Inception and Tenet filmmaker Christopher Nolan is breaking ties with longtime collaborator Warner Bros. for his next project.
According to Deadline, Universal Pictures has landed the distribution and financing rights to Nolan's new film, a period piece about J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in developing the atomic bomb. Nolan will direct from a script he wrote, as well as serving as a producer with his wife and producing partner Emma Thomas. Production will reportedly begin in early 2022, with Nolan's frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy allegedly circling a role.
Known as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb," Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weaponry as part of the Manhattan Project during WWII. Nolan's film about the scientist marks the director's second non-fiction historical project after 2017's Dunkirk, a movie that also took place during WWII. Dunkirk was a critical and box office hit, bringing in over half a billion dollars worldwide and winning three Academy Awards in technical categories.
Nolan has collaborated with Warner Bros. on every one of his directorial efforts going back to 2002's Insomnia and extending on through to his last film, Tenet. The studio also financed and distributed every one of his movies over that time, save for 2006's The Prestige and 2014's Interstellar, which Buena Vista Pictures and Paramount Pictures released in North America while Warner Bros. handled the films' international rollout.
Despite many theaters shuttering their doors amidst the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, Nolan was adamant about releasing Tenet that year as a way of giving exhibitors a lifeline during the health crisis. The film earned mixed to positive reviews and grossed $363.7 million against a $200 million budget, making it the highest-grossing U.S. movie to premiere post-lockdowns last year.
A few months after Tenet premiered, however, Warner Bros. announced it would be releasing its 2021 movies day and date in theaters and on HBO Max. Nolan was among those who publicly slammed the plan, saying in his official statement, "Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service." This is presumed to be the catalyst for his decision to part ways with the studio on his Oppenheimer drama.
Source: Deadline
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