‘He Gave Me The Biggest Hug'

John David Washington is a big hit in the Hollywood blockbuster Tenet – and dad Denzel could not be prouder

- Lindsay De Freitas

Bring out the popcorn! After months of relying on the small screen for our movie fix, cinemas are opening their doors and die-hard fans of silver-screen magic are trickling back to the hallowed halls of darkness and delight.

But spare a thought for the first major big-budget, post-hard-lockdown extravaganza – because a lot was resting on its celluloid shoulders.

Tenet is its name, acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan is the director, and the star is one of the hottest tickets in showbiz right now.

John David Washington stars as a super-cool CIA agent known as The Protagonist who has to stop a Russian oligarch (Kenneth Branagh) from destroying the world. It’s an edge-of-your-seat science-fiction thriller in which our hero has to bend time to prevent the outbreak of World War 3.

And Hollywood has been keeping an eagle eye on the film’s release into our brave new post-quarantine world.

A good turnout would mean it’s all systems go for movies scheduled for upcoming release, including Wonder Woman 1984 and the latest James Bond flick, No Time to Die.

If crowds stayed away, they figured, it would be prudent to push big-budget movies into next year or reroute them to streaming services.

But when the figures came in, they gave the bosses reason to cheer.

Tenet grossed a better-than-expected $132 million (R2,2 billion) over its debut weekend – which means it could well be all systems go.

Still, spare a thought for John David. Despite the fanfare around its release, there was no glittering red-carpet premiere, no clamouring cameramen, no screaming fans. There was only a near-empty cinema for the premiere – although there were a handful of important bums in those seats.