

As per usual, Nolan has remained tight-lipped about the sci-fi thriller, but we do know a few things—including that John David Washington leads an international cast that includes Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki

Washington plays an operative known only as "Protagonist," who, according to the film's description, is "armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world."

Furthermore, the Protagonist "journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time."

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The trailer for Tenet provides more insight, though even Washington's character seems lost at the beginning, saying, "To do what I do, I need some idea of the threat we face."

Laura, played by Clémence Poésy, offers a chilling response: "As I understand it, we're trying to prevent World War III."

The sneak peek also offers glimpses of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine and Kenneth Branagh, along with car chases, a plane crash courtesy of Pattinson's character and not time travel, but "inversion."

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All in all, it's safe to say that Tenet will prove to be one of Nolan's most mindblowing films yet. 

Take one the trailer's final lines for example. "This reversing the flow of time..." the Protagonist says. "Doesn't us being here now mean it never happened?"

Learn more about Tenet here.