tentpole movie
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A highly anticipated film expected to attract large audiences
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Bộ phim được mong đợi cao với lượng khán giả lớn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a pole that supports a tent
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The new superhero movie is the tentpole movie of the summer.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “tentpole movie” mean?
A highly anticipated film expected to attract large audiences Literally: a pole that supports a tent
Is “tentpole movie” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.