AceShowbiz - Christopher Nolan's new thriller "Tenet" is leading the post-coronavirus box office comeback with a $53 million (£39.7 million) theatrical launch.

The Warner Bros. release, starring Robert Pattinson, John David Washington and Elizabeth Debicki opened in 41 markets outside North America this weekend (August 28-30), scoring its strongest start in the U.K., where it banked $7.1 million (£5.3 million).

Praising the impressive opening as "a fantastic start," studio chairman Toby Emmerich stated, "Given the unprecedented circumstances of this global release we know we're running a marathon, not a sprint, and look forward to long playability for this film globally for many weeks to come."

"Tenet" is still yet to open in the two largest markets of China and the U.S., where it will launch on September 3, in time for America's Labor Day bank holiday weekend.

U.S. theater-goers instead flocked to check out the long-delayed "X-Men" spin-off "The New Mutants", which grossed $7 million (£5.2 million) - the biggest opening for any new film since the COVID-19 shutdown, even though it was panned by critics and cinemas remained shuttered in a number of states, including California and New York.

Keanu Reeves' "Bill & Ted Face the Music" was another new release, debuting on both video-on-demand and in select theaters, where it made just under $1.1 million (£824,000), as was "The Personal History of David Copperfield", a Charles Dickens adaptation starring Dev Patel, which opened with $520,000 (£389,600) from 1,360 theaters.