Warner Bros. not willing to share 'Tenet's box-office collections
Christopher Nolan's Tenet is facing an unusual backlash, although the audience is doing every bit they can to support and enjoy the film at theaters by risking their lives. However, the executives in rival studios are complaining that Warner Bros., the production company of this tentpole, is breaking the prevalent rules by intentionally hiding the real revenue and not declaring the figures every day.
Norm mandates revenues be made public right from first weekend
As per the usual norm, box office revenues are declared publicly. Right from the first weekend, studios make public their daily revenue so that the film industry and the market at large can analyze if the title is going to run or has flopped. Companies such as Rentrak and Comscore give latest information by the hour and minutes to rival studios for market analyses.
Over the Labor Day weekend, 'Tenet' earned an unimpressive $20mn
To note, Tenet was released on September 3 in the US. Over the Labor Day weekend, it earned $20mn domestically, which is not an impressive amount considering the high-budget production of the film. Upon orders by Warner Bros., research company Rentrak had managed to convince rival studio heads about hushing daily numbers for the first weekend over larger interest of comeback of traditional theaters.
Other studio heads couldn't study the market, courtesy Warner Bros.
Once granted, Warner Bros. repeated the same step for its second weekend, reportedly depriving other studio owners to study the film's performance and decide if it's worthwhile to release or even produce grand budget films in the hope of a blockbuster in the coronavirus-ridden global entertainment market. Meanwhile, the studio officials said judging the film's performance and strategy based on pre-pandemic era is baseless.
Sony Pictures is also adopting the same strategy now?
They have also added that studios financing drive-in films don't release their earnings before the weekend. In this way, a traditional studio such as Warner Bros. is imitating the fact-hiding tactics by OTT giants producing original titles for their platforms. Sony Pictures is also adopting this scary tactic of waiting it out till the weekend to release figures for Broken Hearts Gallery.
