Sorry, Christopher Nolan. Your movie about time guns and backward car chases or whatever is becoming less and less special by the day—or at least by the month. When every other movie was pulled from the theatrical release schedule because of the coronavirus, Nolan’s Tenet stood its ground as the only big movie that was still going to come out this summer. But then, at the beginning of May, a brand new movie company called Solstice Studios announced a plan to release its debut feature (a Russell Crowe thriller called Unhinged) a few weeks before Tenet. Now, another movie has shown up to eat Tenet’s lunch, and like Unhinged, it’s… not as much of a big deal as Tenet (no offense to anyone involved with these movies, but you guys know you’re not Nolan).
The new contender is The Broken Hearts Gallery, a romantic comedy executive produced by famous person Selena Gomez. (She doesn’t star in it and didn’t direct it or anything, but her name will be in the credits!) Sony Pictures’ Stage 6 Films just won the rights to The Broken Hearts Gallery, and it’s going to try and make a nice splash with the film by releasing it in theaters—and only in theaters—on July 10. That’s a week before Tenet, which is sticking to July 17.
The movie stars Geraldine Viswanathan and Dacre Montgomery, and it’s the directorial debut of writer Natalie Krinsky. In a statement, Gomez mentions that it’s “very much needed” to promote the work of more female writers and directors while also observing health and safety recommendations about preventing the spread of COVID-19. Sony and Krinsky also shared statements about how exciting it will be to release this movie while also acknowledging the ongoing danger of the virus, which makes us wonder why they’re so bullish about releasing this movie in theaters, but maybe it’ll work out.