2020 Sci-Fi Thriller Tenet made $53 million in its international debut, followed by $20.2 million in its first three days domestically. The global total currently stands at $146.2 million, already making it the sixth highest-grossing film worldwide this year.
It goes without saying Tenet's actual numbers are a far cry from what most would have anticipated back in January 2020. Over the course of his career, Nolan has emerged as one of the few filmmakers who can sell audiences on any concept with just his name. There's a reason why WB approved a $200 million production budget for Tenet. At the time the project was green lit, nobody could have predicted a global pandemic that would throw the 2020 movie release calendar into chaos. In a world where the COVID-19 outbreak never happened, Tenet would have been one of the biggest films of the summer.
The fairest comparisons for Tenet are most likely Inception and Interstellar, Nolan's other mind-bending original genre films. His World War II film, Dunkirk, was also released in Tenet's original mid-July window. All of these movies proved to be very successful at the box office. Inception earned $869.8 globally, Interstellar brought in $693.4 million, and Dunkirk grossed $525.2 million.
That range is most likely the rough ballpark of what Tenet was looking at prior to the pandemic, and it stood a good chance of approaching Inception's total considering its summer date and the sci-fi elements. In terms of domestic opening weekends, Inception grossed $62.7 million, Dunkirk $50.5 million, and Interstellar $47.5 million. It wouldn't be a stretch to say Tenet could have grossed $55-60 million in its opening weekend in a normal year, perhaps more thanks to inflation.
*Source
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Maureen Kasuku

Maureen is our resident cat lady and Beyoncé stan. She writes about spas, brunch and ballet recitals but has never been to any. Moonlights as a social justice activist in her spare time. She knows things and is obnoxiously opinionated on the internet but not in real life

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