It looks like Christopher Nolan is sticking with Universal. Multiple reports released this week claiming the blockbuster filmmaker is going to release a new film in 2026.
Deadline first reported the news, stating the film will release in IMAX on July 17, 2026, and Nolan-film veteran Matt Damon may star. Damon starred in both the award-winning Interstellar (2014) and Oppenheimer (2023) films.
Filming could start as early as 2025, the report says.
Variety also reported the same July release date, noting that Nolan will write and produce with Emma Thomas under their Syncopy banner. Thomas has produced all of Nolan’s films since 1997, the same year they married, through their production company.
Why did Christopher Nolan leave Warner Bros.?
In December 2020, amid the pandemic, Nolan severed ties with Warner Bros. after almost 20 years after the company announced its intention to move it 2021 movie slate onto HBO Max.
He issued a scathing statement to the Hollywood reporter:
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.
Warner Bros. had an incredible machine for getting a filmmaker’s work out everywhere, both in theaters and in the home, and they are dismantling it as we speak. They don’t even understand what they’re losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.
Nolan announced he would move to Universal for Oppenheimer in 2021. The historical drama grossed more than $972 million worldwide and won seven Academy Awards.
Oppenheimer and Warner Bros.’s Barbie released the same weekend on July 21, 2023, creating a marketing and viral internet moment dubbed Barbenheimer.
