Christopher Nolan is staying put at Universal, with the filmmaker setting his next film at his Oppenheimer studio. His Oppenheimer supporting player Matt Damon is also in talks to star in the feature, which has a release date of July 17, 2026, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The news comes amid speculation as to where and when Nolan would make his next feature. He publicly split with longtime home Warner Bros. in late 2020 amid its controversial Project Popcorn initiative, but has expressed an openness over the past year to do business with the studio again.
The new movie is a coup for Universal, which scooped up Nolan for Oppenheimer. The film exceeded expectations at the box office and earned Nolan his first Oscars, for directing and as a producer for best picture. It took home five other wins.
While Oppenheimer was acquired by Universal in a highly controlled auction setting, this new project went straight to the studio, according to sources. Although details are being kept in the bunker, sources say the project is not a big-screen take on 1960s British series The Prisoner, an endeavor Nolan contemplated in the 2000s.
Universal had no comment.
Nolan’s three-hour biopic of the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, had an all star-cast that included Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, as well as Damon. It grossed $975 million globally, making it Nolan’s third-biggest film at the global box office behind Batman movies The Dark Knight Rises ($1.084 billion) and The Dark Knight ($1.003 billion). It was quite an achievement, given that it was not apparent that this topic could attract moviegoers in such high numbers.
Nolan remains the rare filmmaker whose name alone can inspire both audiences to head to theaters, and inspire in-demand actors to join a set with fewer perks (no assistants, no entourages) all for a chance to work with the premier filmmaker.
Like with Oppenheimer, Nolan will also pen the script and produce alongside producing partner and wife Emma Thomas for their Syncopy banner. The film will be Damon’s third with Nolan; he also had a small, but key, surprise role in 2014’s Interstellar.
Deadline first reported the news.
