Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated sci-fi spectacular Tenet is going to cost Warner Bros. a pretty penny, with a production budget of over $200 million. The first Tenet trailer released back in December to considerable fanfare, thanks to its visual thrills and star-studded cast. That being said, however, the plot of the movie remains largely unknown. Keeping the audience confused is a signature trait of director Christopher Nolan's works, evident by the likes of Memento and Inception.
There aren't many American film directors today that have been more influential on cinema than Christopher Nolan. Critics have long admired Nolan's films, going all the way back to 1998 with his debut feature Following. Through the 2000's, Nolan found enormous success helming the Batman trilogy with star Christian Bale, three projects which ingratiated the director with the movie studio Warner Bros. After the Batman movies, Nolan continued working with WB on Interstellar and Dunkirk. Each film he's made with WB has been an enormous box office success, which seems to be why the studio is comfortable with essentially writing him a blank check for Tenet.
The news that Tenet has a production budget upwards of $200 million comes by way of Variety. In their article titled "Box Office Predictions for 2020: From Surefire Hits to Potential Busts," Variety places Tenet in the category of "In the Heights," which lies above a question mark but below a safe bet.
Perhaps it's true that Tenet doesn't project as positively as 2020's upcoming Bond movie No Time to Die, but it's foolish to think the film won't at least double its production budget. Christopher Nolan's last film Dunkirk was one of his less lucrative films, yet it still quadrupled its budget and grossed over $400 million. That's not to mention that Nolan has directed two films that exceeded $1 billion at the box office, thanks to The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
In a cinema landscape dominated by characters, it's worth betting on directors like Nolan who are still household names. The name Christopher Nolan is like a seal of quality in the world of film. If a studio ever wants to put out a picture which will make them lots of money and compete at the awards shows, they simply have to hire Christopher Nolan. Perhaps that's why Tenet, a high-concept mind-bender, is getting a production budget bigger than Captain Marvel. It remains to be seen whether or not Tenet will cross the billion dollar threshold like Captain Marvel, The Dark Knight or The Dark Knight Rises, but even if it doesn't, it's still likely to be a huge success.
Source: Variety
