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 Since "Tenet" premiered, Warner
Bros., the studio behind the film, has parceled
out carefully selected breadcrumbs of data to
reporters and rival studios. Traditionally,
studios share box office information on a daily
basis. That's not the case with "Tenet."
Though it started playing in theaters on
Thursday, Sept. 3, Warner Bros. waited until
Sunday, Sept. 6 to officially announce opening
weekend grosses. "Tenet" earned $20 million over
the long weekend, a middling result for a film
of its size.
Industry observers presumed that Warner Bros.
wanted initial box office receipts for "Tenet"
to look as robust as possible -- and waiting
until Sunday for the full weekend figure would
make earnings sound stronger than they might if
the studio had dribbled out daily numbers.
The studio, however, was concerned that
reporters and rivals would misinterpret or
unfairly analyze the results -- leading to
headlines that may incorrectly label "Tenet's'
debut as a flop. Warner Bros. urged journalists
to provide context by noting that ticket sales
would automatically be lower than normal given
the fact that theaters in major markets like New
York and Los Angeles aren't open and cinemas
that have reopened have done so at reduced
capacity. With those caveats in mind, Warner
Bros. was never banking on a splashy opening
weekend and instead hoped "Tenet" would play in
theaters for months without much in the way of
competition.
Box office reports are one of the most
public-facing activities that studios undergo. A
hit opening weekend allows them to trumpet the
good news in advertisements and through internal
communications. But there's a downside to those
bragging rights. It also forces studios to own
their mistakes -- a miss is a miss, after all.
With streaming rivals such as Netflix and Amazon
keeping a tight grip on the number of times
films are watched and refusing to reveal box
office data about their films, more traditional
studios have grown frustrated. Some studio
executives have even publicly carped about the
need to report grosses, suggesting they'd rather
forgo the process all together.
Though it is unusual for a major studio like
Warner Bros. to shield grosses for perhaps the
buzziest movie of the year, other Hollywood
players had given the company a pass for opening
weekend because "Tenet" was the first
significant movie to debut since coronavirus
struck. Rival studios are closely watching the
Nolan film as a test to see if people would go
to the movies during the pandemic. The results,
in effect, would help Hollywood decide whether
or not to continue releasing big-budgeted
tentpoles in the middle of a global health
crisis.
Numerous insiders at rival studios emphasized
that they want Warner Bros. and "Tenet" to
succeed, citing the aphorism that rising tides
lift all boats. But given the importance of the
movie theater business, Hollywood executives at
other studios have privately complained about
the lack of transparency.
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 In normal times, executives
that are involved in distributing films get
access to grosses by the hour. Studios work with
the research company Rentrak and its parent
corporation Comscore to report daily numbers and
publish box office charts each weekend that are
widely distributed across the entertainment
industry. Studios pay a lot of money to get
down-to-the-minute updates, with the agreement
that rivals have access to info from other
distributors. According to
individuals familiar with the situation, Rentrak
had to get permission from major studio heads
before concealing daily numbers for "Tenet."
Though executives were initially reluctant, they
ultimately agreed for the first weekend as a
courtesy, believing that Warner Bros. was taking
a bold bet in testing the waters and needed
their support.
But as "Tenet" continues into its second weekend
in theaters, there has still been a dearth of
information regarding box office data. The
studio has yet to report daily figures, and is
expected to wait until this Sunday to divulge
ticket sales.
Warner Bros. and Comscore declined to comment on
this report. However, studio sources argue they
aren't obligated to share numbers with anyone
else and stress that there's no precedent for
releasing a movie in a pandemic. Comparing
"Tenet" to any other movie, one source said, is
"apples and kumquats." By distributing numbers
in the traditional fashion, anyone on the
outside could jump to conclusions and categorize
"Tenet" has a financial disaster. They argue
that there's no difference between reporting
numbers on Friday afternoon or Sunday morning.
 Sources at other studios pointed out that some
cinema owners, particularly those with drive-in
locations, don't report weekend earnings to
studios until Sunday. While normally that
wouldn't make a notable dent in a final tally,
drive-ins have become popular during the
pandemic.
Adding to anxieties for Hollywood is the concern
that other studios might make similar agreements
to conceal grosses for upcoming releases --
pushing box office revenues behind a curtain of
inscrutability. Sony Pictures is already
following suit, waiting until the end of this
weekend to share sales for its romantic comedy
"The Broken Hearts Gallery."
That could signal that Warner Bros. decision to
withhold information and tightly control its box
office reporting may no longer be the exception
to the rule. It could signal a new precedent for
media companies always eager to avoid scrutiny.
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