A staggered release & limited availability might make Tenet prime for piracy

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Christopher Nolan's TENET was made to be seen on the big screen but with movie theaters shuttering their doors back in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, viewing priorities began to change. Some moviegoers have gotten used to watching PVOD releases at home and with major releases constantly moving their dates around on the calendar, due to the pandemic, the moviegoing experience continues to be threatened. Movie theater chains like AMC and Regal begin reopening this weekend but if you live in places like Los Angeles or New York, there is no clear picture as to when theaters can reopen because their indoor activities in those areas remain closed. TENET is beginning its arrival in overseas markets since some international theaters are open for business with preview screenings in Australia starting this weekend. The film will then go wide in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the UK on August 26, 2020. The North American release isn't until September 3 and according to an anonymous anti-piracy veteran, opening in all of those foreign markets before its domestic launch will make TENET a piracy nightmare.

"In some ways, Tenet is a perfect storm for piracy, in that it has raised expectations, both about the film itself and the cinema experience. Also, it has limited availability and suffers from a staggered release."

Warner Bros. has to be gearing up for a logistical nightmare that will see them trying to come down on any and all torrent sites that serve as a home base for individuals to illegally download the film. Things move pretty fast on the internet so the movie will be on those sites within hours of its release. This is likely to happen worldwide, especially given how Warner Bros. is releasing the film, and with Christopher Nolan's name attached, it will only make downloading TENET illegally more enticing. According to the anonymous source, via "Variety", "We see piracy can occur everywhere. It happens even in the three hours between East and West coast U.S. releases."

Pirates are sure to bring in camcorders in an attempt to get a bootleg out on to torrent sites immediately, which may be even easier to do now, due to the public health crisis. Piracy concerns are likely going to decrease given the state of the world today so it's possible they can carry on undetected. The U.K.'s Film Content Protection Agency (FCPA) was set up in 2016 under the Film Distributors' Association to put a stop to bootlegs, which have seen a spike in the London area. Simon Brown, director of the FCPA has had a dialogue with the studio and claims that they will take "covert" actions if necessary to try to stop the illegal spread of the film. 

Everyone knows that Nolan's films are manufactured for the big screen so a pirated copy of TENET, at least for myself, would not be satisfactory because it will significantly diminish the quality of the film. That being said, moviegoers are starved for a big blockbuster like this but if their fear of going to the movies gets mixed in to still really want to see a high-profile release such as this one, they might just settle for a subpar quality of the film just to see something fresh and exciting again.

Do YOU think TENET will be heavily pirated?