Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ Budget Is $205 Million Before Advertising Costs
According to multiple reports, Warner Bros. is shelling out 205 million clams forChristopher Nolan’sTenet– and that’s not including all of the advertising money the studio will spend to get butts in seats for the film’s release. But $200 million isn’t what it used to be; though that may seem like a high budget, it’s no longer enough to put the film in the rarified company of the most expensive movies ever made.
VarietyandColliderboth report that theTenetbudget sits at $205 million, which is a hefty chunk of change, but doesn’t even make this Nolan’s most expensive movie so far. (The Dark Knight Risesreportedly cost $230 million after tax credits.) Still, $205 million is an impressive amount for a movie that isn’t based on a pre-existing piece of intellectual property – in the past few years, basically only superhero movies,Star Warsfilms, and Disney live action movies (includingThe Lion King, which isn’t really live action) have been able to secure that much for a budget.
The mysteries of creative Hollywood accounting make it practically impossible to say with absolute certainty how much any movietrulycosts to make, but can you guess what topsWikipedia’s listof the most expensive movies of all time? I assumed it might be eitherAvengers: Infinity WarorAvengers: Endgame, but the correct answer is so much funnier than either of those things. Surprisingly, it’s 2011’sPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, a movie that cost a staggering $379 million after tax credits. The hilarious part is that in terms of pop culture relevance, that movie might as well not even exist. When was the last time you heard anyone mention anything at all about the fourthPiratesmovie?
As is often the case in the early stages of many Christopher Nolan movies, the plot ofTenetis still under lock and key – even withan officially-released trailerfrom the studio. Is it a time travel movie?We don’t know! But Nolan has always been interested in playing with the depiction of time in his films, so it wouldn’t be remotely surprising for him to lean even more into that angle in this one. The international espionage thriller starsJohn David Washington,Robert Pattinson,Elizabeth Debicki,Aaron Taylor-Johnson,Clémence Poésy,HimeshPatel,Dimple Kapadia,Kenneth Branagh,Martin Donovan, andMichael Caine.
