Well, that didn’t take long. Following the revelation that Christopher Nolan’s next movie was going to be about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atom bomb, the “Tenet” has found a new home for the film at Universal Pictures. The news is substantial because Nolan has made his home at Warner Bros. for years. Apart from some dual-releases overseas with Paramount (particularly on “Interstellar“), the filmmaker has been very loyal to the studio who was always trying to keep their A-lister happy. But things got rocky during the pandemic and the delayed and hedging-bets-release of “Tenet” during the height of the pandemic.
READ MORE: Report: Christopher Nolan Unlikely To Work With WB Again After HBO Max Announcement
“Tenet” made $363.7 million worldwide, a pretty good pandemic number, especially at the time, but it was not an easy release for WB or Nolan and strained their relationship. Then, late last year, Warner Media made their sudden decision to release all their movies day-and-date theatrically with HBO Max in a bid to boost subscribers, and all their creative partners, like Nolan, heard about the decision in the press, like the rest of the world. Adamantly pro-theatrical, Nolan was said to be both displeased with the decision and unhappy with the way it was announced and how creatives were not alerted about the decision beforehand. Even on principle, it sounds like Nolan had to part ways with Warner Bros. just to demonstrate that he wants to be in the theatrical business, not the day-and-date PVOD one.
READ MORE: Christopher Nolan Still Upset Over WB/HBO Max Drama: “It’s A Question Of Ethics”
Back to the project. Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist who became the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. He led the research and development of the atom bomb that ended WWII in 1945 under the covert codename, the Manhattan Project. Nolan will produce the film alongside his wife and longtime producing partner Emma Thomas for their Syncopy Inc. banner.
Now that the film is greenlit, production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022. which likely means a 2023 release, based on Nolan’s normal working schedule, but who knows. Cillian Murphy, who has worked with Nolan on “Batman Begins,” “Inception,” and “Dunkirk,” is said to be eyed to lead the film, but apparently, no casting decisions are final yet.
Deadline says the courtship to win over Nolan came down to Universal, MGM, and Sony, but Warner Bros. wasn’t even involved in the final talks, and it’s possible he told them from the start he would be looking elsewhere.