'Tenet' Teaser Is Now In Theaters (But You Can't See It Online Yet)

Christopher Nolan loves to both wear vests and play things close to them. While I wouldn't consider him a "mystery box" guy like J.J. Abrams – he doesn't really dabble in twists – he is concerned with preserving the theatrical experience. In Nolan's mind, the less you know going into a movie, the better it will be. So when it comes time for a new Nolan movie, I tend to feel sympathetic towards the marketing departments that have to work extra hard to avoid giving away anything.

Case in point: the Tenet teaser trailer is currently playing in theaters before Hobbs and Shaw, but it's yet to be officially released online.

Update: We originally included a Tenet poster here, but have confirmed it was fanmade. So it goes.

I'm a Christopher Nolan fan, and I'm excited for Tenet. I also appreciate Nolan's dogged determination to not give anything away. Although to be fair, he's one of the few directors who can get by with an approach like this – no matter how this movie looks, people will go see it.

If you'd like a better look at Tenet, you might want to get yourself to the theater to see Hobbs and Shaw. The Tenet teaser trailer is now playing in front of that film – but it's not online yet. Not officially, anyway – I'm sure you can find a bootleg somewhere. Not that I'm encouraging that. Heavens no.

THR has a description of the teaser:

The roughly minute-long first look at Tenet opens on a bullet hole that's punched through some glass. Behind the glass stands John David Washington's character. The teaser slam cuts to the words, "Time has come for a new protagonist." Washington's character walks up to examine the glass. The camera tracks him as he moves to the side, revealing more cracks in the glass...The teaser then slam cuts to the words, "Time has come for a new kind of mission." Then, it reenters on people dressed as swat team members, or perhaps members kind of special operative unit. Quick cuts of Washington in action flash, before the teaser holds on a shot of Washington, with an oxygen mask over his mouth as he slowly breathes. Beneath the trailer is a pulsing, almost wobbling score, with the bass particularly powerful.

Yep, that sounds like a Christopher Nolan movie.

Tenet opens July 17, 2020.