‘Tenet’ Braces For Week 3 After Disappointing Second Weekend; ‘Infidel’ Opens Wide
Tenet’s lukewarm second weekend is a sign that the domestic box office still has a long way to go before things get back to normal, especially as New York and Los Angeles theaters remain shuttered.

In the wake of Tenet’s second weekend box office performance, release dates have been shuffled yet again. Warner Bros’ push of Wonder Woman 1984 from October 2 to Christmas gives Tenet a longer competition-free run. Candyman left its October 16 release date and is now expected to be released in 2021. STX Entertainment’s Greenland, which stars Gerard Butler and made $11.5 million internationally, was pushed from its September 25 release to an undecided date later this year. The one move up in the release schedule came from Universal, moving The Croods: A New Age from December 23 to November 25.

This week’s only wide release is the Jim Caviezel starrer Infidel, which opens on 1,724 screens. It is the first release from Cloudburst Entertainment, a new distribution and production company founded by former executives from Pure Flix Entertainment, known for low-budget, religious-themed films, including God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness and Unplanned. Infidel is also produced by Dinesh D’Souza, who has found consistent success with his conservative-themed documentaries, most notably 2016: Obama's America. If Infidel can successfully tap into similar markets, September could get a surprise hit.

IFC is releasing The Nest in limited. The film premiered at Sundance 2020 and stars Jude Law. It is written and directed by Martha Marcy May Marlene helmer Sean Durkin, and it currently has 90% positive reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Also opening in limited release is the documentary The Way I See It from Focus Features. Currently at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, the doc focuses on Pete Souza, who was Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama.

Unhinged should creep past $15 million domestically in its sixth weekend, making it the third new release after Tenet and The New Mutants to cross that milestone since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tenet continues to expand internationally, opening in Japan, Mexico, Israel, Romania, and Uruguay, and it still plays with minimal competition in territories where Mulan has not opened. While Tenet’s drop was large in China, it continues to have a solid international hold. With no new contenders, Tenet should take the number one spot again in many countries, even those where it is in its fourth weekend, and could reach a $250 million global cumulative.

Mulan opens in Hong Kong and South Korea this weekend, and is going into its second weekend in China, which is the film’s largest theatrical territory. Its $23.2 million opening there was closer to the modest $18.6 million opening of Disney’s live action Aladdin remake than any other comparable film. Aladdin dropped -47.1% in its second weekend and had a 2.875 multiple from its opening weekend to finish with $53.5 million. A similar drop and multiple for Mulan would see it earn around $12 million in its second weekend and finish with around $67 million.

The other film making waves internationally is After We Collided, at $20.9 million in Europe after two weekends. It is the second film in the After series based on the popular young adult novels. The first film grossed $69.7 million worldwide, and the sequel is already holding better than the original in some territories. If the film holds well, it should become one of the season’s biggest hits. It is slated for a domestic release on October 23.