Certain directors used what little leverage that they have to ensure a theatrical release.
Studios debated when it was safe to release major films into multiplexes.
And the film at the heart of the debate for the bulk of its run was Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, a time-manipulating puzzle that played theaters where possible and tried to meet an impossible box-office standard.
No matter what happens in the film industry moving forward, 2020 will be remembered as the year where we wrestled over and fought for the soul of the theatrical experience, even as we realized how circumstances were out of our hands thanks to COVID.