While Tenet has been hailed as the savior of the film and movie theater industry, the North American box office for the movie has been described as tepid at best. However, an analyst argues that it is still a positive sign for the industry as a whole.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes B. Riley analyst Eric Wold as saying that the box office result for the new Christopher Nolan film is an “encouraging and positive” sign that there is still demand for movies even in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Wold explains that before the changes brought about by the pandemic, they had predicted a $50 million-$55 million opening weekend for Tenet. They then adjusted their predictions to $18.8 million-$20.6 million to account for the pandemic and the lowered capacity of theaters. He says Tenet still ended up at the high end of that prediction.

However, The Atlantic has a much more pessimistic outlook on Tenet and the fate of movie theaters in general, pointing out that the Christopher Nolan movie was an “experiment” that didn’t work.

The article points out that Tenet and its $20 million take in the United States scared even the studio that made it. After news of the box office returns, Warner Bros. moved the premiere date for its superhero movie Wonder Woman 1984 to Christmas Day. The premiere date for Wonder Woman 1984 was initially set on Oct. 2.

Another October release, Universal’s Candyman remake, has also been moved to 2021. According to The Atlantic, this means there are no tentpole releases for the month of October. November has Marvel’s Black Widow and the new James Bond movie No Time to Die, but those are likely to be rescheduled as well.

The domestic box office result for Tenet is even more troubling considering that Warner Bros. wasn’t exactly fully honest by saying Tenet raked in $20 million. The number includes earnings from preview screenings and screenings in Canada. Tenet actually only earned $9.4 million in the United States box office over the Labor Day weekend.

While Tenet has achieved some measure of success internationally with an international take of $177.5 million, it may not be enough to recoup production costs. The movie cost $200 million to make without factoring marketing costs. The movie needs to earn $400 million just to break even and $450 million to make a profit.

Whether business improves for the film and movie theater industry depends heavily on the global coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, it does not look like it is slowing down any time soon, especially in the United States.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s update for Sept. 14, there are now 6,503,030 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States. Deaths are now 193,705 people.