Warner Bros. originally scheduled Tenet for a July 17, 2020, release in IMAX, 35 mm, and 70 mm film. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed to July 31, and then August 12. The studio finally arranged for the film to be released in seventy countries, with a run time of 150 minutes, on August 26, following preview screenings in Australia and South Korea on August 22 and 23. The film opened in select cities in the United States on September 3, gradually expanding in the ensuing weeks. On September 4, it was released in China. Tenet was the first Hollywood tent-pole to launch in theaters following their prolonged shutdown. The lack of available movies afforded it more screens per multiplex than would otherwise have been possible.