0 a long pole that supports a tent and keeps it upright (= standing up):
We stock both lightweight and traditional wooden tent poles.
1 a tent-pole film, event, business activity, etc. is one that is expected to make a lot of money, and also to help persuade people to spend money on products connected with it:
2 a film, event, business activity, etc. that is expected to make a lot of money, and also to help persuade people to spend money on products connected with it:
Armageddon was a successful tentpole in 1998.
The new approach to the movie business is for what they call "tent-pole" projects - fewer huge projects around which the rest of the business clusters.
The region's tentpole industries, aerospace and software, are still hiring.
It's a very powerful marketing tool for a certain kind of product - especially for a tent-pole like the Batman films.
The major studios focused increasingly on tentpoles and commercial franchises.
His new strategy is to foster four or five "event movies" a year, the "tentpoles" to fund a more varied programme of smaller budget films.
For less than the cost of opening a tent pole movie, you can change the status quo.
In the constant gales tent poles broke and guys tore off.
The lucrative temptation for studios to bust their budgets with big tent pole films has also meant the hard squeeze on less expensive, but the more challenging-to-market independent films.
