Warner Bros. canceled the Aug. 12 release of its major summer film “Tenet,” saying it will reevaluate its entire approach to the movie because of the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

The science-fiction thriller from “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan no longer has a release date in the U.S., and the studio won’t treat the film like a “traditional global day-and-date release,” it said in a statement Monday.

That suggests the movie may debut internationally before reaching audiences in the U.S., where theater reopening plans have been complicated by a surge of coronavirus cases.

We will be encouraging masks and distributing them as we open: Cineplex CEO

President and CEO of Cineplex, Ellis Jacob, says that his company's business will ramp up over the summer as big blockbuster films arrive in August, and hopes that their commitment to reopening safely will restore the trust of movie-goers.

“Our goals throughout this process have been to ensure the highest odds of success for our films while also being ready to support our theater partners with new content as soon as they could safely reopen,” Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros.

Pictures Group, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the pandemic continues to proliferate, causing us to reevaluate our release dates.”

This is the third time “Tenet” has shifted dates, showing how complicated restarting the global movie business has been.

The U.S. is the largest movie market in the world, and theaters had hoped to widely open their doors to audiences in June and July. But major moviegoing markets such as California have halted or slowed reopening plans as more people fall sick.

The “Tenet” delay puts Walt Disney Co.’s “Mulan,” which has been delayed twice because of COVID-19, in position to become the first big-budget film release of the summer. The Disney film is scheduled to premiere Aug. 21

Warner Bros, which is owned by AT&T Inc., will also push back the release of the horror film “The Conjuring 3,” which was scheduled to debut on Sept. 11. It will now be released on June 4, 2021. The decisions don’t yet affect two other big-budget Warner Bros. films premiering later this year, “Wonder Woman 1984” and “Dune.”

Studios can make up at least some ground by releasing movies internationally. China reopened its theaters Monday, though it will mostly show old films. Other major European markets have also started slowly bringing audiences back.

But cinema owners and studios might still struggle to break even on major releases like the US$200 million “Tenet.”

Exhibitors will have to limit ticket sales and attendance to adhere to social-distancing requirements, and some movie fans have said they’re not yet comfortable returning to auditoriums, even with new safety protocols.

The rules are partly driving studios to open movies in unconventional ways, giving people a greater chance to see the films in theaters later, if they don’t feel safe now.

“Unhinged,” a thriller from Solstice Studios starring Russell Crowe, will likely be the first wide release in the U.S. since the virus. It’s expected to open July 31, shortly after the planned reopening of major U.S. chains.