'Tenet' hits U.S. theaters as 'Mulan' makes Disney+ debut for $30

Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal joins Zack Guzman to discuss the latest blockbuster releases in the U.S. this weekend as "The Batman" movie reportedly halts production in the UK after Robert Pattinson tests positive for the coronavirus.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

ZACK GUZMAN: Welcome back to "The Ticker" here on Yahoo Finance. Some big names to cover here at the box office, one of those being Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" blowing past expectations on the international box office front, and as well as the other big summer blockbuster we've been waiting here for in Disney's "Mulan," coming out today for direct release on Disney+. And here to discuss both of those things with us is Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal.

And Ali, I mean, these are the big ones. These are kind of the indicators of how the summer blockbuster season has been going. So what do we got?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yep, this is what we've been waiting for. So Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" officially made its big debut in the US on Thursday. Movie theater chains across the nation are really hoping that this is the film that can kickstart movie theater attendance.

And there's a lot of hope right now because of how well the full film is performing overseas. If we take a look at international markets, the film brought in over $53 million. Box office analysts had been predicting around $40 million. So that's a pretty sizable jump there.

But there are still greater concerns when it comes to the continued success of this film, especially domestically, because the coronavirus situation here in the United States is a lot different than it is internationally. We're still dealing with the many different hot spots. There are multiple cities and states that are still shut down. And that makes it that much harder for theater chains to reopen safely and effectively, in addition to convincing patrons that it's safe to leave your houses and participate in that movie theater experience once again.

If we take a look at some of the smaller movies that made their debut before "Tenet," they were pretty underwhelming. We had Russell Crowe's "Unhinged" bring in around $4 million during its debut weekend. And then Marvel's "The New Mutants" brought in around $7 million.

But "Tenet" is a much bigger film. It's a much buzzier film. And certainly other blockbusters out there that have yet to be released, like "Wonder Woman 1984," "Black Widow," "No Time to Die," they are hoping that "Tenet" is going to be successful, because all of those films are still hoping for that traditional theatrical release.

However, there are some movies that went a completely different route. As you mentioned, Disney's live action "Mulan" is one of those films. Starting today, Disney+ users will be able to purchase that film for a one-time fee of $30 on top of their subscription fees.

However, if you are a user and you do not want to pay this fee, all you have to do is wait three months. Because starting December 4, that film is going to become available on the Disney+ library. And if you think about it, that's a pretty short window than what we're typically used to. Normally it takes several months for a film to be in the theater before it's ever made available on a streaming service. So it's a very interesting move by Disney here, a unique, albeit a calculated risk. However, if they are successful, it's certainly going to force other films and production houses to take a look at their release schedule and possibly make some tweaks.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, we're going to dig into what success looked like on the "Mulan" front, what Disney should be expecting there, and how it could change the release schedules moving forward. But we'll be doing that after the break. But right now, I want to ask you one more question about what we're seeing on the production front.

Obviously, since a lot of this is still ongoing during the pandemic, is still out there, and films still dealing with this. The latest, the "Batman" production being halted as they had a case. What are we hearing about that?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: There are a lot of conflicting reports out there right now. But according to Variety, a source says production is still halted on the Batman in the UK after its leading man, Robert Pattinson, reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. Now, this is pretty devastating, because the film has been shut down for several months. They only completed around seven weeks of filming. They still have about three months to go, with the goal of wrapping up production by the end of this year.

And obviously, if situations like this keep happening, that is going to be more and more difficult to accomplish. But what I think this tells us is how vulnerable these movie sets are to the coronavirus, despite the many different safety measures and protocols that are currently in place. And it is an even more frustrating situation because this industry is so interconnected. If you're not able to complete production, you're not able to send these films to movie theaters, and then those chains are unable to fill their seats because they don't have any new films to show to patrons.

So it's a difficult situation to navigate. Hopefully Robert Pattinson feels better soon and they're able to resume production after that two-week quarantine. But I think Hollywood is going to continue to experience this and hopefully learn, grow, and adapt as this pandemic drags on.