Christopher Nolan Signs With Universal Pictures On Next Film

Christopher Nolan’s latest film, a historical drama about the architect of the Manhattan Project J. Robert Oppenheimer, will be financed and distributed by Universal Pictures, Deadline reports.

The news follows Deadline’s reporting on September 9th that the director, whose previous works include Interstellar and Tenet, was auctioning the script around Hollywood. This brings an over 20-year long relationship with Warner Bros to an end. The move follows WarnerMedia’s mandate that all of its studios’ films slated for 2021 must release on their HBO Max streaming service alongside any theatrical run. Nolan’s celebrity was enough to get Tenet’s streaming debut pushed back three months from its theatrical debut, but the ordeal seems to have fractured the director’s trust.

There aren’t many details on the upcoming film itself, though this isn’t the first time Nolan has turned to WWII. The director’s 2017 war drama Dunkirk told the story of the British defeat in France in 1940 from shifting, non-linear timelines. It brought in $131.6 million at the box office.

Also distributed by Universal Pictures, Justin Lin’s F9 is the biggest movie of the year so far. Despite releasing in theaters during the pandemic, worldwide box office sales grossed $714.4 million.