Christopher Nolan's Tenet wins the 2021 Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

At the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, Nolan's time-traveling film focusing on a secret paramilitary organization trying to stop a world-ending bomb from the past beat out Oscar competitors Love and MonstersThe Midnight SkyMulan and The One and Only Ivan.

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Tenet's Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher won the award for their work on Nolan's film. Tenet was also nominated for Best Production Design but lost the Oscar to David Fincher's Mank -- a drama about Citizen Kane's writer Herman J. Mankiewicz.

The now-Oscar winning film first released globally in theaters amidst a the COVID-19 pandemic, which severely impacted its box office sales domestically and overseas. Domestically, Tenet opened to $20.2 million and grossed $57.9 million. Globally, Nolan's film grossed $305.2 million.

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Nolan was adamant about not debuting his feature film on HBO Max -- going as far as to call it a fledgling streaming service. In December 2020, Nolan ultimately deemed WarnerMedia's plan to pivot so quickly to a simultaneous release on streaming and in theatres as a plan that was too focused on short-term advantages, instead of planning for long-term rewards. "I think all of the studios know that the movie theater experience will bounce back and be a very important part of the ecosystem long-term," he stated.

Tenet will be available to stream on HBO Max on May 1.

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia, Martin Donovan, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Himesh Patel, Clémence Poésy, Denzil Smith and Michael Caine.

KEEP READING: Tenet Lands a New York City Theatrical Release Date

Source: Oscars